Fried Fish Friday (Catfish Cafe - Humble, TX)

New feature! Man cannot live by CFS alone. Besides fish is good for you.

Catfish Café in Humble delivers on both words in the title. The restaurant is small but cozy – a perfect little cafe. The catfish (all you can eat or orders of 3 and 4 strips) was hot and juicy. Tarter sauce was pumped out of a big jug, allowing generous portions (and Chicken Fried Neighbor to mix some evil concoctions). All you can eat was $15.99 which includes a side of hush puppies and French fries. Both were tasty but the fish was the star. The staff was attentive and kept the catfish flying out of the kitchen.

7042 FM 1960 Road East
Humble, TX

Carriage House - Houston, TX

I discovered the Carriage House on accident because I was on my way to Hickory Hollow which is right down the road. Fortunately, I can’t seem to pass up a sign announcing chicken fried steak, so I made a return trip.

With horses on the premises and the acreage surrounding the restaurant including old building and, of course, carriages, the Carriage House is part diner and part historical grounds.

More barn than restaurant, the Carriage House is like no other place I’ve ever seen. It is literally like walking into an old barn, complete with wood all around, horse harnesses, hay bails and creaking floors. It is a cavernous place with many rooms that evokes a dark old saloon from yesteryear. The décor is more like an antiques store, with more china hutches than the collective grandmothers of my readership. This made for a very homey feel, especially for being inside of a barn.

The CFS: Very tender and cooked perfectly, making it hard to believe that it was cube steak. How they got it this tender is a mystery beyond my cooking skills. I wish more places would do it like this.

Breading: Flakey and crispy. It was as light as one could make such breading after frying it. It had a taste that reminded me of a cafeteria style breading , done with more care and thought.

Gravy: The gravy was flavorful – creamy and peppery with great consistency.

Knife: Regular knife. I usually lean toward something more substantial, but the tenderness of the CFS made anything more than your fork unnecessary.

Sides: Salad bar + one side. I chose the fried okra as my side: it was delicious. Fresh, hot and very crispy. The salad bar, which I used simply as a way to kill time until the fried items arrived, was well stocked but not very large.

Cost: $ 7.29. A great deal.

Service: Walkup service (which got crowded around lunchtime). The food came out hot and fast.
Music Selection: (Very) old country. It fit the location perfectly!

This place is certainly a throwback – a unique specimen from inside to outside. And the food is also unique. The quality of the CFS and the ethereal quality of the preparation ensures I’ll make another visit. I’ll bring Trigger next time.

7955 Fallbrook Dr.
Houston, TX 77064

http://www.thecarriagehousecafe.com/

Love and War in Texas - Plano, TX

Chicken fried parents have been singing the praises of Love and War for several years. The perfect storm of hunger, location and need for salt merged and we paid a visit. If anything, they undersold it. Despite being right behind Central Expressway, Love and War is a great place that could be anywhere in Texas: bar, outdoor concert venue, requisite Texas decorations inside, Shiner on tap and great food.


The CFS: The “Big Tex Chicken Fried Steak.” Super (fork) tender and very moist. Cube steak.

Breading: Thick, southern style but needed a little salt.


Gravy: A creamy gravy with ham. The flavor was good but the ham overpowered the CFS. There was a significant amount of heat too – more than you might expect. Cayenne pepper on the top (dotted with a little pasilla chili which chicken fried father unwisely gobbled down).

Knife: Steak knife. But, the tenderness of the CFS made it almost an adornment.

Sides: As good as the CFS was, this visit was all about the sides. Choose two. The mashed potato was creamy with great potato flavor and lumpy as Hill Country. The cream/ham gravy was ladled on top with a generous sprinkling of cayenne. The Texas Caviar (black eyed peas) had a great blend of peppers, heat, bacon and earthy bean flavor.

Cost: $ 11.95. A bit expensive but the quality of the food made it worth the cost.

Service: Friendly but not totally efficient. French fries were brought instead Tot’s mashed potatoes. We had to repeatedly ask for silverware. But a little banter, an earnest effort and good food makes up for a lot in my book.

Music Selection: My perfect playlist: Uncle Tupelo, Willie and more.

Try the wagon wheels (fried pickles) if you are really hungry – you won’t be disappointed.

http://www.loveandwarintexas.com/

Wunsche Brothers Café and Saloon– Spring, TX

A trip to Ole Towne Spring is like a trip back in time. Wunsche Brothers is where you’d eat if it were 1900, you were fresh off the trial and needed a starch fix (just ignore the neon).

Wunsche Brothers is a neat old style café with an old timey feel: wood paneled walls and floors, old pictures and rusted farm equipment adorn the walls.

The CFS: Southern style and deep fried. It was plenty big (long) and the cube steak was very thick. It was good but a little soggy and cold.


Breading: It thoroughly covered the CFS but it was unfortunately, as I mentioned, a little soggy. I would have preferred a bit more crunch to accentuate the differences in textures among the component parts.

Gravy: White and traditional. It was good but nothing to write home about. I make no qualms about preferring a gravy with a little zing.

Knife: Standard knife provided. It would have been good to have something larger, given the relatively large size of the CFS to the relatively small plate.

Sides: Choose two: I chose the mashed potatoes and the okra and tomato. The mashed potato was good but nothing memorable. It had a good potato flavor, find seasoning balance and a hint of garlic. The okra and tomato was a recipe worth stealing! Stewed together, the marriage of the thickly sliced okra and the diced tomato was a heavenly match and highlighted the meal.


Cost: $ 12.99, a little on the high side.

Service: Friendly but not terribly engaging. She did her job (waitressing) and we did ours (eating).

Music Selection: Contemporary rock. (bonus points if you can name the song with the following lyric: “I met her in a Kingstown bar…”)

Walk a few blocks around Ole Town Spring and you won’t be sorry. It’s a fun little place for a stroll with interesting shops and a wide availability of other fried vittles, like funnel cakes and fried Twinkies. If I hadn’t been so full, I would have gained 5 pounds.
http://www.wunschebroscafe.com/

Kelly's Eastside - Plano, TX

Part of the reemergence of Downtown Plano, Kelley’s Eastside is a cozy little bistro in the heart of downtown. The inside has a clean and organized feel but is still warm and inviting. There is also an outside seating area.
The CFS: The cube steak was overdone and chewy. The stringiness of the meat made me exercise serious jaw muscles to swallow.

Breading: A bit too crispy, suggesting it was overdone. Combined with the chewy steak, it made for a most unpleasant bite.

Gravy: Southern cream gravy. The flavor of the milk was fresh but it was a little bland.

Knife: A steak knife was provided and much needed.

Sides: Choose two. I had the queso mashed potatoes (mashed potatoes with queso poured on top) and the cole slaw. Although the concept was inventive, the execution fell short. The mashed was dry, unsalted and without much flavor. The balance of flavor needed to be better between the queso and the potato. The cole slaw was also subpar – it was crunchy but not enough acid to make the perfect creamy/acid nexus required of good cole slaw.

Cost: $ 11.95. Frankly, too much for the quality and quantity of the lunch.

Service: Efficient and friendly. We were in and out quickly.

Music Selection: contemporary pop.

Kelley’s didn’t serve up a great CFS but it was a nice place with a lot of potential. The creativeness of the menu and the great location downtown. I could easily see strolling over after work for a beer or just a quick lunch.
http://www.kellyseastside.com/

1422 Avenue K
Plano, Texas

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Kettle Restaurant - Houston, TX

Let me start by saying this: all you can eat chicken fried steak. Interested?

Kettle is a thematic mix between Dennys and IHOP – a more diner style Black Eyed Pea. The inside (sorry no picture) is simple with wood tables and benches. There was an eclectic mix of locals and travelers (since the restaurant is located pretty near Bush Intercontinental).

The menu is pretty diverse. But, after glancing for a few minutes, our waitress turned us on to the buffet. The buffet, that is, which included CFS. Other items (none of which looked too good) were a large roast, lasagna, rolls and some like of lo mein noodle.

The CFS: Pretty good. The steak was a little overdone and a little on the dry side but was still tasty (cube steak). But, even though it wasn’t the best I’ve had, the neverending tray certainly made up for it.

Breading: Southern style – thick and very crispy. The CFS held up remarkably well despite being in a bin with his cousins all morning.

Gravy: A pretty standard white cream gravy. A little bland. It wasn’t on the buffet line, so you had to ask for it.

Knife: Kitchen knife. Something larger would have been more handy, given that the steak was a bit tough and the breading formed a thick shell.

Sides: Just grab a ladle and scoop. Greens, mushy corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and a few other goodies. Nothing great here. The mushy corn on the cob was…mushy. The mashed potatoes were good – tasted like instant but the flavor was good and they were moist and warm.

Cost: $ 6.99 for the buffet. A good deal for the quantity, even if the quality wasn’t spot on.

Service: Skilled and friendly. There’s something about a good waitress in a diner that screams “efficient” to me. Our waitress kept the cups of gravy coming and the drinks full.

Music Selection: none.

Look, you’re not going to find gourmet food here. But if you want to strap on a feed bag, you now know the place.
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15360 John F. Kennedy
Houston, TX 77032
www.kettle.com

Hickory Hollow - Houston, TX

Tucked away behind the Sam Houston Race Track on Houston’s northwest side is Hickory Hollow (note the backwards ‘k’ in the name). Hickory Hollow is a great little roadhouse style BBQ place with a wide menu.

Unlike other places that try to approximate a Texas-style café, this place makes the details count. The meals are served on large pizza pie trays (which are hard to cut on but big enough to hold the mass amount of food you get). The flatware is held in bins alongside napkins from a holder. The iced tea is served in glass mason jars.

The accolades are impressive. The website lists a few on the CFS alone:

The Houston Press says it’s the Best Chicken Fried Steak in Houston. The Houston Business Journal Gourmet Choice agrees. Oprah Magazine says it’s the Best Value. “Just look at the size of those chicken fried steaks!”

I must say I agree.

The CFS: She was big (and I didn’t even order the largest size). I ordered the Medium Hired Hand (the third largest) and it was huge. The steak (cubed sirloin) was nice and juicy but was a bit chewy, suggesting it could have been tenderized a bit more or cooked a bit more. It didn’t detract from the taste, but there were bites where the steak was a bit stringy with the connective tissue.

The Breading: Southern style and crunchy. It was flaky and had a good balance of butter, pepper and possibly butter milk. One nice thing was that it was so big and there was so much breading that I was able to manufacture my own tasty bites with a great amount of gravy, extra crunch from the breading the and the soft and chewy steak.

The Gravy: They call it “River Bottom Gravy” – it was tasty stuff. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the gravy is a yellow color, and it has notes of corn and chicken, along with a good amount of buttery, creamy flavor and pepper. It wasn’t heavily glopped on, but given the size of the CFS, there was a great deal of it.

Knife: Too small! The knife was a standard dinner knife, which was too small. Something larger was necessary.

Sides: You can either get a salad and mashed potato or a salad and baked potato. I went for the mashed and it was good - great balance of flavor and a good creamy texture.

The Price: $9.79 for the Medium Ranch Hand with salad and mashed potato. Given the amount of food, this was an excellent deal.

Music: None, except for Court TV (which I turned off so I could read about the Rockets’ latest injury report in the Chronicle).

Service: Walk up counter service. Your order is sent out to you from the kitchen through a little window (they’ll call you number). Everybody was friendly and efficient. Although they weren’t busy at the time, my guess was that they always move that efficiently.

If I could, I’d have Hickory Hollow cater all of my meals. I wouldn’t live another 10 years but at least they’d be a good 10 years.

8038 Fallbrook Drive
Houston, Texas

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http://www.hickoryhollowrestaurant.com/