Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Chicken Fried Steak Report

I finally got by the Smokestack Resturant a couple of weeks ago on I-20 between Abilene and Ft Worth to try the Fire recommended famous Chicken Fry on the 9 hour drive to E Texas to camp and hunt squirrels, deer and wood ducks.

I was sorely disappointed to say the least. It was a little thin piece of, i guess, what some call chicken fry for about $13.50 with a tiny saucer of nondescript "salad". Small and thin crust and had a slight flavor of meat on the edge of sour.

A year ago i also tried the same meal at the great chicken fry place in Brady while headed to Buchanan to fish a werk. It was ok but I've been by the place several times since and never got the feeling i needed to go in though the meal had been pretty Ok but nothing more.

I finally realized i had been spoiled and woefully unappreciative of the chicken frys i was used to at the Shrimp Boat Restaurant in the Elegante Hotel just north of I - 20 on the east end of Odessa.

Im used to good food because I can and do cook, however, after the 2 incidents related above i realized i had often been scarfing down what most would consider a heavenly chickenfry meal.

The place has an unreal salad AND soup bar that comes with the meal. After stuffing myself on the unlimited salad with too many accutriments to list and freash baked rolls, i managed to get two bites of the tender, delicious steak before calling for the tab and to go comtainer.

I will post a oic of the plate below and recommend that if any are passing through on I 20 and like the things or great hamburgers or Chicken Monterrey with a big pile of brown rice and veggies and a big salad salad bar you can revist as much as yiu wish, you owe yourself a stop at this wayside.

Now, im fixing to go stuff myself again on the left overs.

Dr Mercola would kick your ass up between your ears

😂😂😩😩

Jag wearing punk kid white frame oakleys

hahaha

Hat on backwards?

Is your truck lowered in the ass-end?? 🤣

Jag,

Funny thing is some of the best I have had is in north Idaho. The Hoot Owl in Sandpoint to name one.

Kelley's Country Cookin' in Pearland, Texas used to fix up a helluva good chicken fried steak.

RC, you tried the wrong place. The best Chicken Fried Steak in TX that everyone brags about and several here on the Fire, including myself, have recommended is at Mary’s Cafe in Strawn, TX
It’s about 30 miles NWvof the Smoke Stack. You take the Hwy 16 exit, right Past Ranger Hill, and go about 10 miles N.

The Smoke Stack sucks, IMO. Overrated, and Overpriced is what I thought of it.

Next time your headed that way, let me know. I’ll meet you there and buy you a real Chicken Fried Steak Dinner.

Looks like a good appetizer.

Not near enough there to have had anything left over.

Somebody should have their ass kicked for putting that slice of what is supposed to be a tomato on your plate too.

I was gonna say something about the tomato. The white frame oakleys stole my thoughts. 😃

Good eatin' right there. Add a pitcher of Coors for a table of friends and it's the Best Damn Friday Lunch in Texas.

Them steamed veggies cancel out that fried steak?😉

I mourn for the passing of the "Good Earth Cafe" in Fruitland Iowa.

The general menu was great, and the chicken fried steak was the best I ever set fork to.

Soups...
Pies....
Meat Loaf to die for.....

The smoke stack was a darn good place 20 years or so ago but it has gone down some over the years.

Mary's in Strawn will leave you wanting a room to sleep it off,it's that good.

They also have other good eats like calf fries and steaks.

Yep. And the biggest hamburgers I’ve ever seen.
Their breakfasts and Mexican food is damn good too.

This is the Chicken Fried you seek. Be thoughtful on size. The small fills a hole dinner plate.

I figured beings as how it's in Texas it would fill the back of a pick up.

Unreal. I hunted a couple of times out of Trout Creek and Thompson Falls, Ed, and main street down town T Falls had a nice cafe on the south side of the street. I told the gal i had been hunting there a week and needed a Southern Chicken Fried Steak with cream gravy. She didnt know what i was talking about so i described it. It came back with a slightly greenish translucent gravey. Hahaha. Blew my mind.

Wish youd go by there some time and educate them.

Thanks, pal. Cant wait.

The best CFS was in the early 1980's at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant on the north end of Main Street in Grapevine, TX. On Friday's we would hit it for lunch and we got out the door for less than $5/person and that was with a couple of pitchers of Coors for all of us.

Thanks, Plains.