A tenderised cube steak dredged in seasoned flour, fried until the crust is crackle-crisp, and smothered in a peppered white cream gravy. A Fort Worth diner staple served with mashed potatoes since 1926.

Chicken fried steak arrived in Texas kitchens with Central European settlers in the nineteenth century, adapting the schnitzel technique to the abundant tougher beef cuts available on the cattle frontier. The name comes from the frying method, identical to Southern fried chicken, applied to steak. In Fort Worth, the dish became the benchmark plate of the working-class diner tradition, codified at counters along Magnolia Avenue and Camp Bowie that fed the city's post-war blue-collar workforce. Paris Coffee Shop on Magnolia Avenue has served the same cream-gravy version since 1926, and it remains the dish by which Fort Worth visitors judge the authenticity of the city's diner culture.

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