Well outside of Los Angeles, 210 miles north, I found myself at an Atascadero diner sizing up the next candidate in my quest for “The Best Chicken Fried Steak In Los Angeles“. Granted this is not even in the same county; however, a good chicken fried steak has proven tough to find in Los Angeles. The Country Touch Cafe in Atascadero, a diner off of the main drag in a tiny community. There was a line out the door at 8:30 in the morning, a great indicator of a fine meal.

First Impression: Steak was a big sucker, hung off of the plate. No gravy? What sort of witchcraft is this? The gravy was actually underneath the huge hunk of flattened beef. Two eggs sunny side up, hash browns, and sourdough toast- the Holy Trinity was present.

Taste: It’s amazing how the pass-fail ratio with chicken fried steak is so extreme. There is no middle ground. It is either the best damn chicken fried steak you’ve ever had or it is absolutely the worst. No judgement against the restaurant nor the service, both were great; however, this was an abysmal chicken fried steak. They put hard work into getting this thing too me, I could hear them beat the crap out of it in the kitchen and I could see the meat hammer cleat marks on the steak when it got to the table. The steak was like wet cardboard in texture and taste, one tough hunk of leather. Breading was simple flour, no spices. The gravy was right on point, strange to discover it underneath the steak.

I wish: I wish it would have been a great chicken fried steak, everything else was fantastic.

I am not going to rate Country Touch Cafe since it is in Atascadero; however, I will suggest you go with the Belgian waffle like my daughter did.

The quest for the best chicken fried steak in Los Angeles continues.

Paul Zies

dirtyandmean.com

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