Chicken fried steak day in school! That's different from anything we had in Baltimore! We lived for grilled cheese and tomato soup day because dessert was one square of very greasy and delicous peanut butter fudge. No more soup served in the lower grades anymore and no more peanuts in any way shape or form. BTW, our sucko lunch day was split pea soup. I can't remember what the heck it came with besides the triangle carton of milk.

My guess is that Granny's has Chicken Fried Steak. Probably the Double T also. Having not grown up with it, I still really like it. Something fried AND with gravy -well who could pass that up?

I must say that I love country fried steak.....I remember late nights at college rolling into Norms or Rosies diners and ordering it up, watching from the counter them frying it up....i have had it a couple other times since and it is just so good! But the country fried steak is the centerpiece of a meal with great mashers, some corn or green beans and white gravy....need to have more in Bmore

Lucky you for chicken-fried steak day.

Sometimes I still have a hankering for cheese-steak sub day with tater tots. Or that delicious gummy square pizza with two slices of pepperoni on it.

Things got better in high school with the deli stand, though....

A topic after my own clogged arteries. I'm from Oklahoma, where CFS is a staple (incidentally, be very suspicious of a place that calls it country fried steak -- it's chicken fried steak).

So yeah, I grew up with it. I stand by my statements in the Chowhound thread you linked to, with the exception that my beautiful and talented girlfriend makes the best i have ever had. She fries it in leaf lard with a delicious cream gray made from the fond. Unfortunately the only way any of you will get to try it is if you're very, very nice to her.

I once made a project of trying CFS around the state of Oklahoma looking for the best. The hands down winner was Charlie's in Walters, OK. Unfortunately i don't think it's there anymore.

Also, while corn is an acceptable vegetable, fried okra is the standard. CFS, mashed potatoes and fried okra is my definite comfort food choice.

Mmmmm . . . gummy square pizza.

I didn't grow up with it, although I was exposed to it as a southern delicacy, like grits (which I also love).

Joyce has it - fried and gravy. What is not to like?

dcdiva - I don't know why I feel guilty in admitting it, but I used to love those cheesesteak subs. I just remember how greasy they use to be.

A better link to my chicken-fried steak comment is here.

I must emphasize that, like many peasant foods, chicken-fried steak is a means of making cheap food (in this case tough meat) more palatable. It's not really fair to compare it to, say, a nice aged strip steak.

I also should have mentioned in my original comment that a good part of what makes chicken-fried steak work is the cream gravy (another inexpensive peasant food). A good cream gravy makes even sauteed shoe leather taste better.

I always order chicken fried steak at cracker barrel and petrol on roadtrips.

I can't remember if I've ever had chicken-fried steak, and now that Hal has enlightened me on what exactly it is, I don't think I'll be ordering it anytime soon. It does sound like a comfort food though.

I never had chicken fried steak in a school cafeteria, but in college the commons would serve the chuckwagon, which is the unholy marriage of a chicken fried steak and a hamburger.

I love a good chicken fried steak. Some places call it "country fried steak." i remember the old "PoFolks" chain made one of the best I've ever had.

We spent five years in Texas where you can get chicken fried anything (steak, Twinkies, salads, etc.). It's the answer to "Why is everything bigger in Texas?"

I think the difference between chicken fried steak and country fried steak comes down to the gravy it's topped with. Chicken fried gets the delicious cream based gravy that Hal already mentioned, whereas country fried gets brown gravy. At least, that's the theory from this southern transplant.

Zen West has chicken fried steak. At least they used to. I haven't been there in a while.

Had it in Houston on assignment years ago. The photographer I was traveling with, who had lived for years in the area, really, really, wanted some. I have lived without ever having it again. So I think EL's right -- if it's not part of your past, it's probably not part of your future.