TGICFS.

Chicken-fried steak @ Evangeline Cafe. © Ryan Schierling

I would have never thought to order CFS at a Cajun/Creole restaurant. Evangeline Cafe is in our south Austin neighborhood, and no matter how hard I try to order something different on the occasions we visit, my go-to always ends up being an oyster po' boy with fries. I'm a simple man, with simple needs, and Evangeline does a very nice sandwich. 

But the last time we stopped in for lunch I was feeling like a little chicken-fried steak, and man, did they deliver. I thought I was surreptitiously taking a photo at our outside table when the waitress came back and surprised me with some more sweet tea. She cocked her head and queried, "Photos?" I stammered that I, uh, took photographs of all the chicken-fried steaks I eat, and that's not really a weird thing, and I, uh, really really liked chicken-fried steaks, and that this was an especially handsome rendition, and, and (that breading, damn!) trying to retreat a bit from my CFS-fanboy stance, I cleared my throat and in a slightly-deeper voice told her to "uhm, give my regards to the chef for such a... visually-pleasing plate." 

She smiled politely, probably thought to herself that I was a huge dork, and quickly finished refilling my tea. 

The CFS? It tasted even better than it looked. 

Louisiana
and Texas had a fist-fight...
settled to a draw(l).