chicken fried yankee

My Yankee sensibilities told me not to, but I did. I ate this. And liked it. I’m a Charleston newbie, so natives love to give me advice. And here’s one I’ve heard several times since moving here a month ago: “Y’all need to try the chicken fried steak at Boulevard Diner.” On Friday, Dave and I went for it. What you see above is the cheapest part of the cow pounded into tender submission, then heavily breaded, fried in lard, and covered in “milk gravy” (heavy cream and pan drippings, essentially). As far as I can tell, it’s got around 1,000 calories, and more than 150 percent of the recommended daily sodium and cholesterol. And that’s not counting the mashed potatoes, corn bread, and fried okra sides. I wasn’t exactly a member of the Clean Plate Club, but Dave did remark that he’s never seen me eat like such crap. Is it wrong that I felt slightly proud? As a kid, I loved the CFS (I’m so Southern-hip!) at Mickey Mantle’s restaurant in New York City. At some point, my mom talked them into handing over their secret recipe. She’s going dig it up and email it to me this week. Will post when I get it. Maybe there’s a way to tweak the recipe to make it healthy(ish). Fat chance.