Today, I had the pleasure of a lunch date with my wife, we decided to try Razzoos, a popular Cajun restaurant in the Dallas, TX area. I ordered the Cajun Chicken Fried Steak, which was $9.49. Chicken Fried Steak has always been a delicacy in the south, however I had never associated  it with “Cajun food”. I went out on a limb and tried their “Cajun” version of a chicken fried steak. My initial thinking was why mess with something that already taste so good….

Temperature – Delivery
The restaurant was very clean and the service was awesome on this visit. But I am not reviewing the restaurant, I am more interested in this slice of beef. The dish had obviously been freshly prepared and delivered quickly as it was piping hot. My first bite burned my mouth! – I had to tell myself “Slow Down fat guy, its not going anywhere”.

Appearance
Hope you are not hungry, if so this picture will be tough to look at without hoping in the car and heading down to Razzoo’s. The large portion of fried steak takes up most of the plate smothered in sausage gravy, a healthy portion of red skin mashed potato, some not so healthy green beans and topped off with a beautiful piece of bread. The gravy was a little heavy for my taste, so before eating I did scrape as much as I could off, so you may want to consider ordering your gravy on the side. Notice the Cajun seasoning sprinkled on top, this dish is a colorful platter of goodness.

Fried Steak
A steak knife comes with the meal, but I found that the sharp knife really was not needed. The steak cut easily, this had obviously had been some steak that had been tenderized correctly. The cut of meat was high quality as well, I was able to consume the whole steak with only one bite of the tough chewing gristle. This cut of meat is common for this, so it is refreshing to have a chicken fried steak you can eat without all the chewing.

The crust had the most interesting desirable flavor, possibly a buttermilk crust livened up with some seasoning to deliver the Cajun taste. While the crust was softer, I found that it went along perfect with the dish, the crunch was fulfilled by the bread. The steak was pulled from the fryer at a perfect time, as to not burn the crust or the steak yet it was well done with no pink. The steak along with the flour sausage gravy and maybe a dip into some ketchup and this is now one of my most favorite treats.

Mashed Potato
Everything else on the plate was practically invisible until the steak was consumed. The mashed potato’s were traditionally cooked with skins still with the final product being  fairly tasty and creamy. Even thought they were good, it was not as unbelievably good as was the fried steak, perhaps a tad bland as one might expect a little more kick from a Cajun restaurant. But I do understand that it gives kids and people who do not like spicy food an option as well.

The potatoes were seasoned with plenty of salt-pepper already. As most restaurant dishes are pre-salted, I did not find the need to add additional salt to anything in the meal. I did not or could not finish them all.

Green Beans
Although the side item is not a flagship selling point of the dish, I found them to taste pretty good. However these vegetables would be unrecognizable to something in the fresh healthy category as they were soaked and cooked in a pretty heavy sauce with chunks of bacon. This would be probably  be one of the few times it would be healthier to avoid the greens! Needless to say, I could not finish nor had the desire to finish them anyway.

Bread
This garlic french bread forced me to eat every bit after tasting it, I tried but could not stop. I have no idea how they prepare it, possibly grilled, as both sides were slightly toasted giving it a nice crunch. More importantly, butter was soaked through out and so every bite was buttery goodness. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, top notch garlic flavor and was perfect as a supplement to this dish.

Overall
As you can tell from my long winded post, that I was very impressed with the Cajun Chicken Fried Steak and the bread. Flavor was perfect, with just the right amount of spice to know this is not just your regular everyday steak. The side dishes may need a little touch-up, but the main course makes the meal and Razzoo’s stepped up to the plate. One downside to the dish is price. This is ususally one of the cheaper dishes to prepare yet the price was nearly $10, if you want to add a drink+tip+tax,  you will spend $15 on a lunch easily. Depite this, I will order again, and maybe get a water instead. I give this dish 4.5 stars!