My Local Spot for Chicken Fried Steak in Cottonwood Heights, UT is Carl's Diner

Carl's Cafe is my 4 Ladle local choice for Chicken Fried Steak

Carl's is a tiny little place that seats about 20 people and run by a very nice family. A nice neighborhood atmosphere with a little touch of 70's ski lodge. Speaking of the seventies I think it's been there more than 30 years and has a loyal following of locals, which is a great sign.

The CFS is classic style with sausage gravy and nice shaved fried potatoes. I don't usually mention the bread with my breakfast, but there's is really tasty. Everything is served quickly and with a smile. I'll be back often and not just because it's in my neighborhood.

More Meetings More Drinking More Chicken Fried Steak in St. George Utah

4 Ladles for Black Bear Diner's CFS

The Black Bear Diner in St. George is a chain restaurant found throughout the west, but the food is quality and made fresh daily. The down side of St. George is that there are no bars, but people who don't drink love fried food, so all is well.

I was in St George for another fish meeting and as happens I needed some CFS. I had to go with the crowd for this meal, so I was a little worried about ending up in a chain. Fortunately I was happily surprised by Black Bear. It's a bit cheesy with the fake newspaper and overdone log cabin theme. The food however was genuine and well prepared. Hand pounded chuck round, fresh breading, and creamy gravy with sausage. The potatoes were shaved and then fried crisply and the easy part; the eggs were cooked to over easy perfection. The coffee was the weak point of the meal, but it was passable.

I left fully satisfied and only slept through two hours of presentations. There happens to be a Black Bear Diner just south of where I live in Cottonwood Heights and I know I'll find the same breakfast there too.

Black Bear Diner has been around

The Not Good, The Bad and The Ugly...No good breakfast at Ricardo's in Price Utah

As often happens when I go on work trips to small towns with lots of other fish squeezers...I drink, I sleep a little, and then wake up just a little drunk and craving chicken fried steak. I walked from my hotel room across the lot to Ricardo's Cafe. Sometimes I need to read the signs in front of me and back out the way I came. Sign 1) I'm the only one in there at 6:30 AM. 2) The waitresses fingernails were falling off her smoke stained fingers. 3) The cook was sitting at the counter eating McDonald's 4) The coffee was so weak that one drop of cream turned it white...You get the point.

I ended up with the very disappointing CFS that I expected. Frozen meat puck fried in mildly rancid oil, floury gravy, barely cooked eggs, and lightly chilled hash browns cooked using the same rancid oil from the fryer.

The meeting was great and the I left with a case of free beer so I can't complain too much; but DAMN, I almost gave up chicken fried steak after that.

An obvious rating of:   Not one god damn ladle!