5 places to get great chicken-fried steak in San Antonio.

Texas comfort food smothered in gravy

Note: The Express-News is suspending traditional restaurant reviews until restaurant dining rooms fully reopen.

Chicken-fried steak. It’s a Texas comfort food delicacy worth taking off your mask for. And it’s something we can’t take for granted in the COVID-19 environment.

The pandemic has left two of the city’s best chicken-fried steak destinations dark for the time being, so you can’t get the massive blue-collar monster at Lulu’s Bakery & Cafe nor the fancy-pants Wagyu version at The Esquire Tavern.

The good news is you can still get chicken-fried steak at five of San Antonio’s most enduring restaurants — the youngest of which is 38, the oldest of which traces its origins back more than 100 years. All five are open for sit-down dining, all five are taking their anti-virus protocols seriously, and all five know the power of steak, gravy and a good deep fryer.

410 Diner

The 1950s were big in the 1970s. At 410 Diner they still are, with chrome and checkered floors and a doo-wop soundtrack. But I’ll bet not many diners back then had 20 vegetable sides or blackened snapper or a Sonoran casserole with corn and zucchini.

Even so, 410 Diner keeps it old-school with chicken-fried steak, pounded wide and flat and served blonde and crunchy with peppered gravy, a tall slab of cornbread and down-to-earth sides like whipped mashed potatoes and simple steamed green beans for $12.95.

8315 Broadway, 210-822-6246, 410diner.com.

The Barn Door

Watching the staff at The Barn Door was like seeing an Indy pit crew in action. When a group of customers got up and left, that crew swarmed the table with cleaners and fresh linen, ready to get right back on track. The friendliness is almost overwhelming, with a kitschy country decor that recalls the old Bonanza-style steakhouses I remember as a kid.

But Bonanza never had a chicken-fried steak like this, starting with a big tenderized rib-eye, then fried in tectonic waves so that every square inch of meat had some crunchy overflow to hold a wavy torrent of gravy. The $24.99 price includes the best mashed potatoes in this report, fresh yeast rolls and a side salad with Green Goddess dressing so powerful you’ll have to make a garlic-breath treaty with the family.

8400 N. New Braunfels Ave., 210-824-0116, thebarndoorrestaurant.com.

Josephine Street Cafe

The blue neon signs in the front windows of Josephine Street Cafe have said “steaks” and “whisky” for so long that I had to blink to fully comprehend that the “steaks” sign was missing. A bad omen for this 40-yearold roadhouse? Nope, just out for repairs.

And the chicken-fried steak is just as crunchy, juicy and slathered with creamy-salty gravy as ever, with a side of blanched and steamed broccoli for good health for $11.95, plus an extra side of buttery mashed potatoes for $3.25.

400 E. Josephine St., 210-2246169, josephinestreet.com.

Richter’s Antler Cafe

My wife’s been going to Antler Cafe since she was a little girl, back when it was one of the only restaurants that far out in Spring Branch. It’s not in the same spot anymore, but it’s every bit as small-town Texas.

How Texas? Antlers hang like wind chimes from the ceiling and all three TVs flicker with the same fishing show.

How Texas? The chicken-fried steak isn’t just one steak, it’s two steaks when you order the large.

They’re shaped like boomerangs stacked on top of each other with breading that’s thick and knobby and irregular the way only a proper hand-breaded chicken-fried steak can be, wearing a cowboy jacket of peppercream gravy. The $11.99 plate comes with Texas toast, a dinner salad and two sides, with choices like jalapeño mac and cheese, fried okra and lima beans — but I’ll take the velvet-smooth mashed potatoes and big pile of steamed green beans every time.

1 Sun Valley Drive, Spring Branch, 830-885-6328, antlercafe.com.

Spechts Texas

In one form or another, this bar and grill and general store with the corrugated Texas flag roof out near Bulverde has been in business since 1890. It’s called Spechts Texas now, with a saloon-style bar up front and a big breezy pavilion out back where a guy played a slowed-down acoustic country version of “You’re the One That I Want” from “Grease” the night I was there.

If you like your chicken-fried steak with lots of extra shag around the edges, this is your place, with so much extra surface area for gravy and crunch that it’s like an extra side to go with your scoop of skin-on mashed potatoes and untamed onion rings ($14.95).

112 W. Specht Road, 830-4381888, barandgrillsanantonio.com.

Photos by Mike Sutter / Staff Chicken-fried steak is made with rib-eye steak and served with cream gravy, mashed potatoes, salad and fresh rolls at The Barn Door Restaurant & Meat Market.

Chicken-fried steak comes with sides like green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy and cornbread at 410 Diner on Broadway.

The large chicken-fried steak platter comes with two steaks, two sides, Texas toast and a salad at Richter's Antler Cafe in Spring Branch north of San Antonio.

Chicken-fried steak comes in all shapes and sizes in San Antonio. But mostly big, and mostly smothered in cream gravy, the way they do it at Josephine Street Cafe.

Chicken-fried steak comes with sides like onion rings and mashed potatoes with gravy at Spechts Texas north of San Antonio.