Brian K.
Yelp
There is a sort of Texas tradition, an unofficial searching, a competition across the state, to find and identify the BEST chicken fried steak in existence. This is not just a subjective opinion, but a veritable designation, with bragging rights and presumably more business, as other CFS aficionados stop to see if the hype is true.
There is no hype at the Cabernet Grill. They're not even TRYING.
In fact, the menu avoids putting it all together. "Lobster Topped Chicken Fried Ribeye" doesn't even make it sound like they're competing for the CFS title, does it? And yet...
My wife and I arrived to celebrate our anniversary. The waitress arrived seconds after we were seated and while getting our drink orders, presented us with two shot glassed filled with, not wine or water, but samples of the kitchen's roasted carrot and ancho chili soup. A moment later our eyes widened in gastronomical delight as the incredible depth of flavor burst across our taste buds and threatened to derail my original plans of "Lobster Topped Chicken Fried Ribeye."
Seriously. The soup was THAT good. My wife ordered a bowl of it. In addition to her entree.
The atmosphere was quiet, peaceful, and reserved, a fitting place to rest from the hubbub of downtown Fredericksburg. My wife enjoyed the Merlot and our appetizer of phyllo dough encased goat cheese arrived. Once more the finely balanced flavors struck us almost speechless and my only complaint was that the thin crustini wasn't sufficiently sturdy to support the amount of cheese I wished to have. Okay... maybe MORE crustini would have been good too.
Then my Chicken Fried Steak arrived. From Bubba's to Babe's, to Fred's and Miller's, I've sampled CFS across the state. Never have I had such an amazing CFS. With perfectly tender lobster in a green hatch chili cream sauce, the perfectly seasoned breading almost brought tears to my eyes. I'd never had anything like that before... but don't worry. I will again.
Dessert was the Friggin Chocolate Yum, a warm, gooey, brownie like concoction served with real vanilla bean ice cream. In the end, I wanted... more CFS.
But hey, don't take my word for it. Go. Try the Lobster Topped Chicken Fried Ribeye. Tell me I'm wrong.
I'm betting you won't.