My quest for good chicken fried steak ^[1] continued today, and I ended up (on the recommendation of several) at Linda’s for brunch. While my last craving for chicken fried steak was in the evening, this came on at the more reasonable (for Seattle) time of 11am. Convenient, as brunch had just started.

Linda’s Tavern serves their chicken fried steak (known as “The Bullrider Breakfast”) with hash browns, your choice of toast (white, wheat, marbled rye or english muffin), eggs any style, and cream gravy. I have to admire the cook for his eggs, over hard – I’ve had a tough time getting eggs done properly hard at breakfast locales, and this cook got it right. But the chicken fried steak itself? Sadly, it was overcooked, and the batter around the steak itself was almost like a light tempura batter, rather than a (for lack of better description) thicker batter that I’m accustomed to. That, combined with an odd spice that I couldn’t place (either in the batter or in the gravy, of which there wasn’t nearly enough), made it a disappointing experience.

Still, I’ve lived in Seattle for seven years. I’ve lived in my current apartment nearly two, which is literally across the street from Linda’s, and this was my first time there. Although I doubt I’d order the chicken fried steak again, I’ll definitely go back – the ambiance and friendliness of the staff made it worth trying again.