And for that we thank you, Jimmy Don Perkins, wherever you are. The correct name is Herb Massey's Dinner Place, a stately title befitting Texas' foremost chicken-fried steak joint, and the location is 1805 8th Avenue in Fort Worth. And he knew how to cook it better than anyone else. Now, almost four decades later, Massey's is the best known chicken-fried steak restaurant in Texas and son Charles continues to supervise the kitchen from which have been served, more or less, three million plates of Texans' favorite meal. No real secret to any of this.
Every ingredient is bought fresh daily.
Every dish is made from scratch. Nothing is prepared in advance. The cook doesn't start until he receives an order. In it's raw state, it is round steak, a tough piece of beef. Massey's stipulates that the meat must be run through a tenderizing machine twice, first in one direction then in another, to thoroughly break down the tough fibers.