When I was growing up in California, I noticed that chicken-fried steak seemed to be a popular item on school lunch menus and in dormitory dining halls. I never actually knew what it was, so I never ordered it. Was it really chicken? Was it steak? Every time I came across it, it was round, flat and breaded, with what appeared to be dark-colored meat inside. The "steak" also never looked appetizing.
As it turns out, chicken-fried steak is a variant of schnitzel. It is popular in the Southern US, perhaps especially in Texas. The dish is a cut of beef that is pounded until very thin, breaded and fried. The cheapest, least tender pieces of beef are usually the ones that are used for this dish, since the pounding softens the meat and the majority of the flavor comes from the fried coating and the cream-based gravy that the dish is inevitably smothered in. And even afficianados will tell you that the best parts are often the coating and the gravy.
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