People in Jersey ain’t even allowed to fuel up their own cars.
Had some vendors from New Jersey a few years back: went to eat, one had chicken fried steak and he put ketchup on it. The other had catfish and could not stop eating it. Weird folks.
I don’t trust them with donuts.
They both had ever had catfish nor chicken fried steak before. Strange state.
...but breading the steak wasn't an issue?
...and calling it "chicken fried" wasn't either?
...and smothering it in vomitous "country gravy" made with flour, butter (for the fat), sometimes bacon grease, sometimes breakfast sausage, milk, salt, pepper, and sometimes chicken broth wasn't an issue?
Steak is breaded to mask the the low quality of the cut of beef - the same low quality cut that would warrant condiments such as ketchup.
The associate you were dining with may have used ketchup, because being from New Jersey, they may been trying to get it as close to steak parmigiana as they could.