The Secret South

Catfish Shacks
Anybody can fry a catfish. Nobody does it like these folks

Adams Catfish House
Belle Chasse, LA
Adams Catfish House—which wisely doesn’t bother with desserts, alcohol, or replacing the missing letters in its sign out front—gives tuna fish reason to tremble with its signature catfish salad, a dish aficionados say represents the pinnacle of bits of fish, chunks of hard-boiled eggs, celery, onion, and mayonnaise. The crunchy salad, sprinkled with paprika and served with crackers, is the ideal starter for an all-you-can-eat meal of sweet catfish, fried whole. 504-394-3819

The Ark
Riverside, AL
The Ark’s name is a nod to its buoyant past: The seventy-year-old restaurant was first built on a barge, enabling its bootlegging owner to drift down the Coosa River to another county whenever authorities got itchy to make an arrest. Now permanently situated a few laps away from Talledaga Speedway, the Ark’s a favorite with NASCAR drivers, who manager Warren Smith suspects are as enamored with the joint’s outlaw roots as its catfish. 205-338-7420

Catfish Hotel
Shiloh, TN
Catfish is served fried, broiled, and braised at the Catfish Hotel, which got its start as a one-room shack. “We’ve been in business since 1938, so after all that time, we should have it down pat,” Barbara McAfee trills. McAfee habitually reminds customers to leave room for dessert, since the restaurant’s white-chocolate banana cream pie and lemon rub, a menu fixture dating back to the 1940s, provides a perfect foil to the seasoned catfish filets.
catfishhotel.com

Mike Linnig’s
Louisville, KY
Mike Linnig opened his eponymous catfish palace back in 1925, when Louisville’s factories were manned by Irish and Italian immigrants who insisted upon fish on Fridays. The restaurant’s continued to thrive since Vatican II, with more than a thousand people packing its patio on sunlit summer evenings for battered and breaded catfish filets, fat house-made onion rings, and white cod sandwiches. “It just grew like a church picnic,” owner (and Linnig’s granddaughter) Nancy Wuerth says laughing. mikelinnigsrestaurant.com

Ray’s Millpond
Ray City, GA
The consolation prize for anglers who strike out on the 3,500-acre pond abutting Ray’s is a to-go box of the restaurant’s prized catfish, fried golden, and a handful of hush puppies. A Ray City institution for nearly a half century, Ray’s Millpond employs only the most experienced cooks, ensuring every failed fisherman leaves with a plate that’s guaranteed to restore his faith in the wisdom of his pastime. raysmillpond.com

Rocky Creek Catfish
Lucedale, MS
A relative newcomer to the catfish scene, the fourteen-year-old Rocky Creek Catfish’s youthful exuberance shows up in nontraditional dishes like its hush puppies drizzled with cheese. “It’s like a nacho cheese sauce, but we kick up the flavors,” owner John Shepherd explains. “I don’t think many people have tried anything like it.” But the main draw’s still the Mississippi-raised catfish, tenderly coated with a house-made mix of cornmeal and spices. 601-947-6888

Spruell’s Cafe
Doddridge, AR
Reader Alysia Cook, who’s taken with Spruell’s “phenomenal” catfish, writes that the restaurant is “way off into the woods.” Owner Becky Heigle calls the description charitable: “We’re twenty-five miles from Texarkana,” she says. “For people to drive this far, the food has to be good.” Loyalties are divided between the catfish and the fresh cabbage slaw, served with a side of mustard-based dressing. “Everyone calls it honey mustard, but it’s not,” Heigle says of the recipe her great-grandmother imported from Germany. “Customers eat it on their fries, fish, and everything.” 870-691-2600

Whitey’s Fish Camp
Orange Park, FL
When bills began mounting faster than Elaine Cassala’s father could make money fishing, he recruited his wife to help him open the first restaurant on the banks of the St. John’s River. After forty-six years, Whitey’s has evolved from a humble catfish-only joint to a full-service seafood restaurant, but the fresh-caught wild river catfish still earns enthusiastic “yummm”s from patrons including reader Peggy Begley. whiteysfishcamp.com
 

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