Came across this last week for inspiration:
I don’t know about Southern, but maybe you’re just not going to the right place. For me, I love a good fish fry, and I love some catfish. Off the top of my head, my favorites are:
Ezell’s – Columbus, Georgia – If I up and die of a heart attack, I’ll blame it on the geographically convenient location of my great grandmother’s Columbus home, which was nestled in Ezell’s backyard. Practically. You could see the neon fish sign from her back yard. Catfish was great and hush puppies that can’t be beat. Maybe it’s the nostalgia, but I went back recently and it was still just as good.
Riverbend Restaurant – Thomaston, Georgia – I don’t know if it’s that good, or if it’s something about waiting an hour and staring at the Flint River for a table. First they bring out Captain’s Wafers, then onions and tomatoes, and then cole slaw. After an hour of waiting for a table and another thirty minutes waiting for the entree, you might actually be stuffed. You’ll get the all-you-can eat, but you ate everything you could from starvation before it arrives. The catfish is good, though, and the home-made french fries are *chef’s kiss*.
Williams Seafood – Savannah, Georgia – For all the same reasons as Riverbend, except you’re at Tybee and possibly sunburned and/or drunk. I still remember their seafood platter, and a delicious crab cake in a metal crab shell. Good stuff. I remember they opened a couple of Atlanta locations, but something about doing a beach thing in Windy Hill lacked some charm.
That’s the best I can do outside of chains and I don’t do fancy Atlanta dining. How’s about you…where do you go for a good fish fry or good catfish?
Discuss.
I’m in Atlanta and I can’t think of a single place that wouldn’t be completely run down and gross that does good catfish, hush puppies, fries, cocktail sauce, tarter, and the essential ingredient, coleslaw.
I had catfish at a restaurant recently and it was decent but missing the hush puppies and slaw. You’ve got to have all of that, and it all has to be good in my opinion, for a high quality fried fish meal. Damn I’m hungry now!
catfish, bah! rather eat the cat
bream and bass, please.
As a 100% Southerner, I had my share of catfish growing up but do not partake today. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I have family in the panhandle and my fish requirements are now from the water, to my plate in a few hours.
Getting longer in the tooth, I tend to stay away from fried foods as much as possible, but fresh fried mullet (caught in a from a hand-thrown gill net is simply divine.
Agree about “FRESH” fried mullet!
Charles’s on 82 in Tifton is pretty darn good. They ask you which size fish you want as well.
Charles’s was my parents Friday Date Nite spot. They would take me if I earned it – race PRs, honors for grades, rank advancement in Scouts. Sort of genius when I look back on it.
Nothing Fancy – Leary, Ga. Just a small ride from Albany out in the middle of nowhere but the catfish are really good. Haven’t been in awhile but your post has sparked my catfish palate. May have to take a ride.
I saw the headline and thought it would be an article about Paul Johnson. FTMF. I love seafood, though.
I ate lunch at Ezell’s a couple of weeks ago, the one on Warm Springs. The hush puppies are delicious. Williams Seafood was a favorite. I used to go to the one on Clairmont near Century Center. The one on the road to Tybee was iconic. Only complaint was they didn’t serve alcohol. Hard to believe it’s been gone over 20 years now. Palmer’s on Wilmington Island near the Savannah Country Club was great, too. A place called D’esposito’s is a pretty good no frills seafood place in Savannah.
Old people like me might remember the Rio Vista on Memorial Drive near DeKalb College (or whatever they call it now). Nothing like some fried catfish.
I got faked out by the Headline, too!
Clayton County kid, I remember Rio Vista.
My sister-in-law swears by Gumlog in Lavonia Georgia.
She drives from Easley SC to eat fried fish there
Just about everything at Gumlog is good. Leatherwood fish lodge off Sunshine Road in nearby Toccoa is pretty highly regarded.
Some of these restaurants serve farm raised catfish (very strong taste). Someone needs to take this girl fishing in one of Georgia’s rivers and catch channel cats, then take them home a fry them up. That’s the best tasting catfish IMO.
Ezell’s has very good coleslaw also. Jim Bob’s in Opelika is pretty good. We used to go to the White House in Valley, AL that was the best. Unfortunately, it’s closed now.
For me, there are 2 kinds of fried catfish – good, and better. I don’t know that I’ve ever had bad fried catfish that was served fresh. Guess that woman has too much Yankee in her. It’s not her fault, but it is a shame.
I checked her bio … California.
Russ, after 13 HOT years out in Texas, they can damn sure fry a catfish out there! But you can’t find catfish stew anywhere, and whenever I inquired about it, you would have thought I had three heads!
This is like the fried chicken thing. The best is done at home.
I put 300 catfish in my lake the 2nd week of October last year. I’ll do 200 more as soon as they’re available. The first batch should weigh 1-2 lbs by the end of April, so I’ll start catching a few along “for snacking”.
I haven’t had a ton of fried catfish over the last 10-15 years, but I do appreciate it when it’s done right. Like most here I don’t trust Atlanta restaurants to do it right, but did have some good fried catfish at Six Feet Under, adjacent to Oakland Cemetery downtown.
I’d pay $20 to watch my girl Mallory go noodling for catfish…she thinks she does not like catfish now…wait till one of those bad boys clamp down on her forearm.
Back in the day we would go to the Catfish Den in Hiram…probably not in business anymore, but when I was a kid, there was nothing out there near it…I felt like we were driving to the edge of the earth.
Noodling? Is that the same as root fishing?
T’s restaurant in Augusta was the top spot in the CSRA! Their tarter sauce and hushpuppies were off da chain! Two cold mugs of your favorite draft beer, along with a basket of hushpuppies, and you were done for the night! I have to also give props to Colemans Lake down near Midville, they know how to fry catfish as well!
McKennie<s jn Midville much better/
Years ago Pat Dye had a place downtown guy ate so much could not digest almost died in hospital.
Coleman Lake & McKinnie’s Pond in Midville are both worthy candidates.
David’s Catfish, Spanish Fort, AL
All you can eat baby!
https://davidscatfishhouses.com/
My local grocery store fried catfish not bad either — however, hit or miss if the staff over-cooks/fries (shout out to Tom Thumb & Market Street).
I’ve kayaked under that bridge on the Flint a few times.
When I was a kid and we visited my uncle in Hartwell, we would go to Swamp Guinea routinely and catfish was part of the family style meal we’d get. Think there was a Swamp Guinea in Colbert for a while where my granmother lived. Then, I had a cousin that opened one in the Harlem/Augusta area.
We went to a SG when I was young and living in Athens. Was there one closer than Hartwell in the early 70’s? Don’t recall traveling that far but it was awesome if not just for the name.
Was one close to Athens. Would go there or Charlie Williams after games sometimes. SG only had picnic like tables and benchs. No idea how we got there. That part has gone!!
Williams Seafood closing (burning) down broke my heart as much as a Dawg loss to Auburn. It was a part of my life growing up and I still miss it.
Best I ever had was a little diner in Kosciusko, MS back in the 90’s just off the Natchez Trace parkway. Plates of fried and blackened brought family style and seating was just long picnic tables.
As a Columbus native, Ezells is a favorite of mine. Wish I made it home more often to eat there. However, as a kid growing up in Columbus, I liked Pritchett’s even better. They sat your group in a private room at a long picnic style table and brought family style platters to the middle of the table with all you can eat fried catfish, hush puppies, fries, cole slaw, etc. Had a mini juke box at the end of the table. And there was a light switch on the wall that you flipped whenever you needed a server to come refill your platters. Great memories there. Was sad when it closed several years ago.
This is the answer for the true CBus fried fish fans
Pritchett’s was outstanding! My Dad was stationed at Fort Benning 65-66 (7th and 8th grade for me at Don C. Faith Scool on post). First place I’d been that had private dining rooms. Great food. Thanks for prodding my memory
These are important dispatches from below The Gnat Line.
Being from Sandersville, we always went to Herb’s in Oconee. We knew, & still know, the family that owns it. Not much to look at, but great fried catfish plucked straight from the Oconee River. Here in NC, it’s hard to find good fried catfish, but Lakes End Cafe in Topton (Nantahala Lake) has pretty good fried catfish. We usually go with the in-laws for their Friday night fish fry when we go up for the weekend.
Nick’s – Freeport, FL (catfish or mullet)
My mom’s side of the family is from Sylvania. We used to drive down to William’s on a special occasion for a seafood feast. Some of the most indelible and sublime memories of my youth. The food was always excellent, too.
Old MacDonalds fish camp. Augusta Ga area.
Actually Old McDonald’s Fish Camp barely in SC. Serving since 1977.
I go there every time I make it to Augusta. Best seafood I know since Williams burnt down (between Savannah and Tybee). Old McDonald’s has excellent fried catfish and they know how to make catfish stew (saw the comment above regarding Texas seafood).
I’m spoiled, my fried fish is better than any restaurant I’ve tried.