Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

Right on Route 11, just north of where I-59 crosses Route 11 at interstate exit 90, is Charlie’s Catfish House. This is a little north of Ellisville, Mississippi (actually in the city limits, but you know how they stretch those city limits). The building is plain, sort of big for the area, but plain.

This place is famous in this area. It has won some awards or something. Several notes:

First, “Charlie’s” is a common name for catfish restaurants. I must have seen a dozen places with that name. Maybe it is a common name for entrepreneurs in the south. Maybe it just fits with the word “catfish.” It does have sort of a ring – Charlie’s Catfish, Charlie’s Catfish, Charlie’s Catfish.

Second, the menu in this place is painted on the wall. They don’t give you anything at the table; you read the wall.

Third, reading the wall isn’t hard as there are only two things on it: (1) fried catfish and (2) hamburger steak.

I went to Charlie’s with my brother and his wife. They come to Charlie’s often. She always has the hamburger steak, and he always has…well, you know. So my brother and I got catfish and she got, well the usual.

Charlie’s is an all-you-can-eat place. They put an empty plate in front of you and a platter with catfish on the table next to a basket of french fries and a basket of hush puppies. See the photo in this link. If you want more, you signal the waiter and he brings you more.

This is the only catfish place I have been that serves fish the way they do. Look at the photo in the above link. They cut off the head, gut it, and batter and fry they whole body. They bring it out whole fried.

I wasn’t sure what to do with an entire fried catfish. All I could imagine was a mouthful of tiny catfish bones, and I wasn’t looking forward to that. Peering around the restaurant in a way that wouldn’t label me as a tourist, I learned how to eat it. You pull the meat off the body; it comes right off with ease. You have several clumps of fried catfish on your plate. The rest I could handle, but I didn’t eat the tails.

I understand why Charlie’s has won some local awards and such. The fish is  good and not expensive ($10 a person).

And by the way, the hamburger steak that my sister-in-law ate looked good. It was cooked with onions in gravy. I was tempted to…