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Dozen Best Catfish[/title]
Restaurateurs looking around New Orleans for a niche they might fill profitably would do well to consider the old-style country catfish house. The concept is simple, but much misunderstood. All you have to do is latch down a source of wild-caught catfish (and I know that at least one major seafood wholesaler is looking for customers). Coat it with seasoned cornmeal and corn flour. Then fry the catfish to order (no batching) in fresh, hot oil, while paying close attention. The all-time greats of the catfish cookery in New Orleans never did much more than that.
Unfortunately, two of the three longtime best catfish joints were lost in the years after Hurricane Katrina. Barrow's Shady Inn was killed by the flood. The owners attempted to return, but it didn't work out. Bozo's was tripped up by a generational change, then sold to the Mr. Ed's restaurant confederacy--which, under a new name, has continued the Bozo's tradition of excellent catfish. Only Middendorf's continues a long-term specialty in catfish, and it's way out of town.
Fortunately, good catfish cooks are still out there--by the dozen, as we will presently demonstrate. But there's plenty of room for more, and it's at least as promising a source of enjoyment as the current hamburger mania is. Also encouraging is the recent expansion in the availability of wild-caught Des Allemands catfish. It always was better than the farm-raised variety.
I have been saying for a long time that no cooking method for catfish beats the cornmeal-coated frying mentioned above. But there is one interesting alternative. Many of the Vietnamese restaurants braise catfish in fish stock with peppers and lemongrass and the like, in a clay pot. This is very good, and calls for its inclusion in this list.
Not worthy are the restaurants which, to save a few dimes, use Asian imported fish. It's related to, but not the same as, the catfish raised or caught in Louisiana and Mississippi. I always ask about the provenance of the catfish before I order it, and I recommend that strategy to you, too.
.1. Cuevas's Fish House . Picayune, MS: 2508 Hwy 43 S. 601-798-9927 . Before starting in on the Top Dozen, I must introduce the apotheosis of the country catfish shack. (It's near Picayune, Mississippi, outside our sphere of coverage.) The few days a week it's open, Cuevas fries whole and filleted catfish to a fare-thee-well. Raised and caught in nearby ponds and bayous, the catfish actually has some flavor. The whole fish are served on an all-you-can-eat basis. It's greaseless, nicely seasoned, too hot to eat right away, and accompanied by the best hush puppies I've ever encountered. Any would-be proprietor of a catfish house would do well to come here and pay attention. (Here's a map for finding Cuevas's.)
1. Middendorf's. River Parishes: Exit 15 off I-55, Manchac. 985-386-6666. Middendorf's so dominates local thinking about catfish that folks who are in principle opposed to any institution widely recognized as Number One often complain loudly about it. I have no idea why. The catfish is fried to order, hot and golden out of the fryer. The thin-cut fish has rebounded from the years when it was too thin, but I still like the thick fish better. They like small fillets here, and so do I.
2. Hoa Hong 9 (Nine Roses). Gretna: 1100 Stephens. 504-366-7665. The best Vietnamese kitchen in town can feed you different concoctions involving catfish all afternoon long, without frying even a little of it. The fish soup is particularly good.
3. Crabby's Seafood Shack. Madisonville: 305 Covington. 985-845-2348. This is Keith Young's first foray outside a menu dominated by beef, and different from his steakhouse in every way except the quality of his food. This very casual place has beautiful small catfish fillets, fried so well that my wife--a major catfish fan--said, "Anybody who misses Bozo's can come here!"
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Out back of Spahr's, and the bayou in which catfish and alligators play.[/caption]4. Spahr's. River Parishes: 3682 US 90. 985-758-1602. Driving away from New Orleans on US 90, you cross Bayou Des Allemands--which is to catfish what Empire is to oysters. Drive a few more miles and you'll see what looks like a gas station on the left. In fact, it once was a gas station, and the long-dead pumps are still there. This is Spahr's, the most famous name in catfish restaurants in that rich catfish zone.
5. Mr. Ed's Oyster Bar & Fish Grill. Metairie: 3117 21st St. 504-833-6310. ||French Quarter: 512 Bienville. 504-309-4848.Ed McIntyre was a regular customer at Bozo's from the time he was a boy. When Chris "Bozo" Vodanovich sold his old restaurant to Mr. Ed in 2013, Ed had four other restaurants, two of them in the neighborhood seafood category. It has been a nice match. Ed is buying the same wild-caught catfish Bozo always fried, and expanded the menu a lot besides. There will never be another Bozo's, but we now have two Mr. Ed Oyster Houses, since a new one opened in 2014 in the French Quarter.
6. Cafe Minh. Mid-City: 4139 Canal. 504-482-6266. Here is to be found a rare non-fried rendition of catfish that rivals the cornmeal-crusted version. It's Vietnamese barbecue catfish, vegetables, jasmine rice. Spicy and possessed of a wonderful fish flavor.
7. Palace Cafe. French Quarter: 605 Canal. 504-523-1661. Catfish with pecans has been a signature dish at the Palace Cafe since it opened on Canal Street over twenty years ago. Two things about it separate it from standard fried catfish. First, of course, are the pecans, crushed into near-crumbs and encrusting the entire fish fillet. But just as important is the sauce, a medium-dark brown Creole meuniere, rich with butter, lemon, and a little reduced stock.
8. New Orleans Food & Spirits. Covington: 208 Lee Lane. 985-875-0432. ||Harvey: 2330 Lapalco Blvd. 504-362-0800. ||West End & Bucktown: 210 Hammond Hwy. 504-828-2220. This three-restaurant, local chain has always excelled in their frying of seafood. Catfish is farm-raised, resulting in bigger fish than optimal. Nevertheless, we get some very nice fish here, with a fine cornmeal-pecan crust. They also are better at grilling and blackening catfish than most places.
9. K Gee's Oyster Bar. Mandeville: 2534 Florida. 985-626-0530. K Gee's has a family connection with the extinct Bozo's. Although it's never been as good as its ancestor, the place does buy wild-caught catfish exclusively, and fries it very well. Good oysters, too.
10. Bistro Orleans. Metairie 2: Orleans Line To Houma Blvd: 3216 W Esplanade Ave. 504-838-9935. Frying seafood is the best thing they do at this Metairie strip-mall cafe. What I particularly like is that they serve fried seafood boats, with catfish as one of the choices of seafood filling the whole loaf of hollowed-out, toasted bread.
11. Cafe Reconcile. Warehouse District & Center City: 1631 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. 504-568-1157. Classic, basic cornmeal-coated fried catfish, cooked and served by young people on their way up the culinary ladder.
12. Annunciation. Warehouse District & Center City: 1016 Annunciation. 504-568-0245. We don't think of an upscale gourmet bistros as the place to go for fried catfish. Chef Steve Manning thought he'd give it a try when he arranged to bring in wild-caught Des Allemands catfish to fry. Not on all the time, but often enough.
