A legendary Arkansas catfish joint just reeled in some great publicity.
"As far as I'm concerned, the best catfish in America is served at a place called Murry's Restaurant, just off U.S. 70 in Hazen, Arkansas," writes Sid Evans. He's not just another poster on Yelp. Or just another Google reviewer.
Evans, a native Memphian, is editor-in-chief of Southern Living magazine. He praises Murry's in the first sentence of his Life @ Southern Living column on Page 11 of the July issue.
Evans writes, "in an age when all sorts of restaurant chains serve fried catfish, there's something about Murry's that has kept me coming back for decades. It's not necessarily the decor, a melange of mounted ducks and geese, vintage Coca-Cola signs, and tchotchkes. It's not the wine list, since Murry's doesn't serve alcohol. But there's something about the restaurant, the staff, and the food that makes you feel welcome, almost as if you were having dinner in someone's living room."
Those someones would be the Young family. Since 1986, Stanley and Rebecca Young have owned the restaurant that was started by her father, Olden Murry, in 1961; their two daughters continue to work there. (Their son is a Bentonville police officer. "He got out of the restaurant business; he don't want nothing to do with it," Stanley says with a laugh.)
Evans, whose father duck-hunted in the same area as Stanley, reached out to him about doing the Southern Living piece. Since the issue hit newsstands, business has been booming even more than usual at the restaurant where other popular items include steaks and homemade bread pudding with bourbon sauce.
"In fact, Friday and Saturday of last week, I think most of my customers were from out of town, and I had a guy call me a while ago, and he was from Holly Springs, Miss.," Stanley says, adding he's had interest from "people from all parts of Arkansas and out of state -- St. Louis, New York, Ohio. ... We've had a lot of response from it. It's just a blessing that we were chosen to have an article like that."
Stanley says what separates their catfish is quality and simplicity: "We start off with a good product; we start off with a good fish. And my batter is not a complicated batter. ... We definitely keep our oil up to par, we change oil regularly and never let it ... get old." He adds catfish "is supposed to have a flavor that's not taken away by overly spicing it. ... Catfish is supposed to taste like catfish."
Speaking of simplicity, Murry's takes only cash and checks; no cards are accepted. And the restaurant is only open three days a week and only for dinner -- Thursday through Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. For more information, visit tinyurl.com/murryscatfish or call (870) 255-3266.
SundayMonday on 07/08/2018