For Heaven's Sake!

I clicked the wrong click, and clicked out of my last post before it was finished. I MUST evaluate the fried catfish. I grew up eating fried catfish, fresh catfish that my grandfather caught and froze in paper Foremost milk cartons full of the water in which the fish lived. My grandmother had some sort of secret recipe for frying the fish - my mother says that she soaked the fish in milk before coating it in corn meal and frying it in either lard or Crisco. However she cooked it, I will never forget the taste of that fish, and was thoroughly spoiled by it, so that when people say, "So-and-So has the BEST catfish!," I smile smugly to myself. Grandma's catfish was the best. As I have grown older, however, I have recognized that no one can fix Grandma's catfish, and so if I want to eat catfish, I will have to try other, inferior cooks' versions. So far, by far, Fred's Fish House in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, has held the crown. I tried the fried catfish at The Fish House in Conway, Arkansas, and found it pleasing, the hush puppies addictive, and the brown, soupy pinto beans delicious, but Fred's coating was still the lightest and most crisp. So when we went to Oxford, where Taylor Grocery was heralded as the best by locals and tourists alike, I had to go and pronounce it good, great, or passable. It was very good. The cornmeal coating was light and crispy, but I needed to add a little salt. The hush puppies were probably, in all fairness, better than Fred's or The Fish House's, because they had just a little bite, probably from a smidgin of cayenne pepper. Taylor Grocery's atmosphere was far superior to either Fred's or The Fish House, because I confess that I believe most meals are made better with the addition of a glass of wine, or the the menu demands, a bottle of beer. Also, I enjoyed the crowd at Taylor, all of whom were raucous, lively, and happy. Fred's customer base is quieter, and Fred's is most crowded on Sunday around noon when all the churches let out. No one is raucous after church! My visit to The Fish House came on a Saturday afternoon, when most of the lunch crowd was gone and our waitress had definitely earned time to sit rather than wait on yet another table. So I cannot determine the best. I prefer the crust on Fred's fish, the pinto beans at The Fish House, and the hush puppies, ambience, and ability to imbibe at Taylor Grocery. Perhaps, just perhaps, the answer lies in yet another trip to each!