Adam & Eats: Catfish Hole

 

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for almost nine years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree. Feel free to give him a hard time.

When we think of eating at a catfish restaurant, we typically think of a little Mom & Pop shop with little red baskets of battered and fried catfish, hush puppies, maybe even some coleslaw or potato salad. We do not think of a place that we would call classy or modern.

When I went to Catfish Hole in Alma I, like you, expected to find a hole in the wall spot that served up paper plates covered with deep fried bottom-feeder, where I would promptly devour said fish with utensils removed from a clear plastic wrapper. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

Located about half a mile off of I-40 East is the location of Catfish Hole 2. The original Catfish Hole is located in Fayetteville and is the home of the Bobby Petrino call-in show. If anyone reading this is now asking themselves “Who the Hell is Bobby Petrino?” you should probably go ahead and slap yourself in the face. I am by no means a football fanatic, but even I know who Bobby Petrino is.

Anyway, I have heard many great things about the Fayetteville spot, so I decided to check out the Alma venture to see if their food is as great as rumor makes it out to be. I’m not going to bury the lead here. It is fabulous.

As soon as you step into the restaurant you will need to do a double take. The best way to describe the décor is modern industrial. Lots of wood and metal and cinder block, all done in soothing cool colors with simple lighting fixtures of black cords with bare light bulbs. You will be as fascinated with the light bulbs as I was, I can assure you. They even offer free WiFi.

The restaurant is reminiscent of a higher-end seafood restaurant located in a large city. Philadelphia comes to my mind. It is a place you do not expect to find in Fort Smith, let alone in Alma. Please do not misinterpret this last statement. I love Fort Smith and its neighbor cities, but we are the biggest small town in the world. Everybody knows everybody and we love that. You just don’t expect to find a modern re-interpretation of a family catfish restaurant in this neck of the woods. That’s all I’m saying. I am also saying that it is a very nice surprise.

Despite the modern look of the place, the simple Southern hospitality shines through when the waitresses still call you “Hon” and bring you sweet tea faster than you can count to Ten-Mississippi. As soon as you sit down at your very comfortable table, a waitress appears with plates of hushpuppies, white coleslaw, green tomato relish, red onions, and dill pickles. It’s like Heaven. The hushpuppies will make you want to slap your Mother just to ensure that they keep coming by the plateful. They are so good that you will not even need to dip them in ketchup. The ocean clams are spot on and the scallops are tender and surprisingly not greasy.

Now, I love fried catfish and theirs is great, but it does not hold a candle to the grilled Cajun catfish. It is out of this world. It has a very rich, yet subtle flavor where salty, spicy, and tart all dance around on your tongue in a playful and yummy way. It makes you forget the that fact that you are stuffed to the gills from eating eight plates of hushpuppies and makes you keep eating this perfectly grilled fish fillet.

Overall, I really dig the Catfish Hole. Ha! Oh, that’s good. Dig the Catfish Hole. Get it? Dig? A hole? That’s rich. Oh, never mind.

If you haven’t eaten at the Catfish Hole, and you love catfish, you should check it out. If for no other reason than to see their bathrooms. They’re awesome.

Feedback
When he’s not beating his eggs, Adam makes time to respond to e-mails that get past his hard-ass spam filter. You can try to reach him at [email protected]

Adam also has this thing called Sandwich Control.