**10 Small Town Tennessee Catfish Houses Locals Drive 3 Hours For — Transcript & Summary | SozAI**
Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/tennessee-catfish-houses-locals-drive-hours-for/

A Tennessee Insider countdown of 10 small-town catfish houses worth a road trip, covering locations, signature dishes, prices, hours, and local history.

## Key Takeaways

- Small-town Tennessee catfish houses are destination dining experiences worth planning road trips around
- Many of these restaurants have strong community histories, including rebuilding after floods or fires
- Practical planning matters: check operating days, cash-only policies, and expect possible waits at busy times
- Classic sides like hushpuppies, white beans, and coleslaw are central to the catfish dining experience

## What the video covers

- Video ranks 10 small-town Tennessee catfish restaurants that locals and travelers drive long distances to visit
- Number 10 is Twin Lakes Catfish Kitchen in Burns, known for a giant catfish sign on US Highway 70 East and 30+ years under owner Dan Hickson
- Number 9 is Morning Glory Catfish and Fixins in Unionville, with all-you-can-eat catfish Friday through Sunday and a 2025 food truck explosion before its reopening
- Number 8 is Riverview Restaurant and Marina in Ashland City, which has a 240-foot dock on the Cumberland River and was rebuilt after a 2010 flood
- Number 7 is Fish Camp Restaurant in Centerville, featuring ponds guests can feed fish in, cornmeal-fried Tennessee River catfish, and flood recovery after 2010
- Number 6 is Fish Hut in Savannah, the self-proclaimed Catfish Capital of the World, offering a cash-only buffet at around $10
- Number 5 is Granny Fishes House in Wartrace, open three days a week with fresh-made pies and a loyal following since 1993
- Number 4 is Carmack's Fish Barn in Cottage Grove, rebuilt by family and former employees after a 2021 fire
- Later entries include restaurants near Shiloh battlefield, Tiptonville, and Kentucky Lake, with prices, hours, and local context
- The video frequently notes practical details such as drive times from Nashville or Memphis, cash-only policies, limited hours, and wait times

## Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction to Tennessee catfish destinations
2. 01:20 Number 10: Twin Lakes Catfish Kitchen in Burns
3. 03:38 Number 9: Morning Glory Catfish and Fixins in Unionville
4. 05:35 Number 8: Riverview Restaurant and Marina in Ashland City
5. 07:35 Number 7: Fish Camp Restaurant in Centerville
6. 09:59 Number 6: Fish Hut in Savannah
7. 11:59 Number 5: Granny Fishes House in Wartrace
8. 14:15 Number 4: Carmack's Fish Barn in Cottage Grove
9. 16:40 Remaining entries and closing thoughts

Answers

## Questions about this video

Which restaurant is the number one pick in the video?

The transcript excerpt does not reveal the number one pick, but the narrator says it is worth crossing state lines for. The excerpt ends during the number four entry, so the top choices are not included.

Which restaurants offer all-you-can-eat catfish?

Morning Glory Catfish and Fixins in Unionville offers all-you-can-eat catfish Friday through Sunday for about $12.99. Fish Camp Restaurant in Centerville also lists all-you-can-eat catfish on its menu.

What practical tips does the video give for visiting these restaurants?

Fish Hut in Savannah and Granny Fishes House in Wartrace are cash-only or cash-or-check, so bring money. Several spots have limited hours, such as Morning Glory and Granny Fishes House, which are open only some days, and busy nights can bring waits at places like Riverview.

## Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

00:00

Speaker A

One diner drove 4 hours one way for a plate of catfish. A couple drove 500 miles from Iowa and made one Lakeside Fish House their base. One guestbook holds visitors from all 50 states. You don't stumble onto these places, you

00:17

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plan the trip around them. Here are 10 small town Tennessee catfish houses worth the miles and number one is worth crossing state lines for. Number 10, Twin Lakes Catfish Kitchen in Burns.

00:31

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You'll spot it by the sign. A giant catfish on a pole stands over US Highway 70 East in Burns, a town of about 1,600 people 5 miles east of Dickson. Roadside America wrote up that pole and it's still a better advertisement than any

00:49

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billboard. Owner Dan Hickson has run the place for more than 30 years. When Tennessee Crossroads asked him his secret, he kept it short. Good catfish, he said, is clean grease and the right temperature. That's the whole method and

01:04

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you can taste it. Reviewers call it delicious catfish both fried and broiled. It comes out hot and perfectly fried and people single out the hushpuppies and the white beans. There's a spicy version if you want some heat and fried clams and shrimp if someone at

01:20

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the table wants a change. The sides arrive in big bowls family style. Order the catfish fried or broiled and say yes to the hushpuppies and the white beans.

01:32

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The address is 3069 US Highway 70 East and one reviewer put the bill at 20 to $30 a person. This is the easy one on the list about 35 minutes west of Nashville. No 3-hour drive required. You come for the pole you can't miss and a

01:49

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fryer the same owner has run for three decades. Fair warning, the reviews are mixed. One diner said call-in orders take too long, so skip the phone, walk in and sit down. Number nine, Morning Glory Catfish and Fixins in Unionville.

02:07

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Unionville is a town of about 1,400 people in Bedford County and the restaurant sits at 3034 US Highway 41A near Community High School. It's about an hour from Nashville and the plates are built for people who made that drive

02:23

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hungry. Start with a catfish. You pick regular or spicy fillets or a whole catfish and it comes with white beans and ham, creamy coleslaw and hushpuppies. Go spicy if you want heat and let the white beans and ham ride

02:38

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along. One reviewer said it's cooked to order. Friday through Sunday, the catfish goes all you can eat. The prices are friendly. All you can eat is listed at about $12.99.

02:51

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Catfish plates run about 1475 to 1750 and kids eat free according to the restaurant's own site. The place has a story and it's a short one. In May 2025, a food truck belonging to owner Floyd Thomas exploded just before the grand

03:10

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reopening after the move from Murfreesboro. WSMV covered it. Today, the restaurant is open and the fryers running. The catch is the calendar.

03:19

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Three days a week is all you get. One reviewer called Unionville quite a drive. So, plan around the weekend and bring an appetite that's worth the trip.

03:29

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Number eight, Riverview Restaurant and Marina in Ashland City. Most restaurants have a parking lot.

03:35

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Riverview has a dock, 240 ft of it on the Cumberland River at mile marker 158.

03:42

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Feel free to tie up and dine with us. A reviewer confirmed that boaters really do dock and walk up. So, some of the people at the next table may have arrived by boat. Ashland City is the county seat of Cheatham County, a town

03:57

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of about 5,000. The address is 110 Old River Road, and the restaurant's been here since 1956.

04:06

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According to co-owner April Lawrence in an interview with WKRN, their motto is, "The only thing we overlook is the river." And yes, you eat with the water right in front of you.

04:18

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Catfish is the draw, often served with shrimp as a combination plate, according to one reviewer. Order that combination, plates run about $10 to $20. The building's been through a lot. In May 2010, a flood destroyed it, WKRN reported. The couple who rebuilt it had

04:36

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moved from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Tennessee Crossroads reported. The rebuild took a year, and the building was raised. Regular Walter Robinson told reporters he comes in about every week. It's about 30 minutes from Nashville. One thing to know, it

04:53

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can be a wait on busy nights, and a few reviews mention slow service. Go early, and the river makes the wait easy.

05:01

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Number seven, Fish Camp Restaurant in Centerville. Pull into the lot at Fish Camp, and the first thing you see is two ponds. Guests can feed the fish before they eat the fish. A travel feature called that out, and it's the first thing most visitors

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mention. The restaurant is at 406 Highway 100 in Centerville, near Defeated Creek. Centerville is the seat of Hickman County, a town of about 3,500.

05:28

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From Nashville, plan on about an hour and 10 minutes. The catfish is Tennessee River catfish, fried crisp in cornmeal.

05:36

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The Nashville Scene wrote that it tastes of clean water, fresh fish, and cornmeal. The hushpuppies are made from scratch, the slaw is cold, the white beans are hot, and most dinners come with three sides. The Nashville Scene also lists all you can eat catfish on

05:53

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the menu. So, order that and take your time. In May 2010, a flood hit. The Nashville Scene described it this way, "Floodwaters rose almost to the porch roof." Photos from that day hang on the walls. The owners rebuilt right away and

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reopened, and the restaurant has been serving ever since. One reviewer summed up the whole trip in four words, "Well worth the drive." The catch? I looked for one. The recent reviews I read were all praise. The only drawback is the

06:24

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drive, and you've already decided to make that. Number six, Fish Hut in Savannah. If you want to know why Savannah, Tennessee calls itself the Catfish Capital of the World, walk into Fish Hut at 95 Water Street and look around the

06:40

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room. Savannah is the seat of Hardin County, a town of about 7,000 on the Tennessee River. Fish Hut serves catfish fried or grilled with homemade hushpuppies and slaw. Pick fried or grilled and take the hushpuppies either way. A reviewer wrote, "Old-style meal

06:59

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dipped just like my daddy made." Then there's the review that tells you where this place stands. A couple who'd eaten at Hagy's Catfish Hotel, the most famous catfish house in the county, said they had some of the best catfish of their

07:13

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lives at Fish Hut the night before. Coming from someone who'd just been to Hagy's, that's high praise. This is the quick stop on the list, a lunch buffet for about $10, drink included, about 2 hours from Memphis. The one catch is the

07:28

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register. Fish Hut is cash only, so bring bills, and the only thing standing between you and a $10 lunch is a fork.

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If this list is helping you plan your next road trip, hit that like button. It helps more people who think the way you do find these places.

07:45

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Number five, Granny Fishes House in Wartrace. The house rule is on the restaurant's own site, and it's the best sentence on this list. Granny's food didn't come pre-cooked, and she doesn't just stick it in the microwave. Granny Fishes House

08:01

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sits at 340 Shipman Creek Road in Wartrace, a town of about 650 between Shelbyville and Tullahoma in Bedford County. It's about an hour from Nashville. The menu is built around Southern fried or grilled catfish fillets or whole. The site promises our

08:20

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scrumptious white beans and Granny's famous slaw. There are frog legs, too. Order the catfish and decide on pie before you finish dinner, because the site says all our pies are made fresh in-house every night. Reviewers back it up. A diner who'd driven from Elkmont,

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Alabama, wrote, "They do still have the best catfish and hushpuppies I have ever had, and plan to come back every year." Another wrote, "Delicious and very hot." A third, "Absolutely fantastic." Two friends drove 50 miles to eat here. One

08:54

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diner has been coming since 1993, and readers of Tennessee Magazine voted it the best catfish in Middle Tennessee.

09:02

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Look at the schedule, and you'll see how serious they are. Three days a week, and that's it. It's also cash or checks only, according to multiple sources, and recent reviews mention long lines. Come early, bring cash, and save room for

09:15

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pie. Number four, Carmack's Fish Barn in Cottage Grove. On September 26th, 2021, Carmack's Fish Barn burned. Family and former employees rebuilt it for free. When people will do that for a restaurant, you can guess how they feel about the food. The restaurant

09:34

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is at 2165 Highway 140 North in Henry County. It opened in 1984 in a converted barn.

09:43

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Kayleen Radford started working here at 13, and she bought the place in 2017. All of this is in Cottage Grove, Tennessee, population 66. Carmax once seated 180 people there. Do the math, and you can see why the parking lot

09:58

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fills with plates from other counties, and the fish gets the praise. One reviewer called the catfish snow white and so delicious. Another wrote, "The slaw was the best I have ever had." A third called the vinegar slaw "different, but so good." And one summed

10:15

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up the whole place, "Everything has been delicious every time I've been at this fish barn." Before the fire, the property had donkeys, sheep, a goat, and geese. Reviews say the animals are still there for kids to feed, so save a few

10:29

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minutes after dinner. Order the catfish with that vinegar slaw. One family drove an hour from Jackson just to sit down.

10:37

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It's about 2 hours and 15 minutes from Nashville, and as of an August 2026 review, it's open and serving. The catch is size. The new building is smaller, seating about 100 instead of 180. In a town of 66, that's still plenty of

10:53

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chairs, but on a weekend, you'll want to arrive early. Number three, Blue Bank Fish House and Grill in Hornbeak.

11:02

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Eat outside and watch the bald eagles work the lake. That's the pitch at Blue Bank Fish House and Grill at 813 Lake Drive in Hornbeak on the shore of Reelfoot Lake. Hornbeak is a town of about 500 in Obion County. The Tennessee

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Wildlife Resources Agency calls Reelfoot the largest natural lake in the state, 10,427 acres. Blue Bank gets its name from local history. People called the shore Bluebank because the clay looks blue when it's wet. The setting is the story.

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A garden on the property supplies vegetables, herbs, and spices. A fifth-generation family member hosts and Tennessee Crossroads called the place a family-owned jewel of the lake. Visitors walk the dock and watch turtles and ducks. In 2026, readers of USA Today's

11:58

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10 Best voted Bluebank Resort the number one fishing lodge. That award belongs to the lodge, not the fish house, but it tells you what kind of place you're walking into. Take a table outside, order the fish, and keep one eye on the

12:13

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sky. One couple drove 500 miles from Iowa and made Bluebank their base. That's what this lake does to people.

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The drive is about 2 hours from Memphis and a little over three from Nashville, and that's the catch. Nobody on this list will tell you the road is short, but once you're sitting outside with a lake in front of you and eagles

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overhead, you won't be counting the miles. Number two, Hagy's Catfish Hotel in Shiloh. Say it the way locals do, Hagy's, Hay-Gee with a hard G. Now, let me tell you why it's a number two. It's at 1140 Hagy Lane on the Tennessee River,

12:52

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minutes from Shiloh National Military Park and Pickwick Lake. More than 23,000 people were killed, wounded, or captured at Shiloh in two days of battle in April 1862, and you drive right through that ground on the way to dinner. Go at dusk

13:08

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and the fields are quiet in a way you'll remember. The story behind the name beats anything on the menu. In the early 1930s, Norvin Hagy hosted cookouts on the riverbank. Guests who came by river often stayed the night rather than make

13:23

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the long drive home in the dark, so people started calling it the Catfish Hotel. Governor Gordon Browning, a three-term governor, urged him to open a restaurant, and in 1938 he did. The family's roots here go back to 1825 when

13:38

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Henry and Polly Hay docked a flatboat and started a farm. A fire in 1975 led to the current building, and Norvin's grandchildren run it today. A headline in 2021 put it plainly, great food but no rooms. The plate is simple, and the

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restaurant describes it that way. Whole catfish, hand-breaded and fried golden, legendary hushpuppies. One reviewer quoted by Food Republic called the fish "perfectly fried, crispy, big, and super flaky." There's tangy coleslaw, and there's the pie, the lemon rub pie, our

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grandmother's recipe. Order the whole catfish with the hushpuppies, and don't leave without that pie. Whole fish and fillets are $20.95.

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Lemon pepper or Cajun catfish is $21.95, and hushpuppies are $4.95. People come from Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga, and families who grew up eating here now bring their own kids to the same tables. One reviewer from Culleoka wrote that they traveled 4

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hours one way. The drive is about 2 hours from Memphis and 2 and 1/2 from Nashville. The catch is the distance, plus the Monday closing. The road in is quiet and winding, and you won't see the restaurant from a main road until you're

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nearly there. Plan around all of it and bring someone to split the pie with. If you're still with me, subscribe right now. Every week we find the Tennessee the billboards miss, and number one is why.

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Number one, Boyette's Dining Room in Tiptonville. There's a rule printed on the menu at Boyette's Dining Room in capital letters, "No doggie bags with reorders." If you ask for more catfish, you eat the more catfish. That tells you what the

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portions look like first where you are. Tiptonville is the seat of Lake County, a town of about 4,000 in the far northwest corner of the state, right up against the Kentucky border with the Mississippi River a few miles to the

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west. It's one of the least populated counties in Tennessee. Nobody ends up here by accident. The restaurant is at 10 Boyette Road across from the Reelfoot Lake State Park Visitor Center. Nannie and Red Boyette opened it in 1921,

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starting as a small grocery. The first dining room seated about 70. Today it seats more than 300 under cypress paneled walls. Now, the lake outside, Reelfoot is the largest natural lake in the state and no dam made it. In the

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winter of 1811 and 1812, a series of huge earthquakes along the New Madrid seismic zone cracked the ground and sent the Mississippi running backward for a time. The land sank, water filled the basin, and it never drained. Today it's

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more than 10,000 acres of ancient cypress, bald eagles, and great blue herons. And the catfish live in water that's been there for over 200 years.

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The menu is Tennessee tradition from top to bottom. All you can eat catfish fillets or steaks, country ham, fried chicken, quail, frog legs, and steaks.

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It all comes family style with hushpuppies, onion rings, slaw, green beans, and white beans. Order the all you can eat catfish. If the table wants some adventure, there's quail and frog legs. Just remember the rule on the menu. Walk in past the guest register by

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the door which holds visitors from all 50 states and many countries. A travel feature wrote that folks from Kentucky, Arkansas, and across Tennessee treat the trip as a small pilgrimage. Families describe showing up for lunch and still being there in the afternoon because

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nobody wants to be the first to say it's time to go. One reviewer paid about $22 for the all you can eat special and a two-piece dinner was about 15. The drive is about 2 hours from Memphis, a little

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over three from Nashville, and about six from Knoxville. That's the catch and it's the only one. You're in a town of 4,000 and the only things to do are eat catfish and walk down to the lake. For everyone who makes the trip, that's

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enough. A restaurant doesn't stay open for more than a century by accident. This is what a Friday night fish fry looks like when nobody ever decides to stop. A few more worth the gas if you're passing through.

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Catfish Cabin in Jackson at 1290 South Highland Avenue opened in June 1980 and rockabilly legend Carl Perkins, the man who wrote Blue Suede Shoes, joined the original partners. Danny Ridgeway ran it until he died in December 2008 and today his sons, Rye

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and Cody, own it. In Counts, Pickwick Catfish Farm is known for smoked catfish, which you don't see often at a fried fish place, and a reviewer said they bring out free fried okra and hushpuppies while you wait. And near

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Chattanooga, Oaks Side Cafe sits inside Harrison Bay State Park on Chickamauga Lake, which TVA created in 1940 when Chickamauga Dam was finished. It serves all you can eat catfish every Friday with boats pulling up to the dock. Hours

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there can shift with the park schedule, so confirm before you go. So, what do these 10 have in common? It isn't the road and it isn't the town. It's the The way of cooking, fish fried to order, clean grease, hushpuppies from scratch,

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pies made fresh. Which one would you drive to? Tell me in the comments, and if you think one belongs higher, I want to hear it. Subscribe and come back every week.

Topics: Tennessee catfish catfish restaurants road trip food small town dining Southern food hushpuppies Tennessee travel family-style dining Nashville day trip regional cuisine

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