Taylor Grocery in Oxford, Mississippi: The Best Fried Catfish Dinner in the World

A few years ago, I visited my brother-in-law, an assistant basketball coach at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, where Ole Miss basketball is akin to religion. Being a yankee liberal, I had preconceived notions about the state of Mississippi and Ole Miss. I'm old enough to remember watching news footage of the jeering crowds as James Meredith walked onto the Ole Miss campus as its first African-American student.

My visit to today's Oxford was a revelation. It's a beautiful and idyllic old-fashioned small Southern town complete with a world class bookstore on a classic town square and a real-deal beatnik coffee house.

The first Oxford resident that I met (through my brother-in-law) was renowned author and artist-in-residence Willie Morris, a sweet, brilliant, and unpretentious man. In the few days that I spent in Oxford, Willie and I became fast friends. We drank his favorite George Dickel sour mash and visited William Faulkner's grave and "drizzled a little Dickel on Mister Willy's grave."

On our last day in Oxford, Willie Morris saved the best Oxford experience for the end of our trip: catfish dinner at the Taylor Grocery.

Taylor is a dinky crossroads town of about 300 people located within minutes of Oxford. Whoever coined the phrase "one-horse town" probably saw Taylor, Mississippi. At the crossroads, Taylor Grocery was the only business in town, unimpressive at best; an old shack from the 1920s.

Willie led the way and we entered the store. It was a step back in time to the early 20th century. Some of the products on the shelves looked as if they'd been gathering dust since the early 20th century. I wondered if Willie had taken us to the right place. There was no sign of a restaurant serving catfish or anything else.

After exchanging pleasantries with the lady behind the cash register, Willie led us to a back room --- and there it was: fried catfish and hushpuppies heaven! The one snug room was filled with Oxford students and other locals, all sitting at wooden tables. It was very friendly vibe.

We found an empty table and sat down. Every square inch of the table top was covered with graffiti as was every square inch of wall space. While big city graffiti is usually an act of territorial hostility, Taylor Grocery graffiti is an act of love ... the love of the world's greatest all-you-can-eat fried catfish. Sides include fried balls of hushpuppy dough, cole slaw, potato salad, and fried okra.

The catfish restaurant at the Taylor Grocery has been around since the early 1970s; the Grocery since the 1880s. The restaurant is open only four nights a week: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Willie Morris, the youngest editor at Harper's Magazine, died on August 2, 1999. He's missed.

The location: 4 Country Road, Taylor, MS 38655

Phone number: 662-236-1716

SOURCE:

"Deep fried secrets of a catfish joint", Jonathan Miles, Field and Stream, URL: (http://www.fieldandstream.com/fieldstream/outdoorskills/cooking/article/0,13199,675458,00.html)

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=1305&RefID=1305

http://www.memphisflyer.com/backissues/issue551/din551.htm

"On the menu: Taylor Grocery, Miss.", Pamela Parseghian, Nation's Restaurant News, URL: (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_27_36/ai_89158503)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Morris