Saturday night, as a Knight of Columbus, I had to work the
seven o'clock to clean-up shift at the beverage table at the pot-luck dinner at
St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Dallas. My family wanted to come along, and so, to simplify things,
we decided to hit the four o'clock Mass before heading over to the pot-luck to
grab a bite to eat. As a result of this,
we did not have to get up early for Mass on Sunday morning. We slept in, and when we were all finally up
and moving around, we were hungry. It
was a bit late to cook a big breakfast, and so Jessica and I agreed that we
needed to take the family out for lunch.
After a bit of thought concerning the merits of which place appealed to
us, was close enough, and was open at eleven o'clock, we came to the happy conclusion
that the only answer was Doe Belly's.
Located at 300 W. Broad Street in Forney, Texas, Doe Belly's
has been our go-to catfish restaurant since seconds after taking our first bite
of their delicious fried catfish.
I'm not a fan of greasy catfish and I'm especially not fond
of muddy catfish. Doe-Belly's catfish
has none of these unpleasant traits.
Their catfish is fried in a spicy cornmeal batter to perfection! I'm not sure how they do it, but the catfish
comes out firm enough that I can eat it with my hands. As I eat it, it doesn't fall apart---even
when I dip it into their tartar or cocktail sauce. I've eaten at lots of catfish places in my
lifetime, and I can't recall ever encountering a catfish that didn't require a
fork at some point in the meal.
On Sunday, we showed up right after eleven and were the
first in the door. Immediately, like
people who don't need to look over the menu, we went to the counter and ordered
a regular two-piece catfish and four shrimp
combo for me and a two-piece catfish combo for Jessica. The combos each come with a big handful of fries
and two hush puppies, giving us plenty of food to feed the boys as well.
For drinks, the boys had children's cups filled with Doe
Belly's Punch, a sweet punch spiked with fruit.
Jessica filled her cup with half punch and half un-sweet tea. I wish I'd thought of that, but instead just
drank sweetened tea. Still, it was no
terrible loss. The iced tea is very
good.
When we finally got our food and sat outside on the patio, the
first thing both Jessica and I did was to grab the bottle of hot sauce and
douse our catfish. I'm not sure what
brand of hot sauce Doe Belly's uses, but it's got just the right kick to
compliment their catfish and shrimp. The
hot sauce, combined with the ketchup, tartar and cocktail sauce, gives Doe
Belly's a solid A+ in the condiment department as far as I'm concerned.
By the time we left, I was definitely full and happy. That went for the boys and Jessica as well,
though I think the boys were more full of Doe Belly's Punch than food. We count ourselves fortunate that we have
such a great local catfish joint within a few miles of our house.
Doe Belly's is a cool place to eat! I recommend that you give it a try!
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