Catfish Station

    CATFISH STATION PERMANENTLY CLOSED DURING THE PANDEMIC

7903 Beechnut

The Frenchy's Fried Chicken at this location has closed and been rather quickly replaced by this new outpost of another home-grown mini-chain.  According to their website they started out of a trailer in Third Ward only a little over a dozen years ago and the website now lists six brick and mortar locations  It falls a little more into the fast-casual category rather than fast food as the food is prepared to order.

I tried the 2-piece catfish plus 2 shrimp snack basket which came with one hush puppy and some very good battered fries.  The coating on the fish is similar to Capt. Benny's, a mix of corn meal and corn flour, I think, but a little bit thicker.  The hush puppy was sweet - they're described on the menu as sweet corn hush puppies but I didn't find any kernels of corn in mine.

The chicken and sausage gumbo was very good with a good rich, medium thick roux and lots of Cajun sausage; the chicken pieces were mostly shredded in my first sample but I got chunks the second time I tried this.  There was a chunk of tomato and the menu indicated there also should have been okra although I didn't find any pieces in my samples. Pictures posted online from in-house diners with this dish look a little better than my take-home sample - the rice settles down to the bottom in transit.  It has a mild amount of heat but there are bottles of Cajun Chef on the tables.

There are grilled dishes, chicken tenders, seafood tacos and po-boys plus one pasta dish.  House specialties include shrimp and grits, Cajun sausage with red beans and rice and more.  A link of boudain comes with a very tangy remoulade sauce and crackers.

The crawfish pie comes as an empanada stuffed with mostly shredded or minced pieces of crawfish and is served with a home-made etouffee sauce which is an onion gravy.

Besides the desserts listed on the website the in-house menu board offers Stonie Clark's Tea Cakes, an Austin specialty.

Dining-in accommodations are not plush but they're clean and the staff has been very friendly.

Catfish Station

7/30/17 - Per the Chronicle, four more Frenchy's are converting to Catfish Stations.