Cornmeal-dredged catfish fillets, deep-fried until the coating shatters. Plated with hush puppies and cole slaw, dipped in tartar or hot sauce.
Catfish is the South's working-river fish. Farms in west Tennessee and the Mississippi Delta supplied Nashville fish fries through the 20th century. The dish became a Friday-night fixture in Black-owned restaurants and meat-and-three counters. Today catfish lives on at Swett's, the Loveless and most meat-and-three menus around Nashville, always with cornmeal coating and never with batter.
3 editor picks for Fried catfish in Nashville, ranked by editorial score. All Nashville signature dishes · Fried catfish across every city.
Arnold's Country Kitchen ★ 4.6
the-gulch · 605 8th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203
The Arnold family's Gulch meat-and-three lunch counter in Nashville won the James Beard America's Classics Award in 2009. Kahlil Arnold runs the kitchen today.
Monell's Dining and Catering ★ 4.4
germantown · 1235 6th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37208
Monell's family-style Southern dining in Germantown has run since 1995, seating strangers at communal tables in a Victorian house seven blocks north of the Capitol.
Loveless Cafe ★ 4.2
south-nashville · 8400 Hwy 100, Nashville, Tennessee 37221
The Loveless Cafe on Highway 100 in Nashville has served scratch biscuits, country ham and redeye gravy since 1951, anchoring the Natchez Trace's tourist circuit.