The Mississippi Dry Goods Store That Became A Fried Catfish Destination

There's not much more to Taylor, Mississippi, than a land area of 2.9 square miles and a population of roughly 350 people. But what the village lacks in size, it more than makes up for in great Southern food. Taylor has become a fried catfish destination thanks largely to one business: Taylor Grocery, a charming, ancient-looking restaurant that's been slinging fried fish for half a century. The business has been around much longer than that, though. Built as a dry goods store toward the end of the 19th century, it's gone through many iterations.

Its latest owner is Lynn Hewlett, who purchased Taylor Grocery in 1997. At that point, it was a general store that, for two decades, had been serving catfish on the weekends — and it had already gotten a bit of a reputation, referred to by those in the know as "that catfish place." Hewlett decided to do away with the other stuff and focus solely on the food. As he told the local newspaper the Clarion-Ledger in 2017, "I wanted to get rid of the potato chip racks and turn it into a restaurant. I wanted it to be a 'real' place." 

Now open four nights a week, Taylor Grocery keeps 'em coming back with simple plates of expertly breaded and fried catfish, and other Southern specialties (think blackened chicken and peach cobbler). It also has live acoustic music, a BYOB policy, and famously welcoming vibes.

Lynn Hewlett's roots in the Taylor community go back a long way: His great-great-grandfather was a local doctor who worked for the railroad. The business Hewlett now owns has a storied past as well. It was built around 1889 by Duff Ragland, who ran it as a dry goods store. It changed hands on and off throughout the 20th century until 1977 when the couple who owned it decided to add a catfish component to their general store. By the 1990s, Hewlett was involved with a different restaurant in Oxford but kept his eye on Taylor Grocery — and when it came up for sale, he pounced.

Now the place is regarded as having some of the best fried catfish in the South, with classic Southern sides you might expect, like turnip greens and fried okra. Speaking of history, fried catfish itself has a long and fascinating one, in which enslaved people with roots in West Africa turned a bountiful American freshwater fish into a soul food staple.

What makes great fried catfish? If you can't travel to Taylor, Mississippi, you can learn how to fry your own from another master of the form. South Carolina chef Rodney Scott says the keys to fried catfish are cornmeal breading, oil at the proper temperature, and the right spices (namely, cayenne pepper for a little kick). Still, we wager it'll be worth the trip if you can make it to Taylor.