Theresa and I visited our new favorite restaurant again last Friday. Murry’s Restaurant in Hazen has been around in one form or another since 1958, and while my wife and I had somehow failed to eat there until this year, we’re now among the many people encouraging others to drop in.
While I was waiting in line to check out on this busy Friday night, I spoke with another couple who had driven in from out of town for dinner there. “I don’t know if you tried them or not,” I said, “but they have the best fried shrimp I’ve ever eaten. Best catfish, too.”
“Their onion rings can’t be beat either,” the other man added. “I know. I’m an onion ring connoisseur.”
“I’d like to try the shrimp,” his wife said. “That’s one of my favorites. But their ribeyes are to die for. Once I tried one, I’ve never eaten anything else here at Murry’s.”
That says a lot when three people on the way out the door with full bellies are telling eat other how great the food is.
Accolades
We aren’t the only ones sharing accolades for Murry’s, either. In 2020, this family-run business on Highway 70 was inducted into the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame. That same year, Sid Evans, editor-in-chief of Southern Living, wrote, “As far as I’m concerned, the best catfish in America is served at a place called Murry’s ….” Garden & Gun, another national publication, declared Murry’s the best catfish in the South.
Repeated urgings from our friend Rex Nelson convinced us to finally visit Murry’s back in April. And the food was every bit as good as Rex is always telling folks: perfectly cooked catfish fillets with all the fixings, a buttery loaf of fresh baked bread and a rich delicious bread pudding that was to die for.
Part of the Family
Murry’s food wasn’t the best of the experience, though. Our waitress Yolanda Young, daughter of the owner Stanley Young, provided really extraordinary service throughout our meal with help from her mother Becky and her sister Gaylon. We enjoyed some chitchat with Yolanda about a concert she had recently attended and found her eager to talk while attending to our every need in a busy restaurant that had now filled with customers.
When we finished, Yolanda made sure we had plenty of food and drinks to take home, then as her mom checked us out, we were invited to the kitchen to meet Stanley, too. Turns out he and I have some mutual friends, and he even called one of them up on the phone so I could say hello more than 15 years after I’d last seen him.
Now the whole family was with us in the Murry’s kitchen, talking and laughing like old friends. And when we prepared to leave, they told us we weren’t guests any more; we can now consider ourselves part of their Murry’s family too. I don’t know when we’ve ever been to a business where we’ve felt so welcome and appreciated. It was the same on our second visit in July, and we’re looking forward to returning so we can visit with our newfound friends again!
We encourage all of you who read this to visit too. You’ll be glad you did.
