Review: Fried Catfish from Popeyes

Posted November 2nd, 2011 | 12:10pm by Chefprotoss

So Crawfish Festival is back at Popeyes. I love Popeyes and I love crawfish. Naturally, combining the two is a match made in heaven. I had the Crawfish Tackle Box last year and pretty much agree with Ryan’s review. It contains battered crawfish tails, a side and a

biscuit. The only real flaw I see with it is the lack of a decent dipping sauce. Tartar and cocktail sauces are pretty boring, and if you dare to dip your fried crawfish in ranch, you are no friend of mine.

Okay, we can be friends, but don’t ask me if you can barrow any money. Overall I give it three sucked-on-crawfish-heads out of four. Along with the straight up fried crawfish you can get them in a Po’ Boy sandwich. That sounded great to me, so yesterday I went to Popeyes and ordered one. It seemed a little odd when the guy behind the counter asked me what side I wanted, but since I was going to order mashed potatoes anyway I went with it. When I got back to my car I checked the bag and thought it was weird that the Po’ Boy came in the same box as the chicken meals. I then opened the box and sure enough, I had something not even close to a Crawfish Po’ Boy; the Fried Catfish meal.

At first I was annoyed, but considering Popeyes has never done me wrong in the flavor department, I said “screw it”, and gave it a try. Not going back inside and complaining turned out to be a great idea. This was awesome! The meal comes with three filets of seasoned, cornmeal breaded and deep-fried catfish. The filets are pretty big, surprisingly fresh and perfectly cooked. The soft moist interior and the crispy well seasoned exterior is just what you would expect from any decent soul food joint worth its salt.

This is as far on the other side of the spectrum from fish sticks as you can get. Popeyes, you get my vote for fast food restaurant of the year. Like most animals, wild catfish tastes like what it eats and where it lives. It lives in the mud. Thus, it usually tastes like mud. Farm raised catfish has somewhat cured this problem and gives the fish a much cleaner taste. Popeyes, for obvious reasons, uses farm raised catfish. The result is way better than you would expect. Long John Silver’s has nothing on this fried fish. The only flaw with this is the dipping sauces. The cocktail needs way more horseradish, and the tartar could use more acidity. Thankfully, Popeyes hot sauce brings the southern flavor and the heat needed to make up for the so-so condiments.

I also had to wait about ten minutes for my food. That is a good thing in my opinion though. If my catfish was cooked an hour or two ahead of time, who knows how this review would go? I’m sure some of you won’t agree with this stance, but I feel good food takes time and I am more than willing to wait for the payoff of quality and flavor. You screwed up my order big time Popeyes, and lucky for you, you screwed up in the right way. Fried catfish, mashed potatoes with gravy and a biscuit was just what the doctor ordered. Just please never release Rip’n Catfish.