BURNS, Tenn. (WKRN) — Right off Highway 70 in Dickson County sits a catfish restaurant that's become a second home for many of its patrons.

Twin Lakes Catfish Kitchen is one of, if not the longest-tenured restaurant in the little town of Burns, just between White Bluff and Dickson. 

The restaurant’s owner, Scott Felts, is many things. He’s a hush puppy connoisseur, a certified mechanic, and since he was 15, he’s worked in some capacity at Catfish Kitchen. About four years ago, he decided to buy the place.

“It’s been a part of my life forever,” said Felts. “We still do things the same way that we did back in ‘85, when I started here. Our hush puppies are homemade from scratch, nothing frozen … And we serve things family-style. We put it all out on the table on big plates, big helpings. You pick off what you want — just like you did sitting at home.”

If you tried to imagine the perfect roadside Southern restaurant, from its food to its charm, Catfish Kitchen is what you’d envision. It’s in a remote location — meaning they don’t open for weekly lunch hours — but business is always steady.  Its proximity to Montgomery Bell Park and Dickson County’s recent growth have helped boost its popularity, according to Felts.

“We are kind of out and about — in the middle of nowhere — but any Friday and Saturday night, you can come out here and walk around the parking lot, and you’ll see probably 8, 9 different counties' license plates,” said Felts. “People do drive. We have people from Nashville, Murfreesboro, Mt. Juliet — we have people drive from Kentucky to eat here.”

Outside of delicious fried food, Catfish Kitchen has fostered an atmosphere that rivals going home to see Mom and Dad. That feeling has even resonated with Felts' staff. 

“It does not matter which night it is. At any given night, there’s probably very few places where every employee that works together tells each other how much they love them before they leave,” Felts said. “And that is the honest to God’s truth."

Felts' kids now work at Catfish Kitchen; his best friend, Bubba, is so attached to the place that he detoured to the restaurant when his wife was going into labor years ago. 

“She expected it,” Bubba said with a smile. “When we were coming up the road, I said, ‘You want to stop and let everybody know we’re on our way?’ And she said, ‘Yeah, we can stop for a minute.’ She’s as connected to the place as I am.”

Bubba and Scott agreed that at least 70% of the kitchen’s customers are regulars — people whose names and orders are memorized. As Felts put it, their restaurant operates as “one big, happy, dysfunctional family.”   

“There’s a lot of tradition here — a lot of tradition,” said Felts. “If it wasn’t for people like that that continue to roll it down their family and come in, we wouldn’t be able to survive anyway. But we’re gonna try and do the same thing that we’ve been doing for 50 years, and hopefully, it’ll never go away.” 

Catfish Kitchen is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and they're closed on Mondays.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/catfish-kitchen/