Dining Out Southeast: The Ark, Riverside, AL

 

We've been hearing about The Ark for years.  While it's only about 40 minutes from our home, we've never taken the time to go on a short drive and try their famous fried catfish.  Last week, we decided on the spur of the moment to give them a taste test!

The history of The Ark goes back to Prohibition.  It's a fascinating story and you can read all about it HERE.

The interior of the restaurant is as unassuming as the exterior.  Y'all know that some of the best places we've ever enjoyed a meal are in those types of restaurants.

Here's the wall of our #2 booth.

And y'all know how I love King Richard Petty.  He's eaten here many, many times through the years when he was racing at the nearby Talladega Superspeedway.  If this place is good enough for Richard, it's good enough for Lolly!

This was definitely a good sign!  Literally.

I remembered to take pictures of the menu.

We started with an order of onion rings.  These were the real deal.  Super crunchy breading and nicely seasoned.  A cute serving vessel as well!

The place was jumping on this Friday evening.  We decided to go the combination dinner route so as to try a variety of goodies.

Sweet Harold had the catfish fillets and shrimp.  As you can see, there was an ample serving of both along with fries and coleslaw.  He gave the coleslaw two thumbs up and thoroughly enjoyed the fish and shrimp.  

I ordered the catfish and oysters with fries and a side salad.  More on the salad later.  Here's where my pickiness comes in to play where oysters and hush puppies are concerned.  The catfish was nicely fried and, as with SH's, a large serving.  The oysters were, for me, cooked about 45 seconds too long.  They were a tad tough and chewy.  One bite of the hushpuppies was enough for me.  They were "packy" or dense, and didn't really have a lot of flavor.  Again, your mileage may vary.

Even though we both ordered the Cajun version of fries, they were just your garden variety of fried from frozen french fries with some Cajun seasoning sprinkled on top.

Now to the salad.  As I watched other diners around our table receive their salads before their meals, mine remained MIA.  My food arrived and I questioned the location of my salad.  I was assured it would be delivered promptly.  Halfway through my meal, the salad arrived.  It was cold and fresh and the dressing was delicious.  I apologize that I had already given SH half the tomatoes before I remembered to take the picture.

Even though we were both full, we decided to share a slice of  lemon icebox pie.  This decision resulted in quite the experience.  The pie arrived at our table in a plastic clamshell fortress of armor.  We both attempted to wrestle the container open.  Forks were involved in trying to pry the thing apart.  We flagged down a food runner.  She did everything but turn it upside down as she strong armed the thing.  Finally, our server returned to the table to see what all the excitement was about and she knew the secret to opening the container.  At long last, we were able to enjoy this delicious slice of pie.  Well, as enjoyable as it was to try to share a piece that's nearly impossible to cut a bite while encircled in plastic. To the powers that be:  just put that pie on a saucer and call it a night!  

All in all, a good meal.  We'll return and try some of the other offerings.