The Feed Mill in Morganfield, Kentucky

The Feed Mill in Morganfield, Kentucky has some of the best fried catfish in the world. The entire world.

Gaze upon the picture of catfish, loaded mashed potatoes, baked beans, and delicious yeast roll peeking out from under said fried catfish.  What would you say if I told you that everything on the plate tasted even better than it looks? I’m not sure what you would say, but I can tell you what you should say, “Point me in the direction of The Feed Mill right now!!”

The bottom line is this: The Feed Mill in Morganfield is one of the best restaurants in the entire state.  I know, it bumfuzzles me too. Shouldn’t the state’s best restaurants all be in the larger towns? Shouldn’t they be restaurants that are household names?  Shouldn’t they be the restaurants with names you instantly identify with the city it calls home?

Logic suggest that this is the way the game is played, but we all know, rules were made to be broken. I’ve eaten in restaurants that were pretty much household names and walked away wondering, “Who did they pay off?!?!” and I’ve walked away from restaurants (with a full stomach and smiling face) few people have ever even heard of and wondered, “Why isn’t Food Network here filming this?”

The pork chop was spectacular, on its own but if you ask for honey mustard on the side, you’ll want to dance beside your table. It’s the best honey mustard I’ve ever had. It has the same effect on my taste buds that yum yum sauce at Japanese restaurants have. It’s as though Angels from Heaven came down and made it.  If only angels shared recipes.

On our most recent trip (we go a lot… a whole lot), my husband and I were accompanied by our beautiful youngest daughter Stephany. She’s the biggest fan of ribs in the world and says The Feed Mill is home to the best she’s ever had.  She’d know. She is to ribs what her mom is to catfish.

Can you say obsessive stalker?

My husband ordered the pork chop (pictured above). It looked so incredibly juicy and delicious, I nearly had plate envy. Fortunately the adorable little server put my catfish in front of me just in time.  Restaurants like The Feed Mill are exhausting for me.  Everything is so darn good that you don’t know which to order.  I’m always torn between steak, fried catfish, and fried chicken. Catfish is one of my reasons for living, so 3 times out of 4, that’s what I order.

However, let me go on record as saying The Feed Mill has the best fried chicken you can get out.  It’s like a religious experience it’s so good. Juicy on the inside, crispy and full of flavor on the outside.  Oh my word, it’s just extraordinary and my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  I’m pretty sure ordering fried chicken with a side of their ridiculously wonderful honey mustard would make a person pass out from joy.  I believe I covered the amazing fried chicken in another review of The Feed Mill in Morganfield.

Steph’s beloved BBQ Ribs, green beans, loaded mashed potatoes and yeast roll all smelled as wonderful as they looked. The Feed Mill’s ribs are never too dry and, somehow, manage to have more meat on them than most ribs do. As delicious as they are, that’s a very good thing.

I’ve never had a meat, yet, at The Feed Mill that wasn’t beyond excellent.  The servings are always generous, too – something that can be an issue these days.Ã?  In the past 6 months, alone, I’ve come across 5 different restaurants  (4 at dinnertime/2 at lunchtime) where it was OBVIOUS that the amount of food had been scaled back. Funny thing though, the price is never dropped. Hmmmm, funny how that works isn’t it. And by funny I mean I doubt I’ll go back.

Some places like The Feed Mill (and Olive Garden to name another) keep giving generous portions in spite of the economy because they realize that we’re affected by it as much as they are. They don’t want to do wrong by the people who are doing right by them and, frankly, it makes me want to give them more of my business.

In addition to generous servings, The Feed Mill’s sides are absolutely amazing. The mashed potatoes (loaded or unloaded), baked beans, green beans, etc. are each out of this world. So are their amazing onion rings. These onion rings are officially now the best in the state. These are what onion ring fanatics like me want their onion rings to look and taste like.  One teeny, tiny little complaint, though. The ketchup served at The Feed Mill is blech. It’s one of those off-brands that are sold to restaurants and it’s just not the least bit good, to put it kindly. Here’s how you get around it:  Put a little on your plate and add salt and pepper to it. It makes it a lot better.  Better yet, do what we did and bring your own packets of Heinz or Hunts (or even Red Gold for crying out loud)!

Have Heinz, will travel.

Fortunately, the onion rings are, honestly, so fantastic you won’t care about the ketchup.

We always either order onion rings as an appetizer or one of their other appetizers:  fried pickles, fried mushrooms or mozzarella sticks.  Each is so incredibly delicious I’d have a hard time picking a favorite.  My advice is to definitely order an appetizer – even if it’s just an order of onion rings to share.

One other trick of a frequent dinner: If you order the catfish, replace the hush puppies with a roll. Trust Joi on this one. The yeast roll is 1,000 times better than the hush puppies. It’s not a knock so much against the hush puppies (which actually taste closer to yellow cake than hush puppies – not an entirely bad thing for cake lovers, eh?!) – it’s simply high praise for the rolls.  For me, the test for excellent bread is when you don’t even bother with the butter. The Feed Mill’s rolls are that great. I’ve always wished they provided a basket of rolls a la Olive Garden, but it’s actually probably a good thing they don’t. I’d never leave.

We’re always stumped over which amazing meat to order and perplexed over the appetizer choices. Even the sides take a little thinking through. Their green beans and baked beans are each some of the best beans you can get in any restaurant known to man, woman, or beast.  There’s something extra special about the baked beans that I can’t quite put my finger on. They’re just stupid good.

When it comes to dessert, at least the choice is easy. In all fairness, I don’t think we’ve ever ordered anything different.  The Gourmet Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce is one of the best things I’ve ever put a fork into. The flavor simply cannot be described – you have to experience it for yourself. No doubt all of the desserts are good because everything (except the ketchup) is fantastic at The Feed Mill, but a better dessert doesn’t exist in the world than the Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce. I’m completely obsessed with it and could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day of the year and only complain that there aren’t more days in the year.

That good.

I’m so in love with this dessert that this is the first time I’ve ever photographed it. I’ve always simply attacked it fork-first and never looked back.  As the two desserts were sat on our table (one is perfect for 2 people), I grabbed my fork and was about to do major damage when I saw Stephany whip out her phone to take a picture.

The Feed Mill’s Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce.  If you covered a Volkswagen with this Bourbon Sauce, I’d find a way to eat it.

She seemed so civilized at that moment and I seemed like such a barbarian.  I squealed, “Good call!” and whipped out my camera.  So here you have it. Thanks to Steph you now can gaze upon the wonder, the beauty, and the splendor of The Feed Mill’s Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce.  Just promise me you’ll go to The Feed Mill and try this dessert for yourself. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever had.

True story: When my husband first ordered it for dessert, I thought he’d lost his marbles. In fact I was so annoyed with him, I decided I wasn’t even going to help him find him. I thought, they’re your lost marbles, you find them. You screwed up something as magical as dessert and are officially on  your own now.  Seriously? Bread Pudding?

Seriously. Bread Pudding.  Or as I’ve come to call it, the Dessert of the Gods.

I hope you’ll click through and check out The Feed Mill’s Menu, if your heart’s strong enough for that sort of thing.  I’ve been dying to try them for lunch sometime – the lunch menu sounds incredible too.

Two words: Just go. Okay, three. Just go please. I’m dying for you to have this experience!

Also See:

• Feed Mill (Morganfield) Review: Some of the Best Fried Catfish on Earth!
• One of Kentucky’s Best Restaurants; The Feed Mill in Morganfield
• The Feed Mill’s Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

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