One Last Batch

Published 4:05 am Monday, November 19, 2018

RESTAURANT CLOSURE | ORE CITY ICON

ORE CITY — David Beard’s Catfish Village has been an East Texas staple since it opened its doors in 1969, but it’s cooked up its last batch of fish. The restaurant on Texas Highway 155 near Ore City was slated to close its doors Thursday when it was out of fish.

With the cars packed in the parking lot at lunchtime Thursday, it didn’t seem like the last of the fish would take long.

Greg Gaston said he’s been eating at Catfish Village for years, and he was unaware of its closing.

“I’m surprised. It’s been here for years,” he said. “As a matter of fact, my family poured the cement foundation for this back in the ’70s.”

Catfish Village founder David Beard died June 22 at the age of 82. When Beard opened the restaurant in 1969, he did so without school-learned skills, according to his obituary.

The obituary said Beard learned to run the restaurant through hard work and determination and continued to lead the company for more than 40 years.

Gene Johnson, 66, knew Beard from Johnson’s time working at CenterPoint Energy. Johnson started at CenterPoint in 1977, and he’s been eating at Catfish Village since.

“We’ve had outages over here, and they would keep the restaurant open for all the gas people to eat,” he said. “We’d get them on first, and they would always let us eat here.”

Johnson retired in April, but he said he still enjoys those all-you-can-eat Catfish Village fillets.

“It’s kind of sad, really,” he said. “I’m a fillet man. I love the fillets.”

After the first Catfish Village opened, the franchise grew to more than 30 restaurants across the South. Great American Foods Corp., the parent company of Catfish Village, now operates 15 restaurants in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma and has five franchise stores, according to its website, davidbeards.com.

Other restaurants the company operates in East Texas include Catfish Village in Waskom and Catfish King in Mount Pleasant, Tyler, Texarkana and Lufkin. Catfish Kings on Mobberly Avenue in South Longview and in Atlanta are owned by franchisees.

Details about why Ore City’s Catfish Village is closing were not disclosed, and information was not available about the future of the company’s other locations. The Hughes Springs company did not return calls Thursday.