The Red Barn Shrimp and Catfish Buffet!

So, last night I got another lesson on how to survive in deep east Texas! I ended up at Robertson's Ham/The Red Barn Shrimp and Catfish Buffet on I-20 outside Wills Point for a friends birthday. WOW. It is the hokey, hole in the wall, on a very busy interstate, out in the sticks kinda place. Enormous inflatable pig and wall to wall trucks outside, Styrofoam plates, plastic cutlery inside. Ugh, my heart sank.

But, oh boy, was the food good! Good company, good food and lots of laughter. Boiled Shrimp, fried shrimp, fried catfish, beans, homemade bread rolls, hush-puppies, coleslaw, all kinds of cobblers, etc. Good honest food as my gran would say.

 No pretenses. Just shrimp being shrimp, I guess.

And of course as an added bonus, there was the people watching! Wow.

I found this gem of a testimony on their website:

Chris L writes: I've seen the signs for Robertson's REAL Beef Jerky along I-20 dozens and dozens of times when trekking my to/from Louisiana and finally was hungry enough on my way home to stop and grab a sammich. Pulling up past the old school gas station pumps (numeric wheels?  Haven't seen those in a decade) into the dirt parking lot took me back to my formative years out in the sticks. Grab a Coke out of the cooler, mosey up to the counter, and order a sandwich.  The most expensive sandwich is $3.99.  My $2.99 sandwich had about a half pound of DELICIOUS ham and a slice of swiss cheese.  I also grabbed a homemade cherry turnover, which was awesome.  It was like a Hostess Pie on 'roids. I ate my sandwich outside on a picnic table listening to the hum of traffic passing by on I-20 and enjoyed the simple taste of a well made ham sandwich.  Good times.