Chef Troy’s Talk Of The Town

Excellent food with very good service and prices; in a restaurant with no class, no style, and prison ambiance; in the middle of nowhere [1]. However, serving Viet Nam catfish should be illegal in Alabama. The only other thing of interest in Houston is the 2^nd oldest log jailhouse in the USA (see my review).
Chef Troy’s Talk of the Town Restaurant
Small and not in a quaint way.
«California Southern» [Yelp, Parguera Pirate review #544, submitted 12 April 2015]
ALABAMA TRIP REVIEW NUMBER: 6
Excellent (⁵⁄₅)
,
(205) 489‑1700; FAX: 205−489−1701; Cell: (205) 4489 – 9318
RESERVATIONS: no
TAKE OUT: yes
6:30 am-​2 pm Sunday-​Wednesday, 6:30−9 pm Thursday-​Saturday
OWNER/​CHEF: Troy Vince Hill (51), cell 205−489−9318, short bio on their web page and pictures
LOCALITY: 4815 County Road 63, Houston, Alabama 35 572‑2644
Downtown Houston in the Bankhead National Forest across the highway from historic Winston County log Jailhouse.
Taking my sister and brother-​in-​law to lunch.
PARKING: ample, if dirt
AMBIANCE: prison mess or bare road house
OUTSIDE SEATING: 2 picnic tables
Rather small dinning room with 12 booths, 3 long tables, and 4 small tables. However, chairs are not jammed or crowded. Booths are rather small and 4 large people sort of hang out the end of the benches. Booth table becomes jammed with food, but easier to share that way.
Small, plain, rectangular peanut-​orange, cinderblock building. Deliberate hick in an old general store (or gas station?) with a bare light bulbs, ice machine, and 2 wood picnic tables outside. Wood chairs and tables, no tablecloths, paper napkins in dispenser, banners of SEC teams, 2 large TVs.
SPECIALS: (I) Mardi Gras and Oktoberfest special menus, prime rib on second weekend of every month, all-​you-​can-​eat «Katfish» [1] and fried chicken Thursday nights $ 11.99.
(II) Amberjack was on special for $ 19.99.
(III) Special vegetable was black-​eyed peas.
BAR: No alcohol
Very large, hard plastic glasses of iced tea. The sweet tea was very sweet. You may wish to dilute it some with unsweet.

We only drank iced tea. I have missed this southern tradition.
CUISINE: California-​Cajun-​Country
The menu is fairly elaborate and has interesting items (see their web page). People rave about their French toast, shrimp po’boy, steak and shrimp. Their seafood is great and fresh (sent in 4 times a week). Troy’s jambalaya, watermelon pie, and peanut butter cake look interesting. Many dishes are available that are not listed on the menu. Just ask.
WAITSTAFF: Angie (46) fiancée of Tony, Johnathon, and Sean are all pictured on their web site.
French bread rounds toasted with butter were good as were the white cornbread muffins and hushpuppies.
SOUP: I meant to try their jambalaya, but forgot to order it.
A pound of you-​peal-​it boiled shrimp were excellent.
My First Mate ordered a side salad, but it was forgotten. The waitress came back later and asked if we received it, but we told her not to bother. No big deal with all the other food, but we were not able to evaluate.
The special $ 6.99 meal looked like an oversized TV dinner and the other entrees were marginal in presentation. They made up for this failing in excellent taste, texture, and freshness. Everything was prepared and cooked perfectly. The portions were ample. We had to box up leftovers in order to split 2 of their famous deserts.
SIDES: Their green beans were exactly the country-​style green beans that I wanted. The onion rings were perfect. Sweet potato chips are usually cooked too hard, but theirs were perfect.
SERVING TIME: very quick
The Butter Pecan Pie was very good and the warm Mexican Cheese Cake with ice cream was excellent.
One can eat inexpensively or enjoy some higher end dishes of a quality that makes them worthwhile. Some prices are reasonable and others exceptional.
BILL: Paid at the counter. Although everything was on one check, she had some difficulty. She was pleasant enough about it. When she finished, she said «That does not look right.» On the next go, she took $ 5 dollars off. No problem, but she was constantly shuffling hand-​written tickets haphazardly (entertainment with check out).
PROBLEMS:
(I) They use the term «Katfish» because Federal Law [1] mandates this fish cannot be sold as «Catfish» in the USA. However, this is a clear violation of the spirit of the law.
MADE IN THE USA:
(I) They sell imported Viet Nam catfish in a state that raises Channel Catfish. [1]
(II) Their steak knives were made in China.
rated Very, Very Good, 4.6÷5, 170 reviews (FaceBook); Excellent, 4.8÷5, 26 reviews (Tripadvisor); Excellent, 4.8÷5, 8 reviews (Google); Excellent, 4.8÷5, 7 reviews, and Very, Very Good, 8.8÷10, 108 votes, 6 reviews (UrbanSpoon); Very, Very Good, 4.7÷5, 6 reviews ( Unilocal).
opened in August 2009, bio of Chef Troy on web page
[1] U. S. Code Title 21

Very disappointed in this place and Chef Troys Two on Smith Lake at the big bridge. Food was served cold with only 3 other customers in the restaurant. I ordered the grilled Cajun shrimp Po Boy and it came out as if the shrimp were just boiled and tossed in some lame excuse for a Cajun seasoning. Very disappointed in the smith lake living magazine for recommending this place and calling this so called chef Troy a celebrity.

My family and I had dinner with Chef Troy on Thursday night, July 23, 2015. We had the catfish and it was the absolute best that we’ve had in a long time. Coming from a family raised on catfish, this is a comment I don’t take lightly. We opted for fried, but grilled is available as well. The menu is full of choices with steak, shrimp, fish, various Cajun pasta dishes, chicken, ribs, etc. Also offered special dishes not shown on the menu and change from week to week. I would think this adds variety even for local regulars and keeps things interesting. Housed in a basic cinder block building with no flashy décor, the look can be very deceiving for first time diners. Growing up in the South, I know that some of our culinary gems are hidden in such meager facilities, it’s all about the food! I can not say enough about the wait staff. Even though the place was fairly busy, Kim was like a spark plug…“Johnny– on– the– spot”, checking on our dining needs and providing excellent service. This goes for Cricket and the other staff as well. Even though Kim was our main server, others brought food, refilled our drinks, and just took time to see if we needed anything. Highly recommend this casual place for outstanding food for a perfect ending to a great day on the Lake!

If you haven’t been here you have missed a treat. Very diverse menu with lots of choices from country cooking to specials. Check weekend specials to. Awesome breakfast. Right across the street from the historic Houston jail so you can enjoy some free history and a great meal.

Chef Troy’s Talk of the Town is a truly unique and delicious eating experience. Talk of the Town serves an incredible breakfast (best pancakes ever) and lunch every day of the week, and dinner too Thursday through Saturday. Serves traditional food as well as unique pasta dishes, wonderful deserts, and Gambino bread which is awesome. Talk of the Town gets my highest rating.

Chef Troy’s Talk of the Town is an excellent place to eat. TOTT is open Thursday night for all you can eat catfish or fried chicken which is always excellent. Friday and Saturday night Chef Troy offers a different special every weekend often with a Cajun flair but always great if you can get in the door for the crowd. He is only open those three nights but is open for breakfast and lunch the rest of the week. His everyday
Menu is great too. TOTT is small and loud when crowed. Service is usually excellent.

Stopped by at lunch. Got a chicken cheese steak sandwich to go. Got outside and opened it up only to find an awesome, huge sandwich. I could not eat it all. Just another great sandwich from chef troys.
Also picked up ½ gallon of chicken corn chowder. This stuff is unbelievable! ! Don’t believe me… try it.

I am SO glad this place exists. There is nothing remotely comparable for 50 miles or more!

The food is excellent. The wait staff is very good and pleasant.
We have been there 3 times now and each time we end up paying an additional $ 10 for add-​ons that are not clear in the menu. Some vegetables are included in the entrée price but some are extra charges. The wait staff won’t tell you when you are ordering but you see it in the bill.
Each time I felt just a little cheated or scammed. I don’t know why they just don’t add a couple of bucks to the main entrée price instead of trying to slip it in on the bill.

Just outside the William B. Bankhead National Forest, on the corner of two county highways that is the town of Houston, Alabama, across the street from the historic Winston County log jail, is a plain rectangular cinder-​block building, painted a shade of circus-​peanut orange, crowned with a bold proclamation: «CHEF TROY’S TALK OF THE TOWN»
Many places claim to the «talk of the town,» or «world famous,» or some such hyperbole, but the first clue that this is no exaggeration is the full parking lot. Step inside on a Saturday evening, you will find the establishment packed to nearly capacity, with a line of people at the cash register waiting for take-​out orders.
On Saturday night, I had the grilled trout special. Fresh trout grilled to flaky perfection with a lemon butter sauce, a side of summer squash and onion, and slices of baguette bread to sop up the butter. The salad is only iceberg lwith grape tomatoes and cucumber, but the lettuce and cucumbers are crisp, and the tomatoes ripe.
The next morning, I came back for breakfast. The beignet-​like French toast would be worth selling your soul to the Devil for, if Chef Troy weren’t so generous as to offer it to you at a reasonable price. Crunchy hash browns and bacon round out the best breakfast that can be had for a hundred miles around or more.
There are many things in life you can do that you may come to regret; dining at Chef Troy’s will not be one of them.