Spahr’s Seafood continues to thrive on catfish and chips

Spahr’s Seafood Co. specializes in sit-down dining and catering. The family restaurant is renowned for its original catfish filet, catfish chips and Bloody Mary’s.

“I opened the first Spahr’s during the time when the oil industry was kicking it up a notch in southeast Louisiana,” founder William “Bill” Spahr said. “The state had just constructed the highway and the traffic was increasing in the area.”

Truckers and offshore workers were coming to the area more frequently for work. They desperately wanted a place where they could eat, drink and fill their tanks, Spahr said.

Spahr addressed the growing need and in 1968, he opened Spahr’s Service Station and Bar on U.S. Highway 90 in the small fishing town of Des Allemands, just the other side of Lafourche Parish.

For years, Spahr said he hunted and fished in the bayous, withstanding the elements of the short Louisiana winters and the long summers. He said, “It came to a point to where I wanted to have some place to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer.”

After opening the service station and bar, he also opened a hunting and fishing guide service on the 600 acres of land behind the station.

Spahr and his wife, Thelma operated the small bar where she would cook the catfish from the bayou and served beers and the famous Spahr’s Bloody Mary mixed drink.

While the customers drank, the freshly cooked catfish sat on the bar for their enjoyment.

“As the men drank, I would fill them full of catfish chips so they wouldn’t get drunk on me,” Spahr joked.

The catfish filets and catfish chips, which were the trimming off the filets, was such a hit with the men they would bring their families back for the weekend.

Soon, the service station was converted into a fully functioning restaurant, employing three generations of Louisiana chef and staff.

Unfortunately, after 39 years Des Allemands restaurant burned down, creating a void for the people in the area.

Luckily for Spahr’s, he and his children Keith and Thelezia opened a temporary restaurant in Raceland in 2003.

“I am glad that my family and families from the community took interest in the restaurant,” he said. “Because it would have been a shame to let such a good reputation die.”

Closing down in Raceland, the family restaurant moved to a permanent home in Thibodaux under the management of former Spahr’s bartenders: Donald Spahr, which is Bill Spahr’s grandson, and Brent Roger. Donald and Brent’s friend, Ted Bergeron is also a co-owner in the Spahr’s chain.

The Thibodaux restaurant and bar would be called Spahr’s Downtown on West Fourth Street.

“When Donald and I took over, we knew we had the skills to keep up with the family name,” said Roger.

A year after opening Spahr’s Downtown, the three entrepreneurs ventured into Houma opening the third Spahr’s Restaurant on Tunnel Boulevard adjacent to the Ramada Inn.

“Ramada Inn needed a restaurant or eatery and we thought that would be perfect for us,” Roger said.

Although, Bill Spahr thought the boys had forgotten about him, the co-owners rebuilt the original Spahr’s in 2006.

“It (the Des Allemands restaurant) had been there since 1968 and it’s kind of a land mark for people,” Roger said. “When they stop in the area they can relate to generations and generation of family traditions.”

Spahr’s Seafood Co. waitress Shantelle Matherne serves a tray of Spahr’s famous catfish and chips to the customers during Sunday afternoon’s lunch rush. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN