Southern fried catfish, chicken and shrimp

From Johnson City to Nashville, the closest we'd come to southern homestyle cooking was the baked bean chili dogs and sweet tea at the Bush's Best Baked Beans Visitor's Center in Chestnut Hill.

At the Cock of the Walk Restaurant, hidden around the corner and alongside the highway behind the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, that finally changed.

It's worth the hunt to find this Nashville restaurant.

Cock of the Walk is a huge restaurant with winding, wood-paneled hallways leading to various eating nooks and dining rooms.

The spacious front lobby features walls of photos showing the southern celebrities who have dined there throughout the years. Rows of large, wooden rocking chairs seat guests who are waiting for a table to open up.

Once we were seated, the waitress explained how the family-style dining worked. We ordered the sampler meal so we could try southern-fried catfish, chicken and shrimp. They were each great, and depending on one's tastes, any one of the three might be a favorite.

What'll it be? Fried chicken? Fried shrimp? Fried catfish?

The main course was served with tin cups and small, cast-iron skillets of side dishes. We helped ourselves family-style to unlimited coleslaw, cornbread, hushpuppies, onions and beans.

The staff was friendly. We ate at Cock of the Walk twice, and they kept the food coming and the sweet tea filled both times, and they were also just generally polite and fun to talk to.

Courtesy of Pinterest, a typical meal at Cock of the Walk.

We got the sense that Cock of the Walk was a favorite destination for Nashville locals, and that's a bigger recommendation than anything I could write here.

Want to find one of Tennessee's best, authentic southern dining experiences? Grab a seat in one of the rocking chairs, and order some fried chicken at Nashville's Cock of the Walk.