GILLIAM - Gilliam is famous for its Sunflower Festival and Heritage & Harvest Tour and for Main Street.
It is a country place, where Cordon Bleu-Trained Chef Tim Fowler rules the kitchen in this eatery surrounded by fields of cotton, corn or soybeans.
It is a place where it is a good idea to have a reservation for Friday night.
Owners Fowler and his father, Ryan Fowler, don't advertise. Main Street is famous through word-of-mouth testimony by diners who include millionaires sitting a table away from agricultural workers, lawyers or Wal-Mart employees.
It is well known for its friendly, smiling wait staffers and a kitchen that prepares the food in a timely manner, whether you are eating in or ordering takeout.
Some describe it as "remote" because Shreveporters, along with Texas and Arkansas customers, drive from home to the middle of the country to eat.
Main Street thrives in a 100-year-old building and is not a white-linen-tablecloth kind of place with low lights, candles burning and sterling silver utensils.
This eatery is loud and noisy, with plastic tablecloths, neon signs advertising beer and a large American flag hanging on ancient brick walls, where a television shares the space. Customers work the crowd, visiting with old friends and making new ones.
Smiling wait staffers are famous for their friendliness, and the kitchen is famous for getting the food out quickly.
Fowler's signature dishes are fried catfish, chicken fried steak and steaks -- ribeye or filet mignon which, like all the beef, come from a local herd, and include all the trimmings. Great hamburgers, too. The pasta primavera is perfect and large enough to split.
"All the food is good, but the rib-eye cooked medium well is really good," said JoAnne Yeager. She drives 11 miles from Vivian for her plate packed with the steak, a large stuffed potato and veggies.
Caddo Sheriff Deputy Sgt. Lifford Jackson, who patrols the area, orders chicken fried steak when he stops by for lunch. "They put 'soul' into it," Jackson said. "I get fries and salad, with gravy and a roll. And an Arnold Palmer - lemonade and sweet tea - to drink."
We asked the Fowlers what secret sauces or spices make the hungry fans order certain entrees again and again.
"Soul," answered Ryan.
Top appetizer? By far, the generous helping of fried green beans. To drink: beer, tea and cold drinks, wine and liquor. Tim was preparing gourmet fare (particularly fish), quiche and even lobster on a yacht in Florida when he came home to man the kitchen at Main Street.
And, even though Tim was willing to serve gourmet fare here, he soon learned those dishes were not well received.
"If they couldn't pronounce the dish, they wouldn't order it," interjected Ryan.
Baker Darlene Dubois whips up a delightful blackberry cobbler sunk in a nest of vanilla ice cream. The list also includes chocolate, buttermilk, peanut butter and coconut pies.
Coming soon: Main Street, Too, a lounge with a full bar, jukebox, video poker, with pizza served.
Main Street hours:
11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Sunday, but lunch only Sun.-Tues; and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.
For more information call (318) 296-4400.
318.459.9312
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