Lassis Inn

Lassis Inn is a catfish restaurant located at 518 East 27^th Street in Little Rock (Pulaski County), founded in about 1905 by Joe and Molassis Watson. Its first known advertising listing was in the Arkansas Gazette in 1931. Originally, Joe Watson sold sandwiches out of the back of the Watson home, and when he later added catfish to the menu, sales rapidly increased. Eventually constructing a separate building for their food business, the Watsons relocated the building in 1931 to its East 27^th Street location, moving it a short distance once in the 1960s to accommodate the construction of Interstate 30 near Roosevelt Road. They had apparently intended to call the establishment the Watson Inn but decided on the derivative of Molassis Watson’s name because they thought it sounded better.

Through the years, Lassis Inn was known for more than its fish. In the years leading up to the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957, Daisy Bates and other civil rights leaders held frequent meetings at the restaurant. It became known that Lassis Inn was one of the few safe places in the community where people could gather to discuss the numerous problems associated with segregation and other manifestations of racism. Later operator Elihue Washington Jr. noted, “This was the only place [at that time]. People couldn’t go anywhere else.”

Members of the Watson family operated the restaurant well into the 1980s, but it was closed for several months after the death of the owner until Washington took over management in 1989 (sources differ on whether he purchased or restaurant or if the Watson family continued to own it). Lassis Inn continued to serve the same basic menu: fried catfish, catfish steaks, seasoned hushpuppies, and its famous “fish ribs” (made from buffalo fish). It also sported the basic décor that graced the building since its construction: wooden booths with a popular jukebox. When the jukebox was installed, guests often danced down the narrow aisles, but after Washington had to make repairs once a week after active rounds of dancing, along with customer complaints about the practice, he placed signs throughout the establishment reading, “No Dancing.” These remained prominently displayed.

Lassis Inn gained attention far beyond Arkansas from numerous foodways historians and reviewers. Katherine Whitworth, in an entry in the book Cornbread Nation 5 titled, “Ode to a Catfish House,” wrote, “The Lassis Inn hunkers alongside the interstate in a small, royal-blue building. It is the architectural equivalent of minding your own business, and it’s hard to notice unless you’re looking for it….What goes on there is excellent catfish. Fried catfish, to my mind, is best rated by its lack of negative qualities, at least one of which is usually found in any random sample: soggy crust, oily fish, watery fish, overcooked crust, flavorless fish, too-thick crust and sharply tapered fillets (which leave behind those curled nubbins of fishless, overfried cornmeal). None of these descriptions apply to the fish at the Lassis.” The restaurant was in the first group of inductees into the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Department of Arkansas Heritage. It was honored at the inaugural induction ceremony on February 28, 2017, at the Ron Robinson Theater in Little Rock. In 2020, the restaurant received the American Classics Award from the James Beard Foundation.

By May 2024, the restaurant had been closed for more than a year due to manager Elihue Washington Jr. receiving treatment for cancer, and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette speculated that the Lassis Inn was unlikely to reopen. Washington responded, telling the media that he planned for the restaurant to reopen at some point, and in early July 2024, it was announced that Washington had found buyers for the Lassis Inn: Christopher Jones and Kristian Nelson. However, on July 16, 2024, Washington filed suit to get out of the contract to sell the restaurant, citing Nelson’s previous convictions on interstate wire fraud, felony hot-check, and false police report charges, as well as the fact that a check Nelson gave Washington as part of the payment had bounced. Meanwhile, Nelson alleged that Washington had falsely represented himself as the owner of the establishment. Washington won the suit, but plans for the restaurant remain uncertain.

For additional information:
Brinkley, Rhett. “Lassis Inn Owner Files Lawsuit to Halt Sale of Business after Check Bounces.” Arkansas Times, July 19, 2024. https://arktimes.com/eat-arkansas/2024/07/19/lassis-inn-owner-files-lawsuit-to-halt-sale-of-business-after-check-bounces (accessed July 22, 2024).

Carroll, Scott. “Lassis Inn Lawsuit Settled in Favor of Longtime Owner.” Arkansas Business, August 20, 2024. https://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/lassis-inn-lawsuit-settled-in-favor-of-longtime-owner/ (accessed August 29, 2024).

Harrison, Eric E. “It Looks Like Lassis Inn’s Closure Final.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 23, 2024, pp. 1E, 3E. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/may/22/restaurant-transitions-upscale-sushi-hibachi/ (accessed May 23, 2024).

———. “New Owners Reopening Lassis Inn.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 11, 2024, pp. 1E, 6E. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/jul/10/restaurant-transitions-new-owners-set-to-reopen/ (accessed July 17, 2024).

Hoekstra, Dave. The People’s Place: Soul Food Restaurants and Reminiscences from the Civil Rights Era to Today. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2015.

Lynch, John. “Suit Filed in Sale of Longtime LR Diner.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 17, 2024, pp. 1B, 8B. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/jul/16/lassis-inn-owner-files-lawsuit-to-void-sale-of/ (accessed July 17, 2024).

Manuel, Dhinesh. “The Taste of Freedom: 7 Restaurants that Fueled the Civil Rights Movement.” Miles Away, January 13, 2017. https://www.cheapoair.com/miles-away/the-taste-of-freedom-7-restaurants-that-fueled-the-civil-rights-movement/ (accessed May 23, 2024).

Nelson, Rex. “Rhoda’s Big Night.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, March 15, 2017. https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2017/mar/15/rhoda-s-big-night-20170315/ (accessed May 24, 2024).

Robinson, Kat. “Lassis Inn: Fish and More Fish.” Tie Dye Travels, August 23, 2013. http://www.tiedyetravels.com/2013/08/lassis-inn.html (accessed May 23, 2024).

York, Joe. Fish Ribs in Little Rock. Southern Foodways Alliance. https://www.southernfoodways.org/film/fish-ribs-a-film-bite/ (accessed May 23, 2024).

Revis Edmonds
Jonesboro, Arkansas