FT Worth, Star-Telegram
Article By
Jon McConel, Texas

D'Ann Davis' delicious pies are as famous as Nolan Ryan's Fastball. Whitesboro-I'm sure Catfish Haven Restaurant will be packed this Memorial Day. The food is delicious, but owner D'Ann Davis pies are the big lure. Even the pie names can start you salivating: butterscotch pecan, strawberry coconut and C.P.R. (chocolate pecan rum). Recently we visited Davis in the restaurant on US 377, 5 miles north of Whitesboro in Grayson County. Davis has dark hair and brown eyes, like the rich color of her pecan pie fillings. She's 58 and the kind of person who touches your arm frequently when she talks. "We think we are different because we make everything here. All of our dressings are home-made. Our pinto beans, we start with dried pintos put into a pot of water with some bacon and cooked for a long time," she said. But what about her pies? "They are not made on an assembly line. No two of our pies are alike. We make each one individually," she said. Practically anyone in this county will testify to their deliciousness. Davis, who has cooked since she was 8, believes that it takes more than experience to be a good cook. "But, I think cooking is something that comes natural to you ...Something you are born with like a baseball pitcher is born with a good fastball." she said. Well, her pie cooking is as famous as Nolan Ryan's fastball. Recently she was at Disney World in Florida, and a woman grabbed and hugged davis and said, "You are the Pie Woman. You need to be home cooking those pies." Davis opened her first restaurant in 1984. Business was thriving when a fire destroyed the restaurant in the early 1990's. She, her husband, Robert "Speedy" Davis, and the rest of her family decided they would rebuild. The Davises are experienced builders too. They constructed the family's two-story brick house. Her son, Bobby Davis, did all the brick work plus all the cabinets. D'Ann Davis grabbed my arm. "Now get this. Our cabinets are made out of Walnut. We met this man in Bonham who had a bunch of walnut trees he wanted to get rid of. So we cut them down and took them to a saw mill and kiln and made our cabinets from the wood," she said So they knew they could rebuild the restaurant. "See these tiles, There are 5000 of them. We hauled them by pickup and trailer from Monterrey Mexico. And, I laid every one of them." She said. Well, customers were certainly glad to see the restaurant reopen and to see her pies on the menu again. So what is the best seller? "Cream cheese pecan", she said. "They also like Speedy's Special, named for my husband. It is peanut butter chocolate, pecan." She eyed a table full of pies. "People ask me if I have ever entered my pies in a contest. I said, "No". The contest is right here every day," Davis said. On this day, many diners looked as if they had eaten a blue ribbon winner. The restaurant is open seven days a week - 11 am to 8:30 pm Sunday through Thursday and until 9:30 pm Fridays and Saturdays.