Hush Puppy celebrates 30 years!!
Catfish and fried green tomatoes keep customers coming

The restaurant's parking lot sits empty all day long. The establishment, set back from the street, looks lonely. But come dinner time, there's barely a parking space to be found.

The Hush Puppy Restaurant, at 7185 W. Charleston Blvd. , is operated seven days a week but only opens its doors at 5 p.m. each day.

"We've never offered breakfast or lunch," said Roger Ghormley, son of Hush Puppy Restaurant founder Charlie Ghormley. "We specialize in all-you-can-eat so people will skip lunch because they know they'll be coming here for dinner."

Terri Brooks, who lives about a mile away, said she first ate at the Hush Puppy 20 years ago. She and her husband now go there for dinner two to three times a week.

"I've had just about everything on the menu and it's all good," she said. "We own a day care and we take the kids there quite often, as a reward."

The restaurant recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. Hush Puppy's second location, 1820 N. Nellis Blvd. , will celebrate its 20th anniversary in January.

The business is family operated. Roger Ghromley's wife, Fran, manages the newer location. His uncle Otis also is responsible for its success. His wife's cousin Mona Sanchez and a nephew Matt Ghormley also work at the business.

Back when the family moved from Arkansas to Las Vegas in the 1960s, Charlie Ghormley worked at the Nevada Test Site as a lineman and electrician. His wife, Virginia, now the restaurant's bookkeeper, was the post master at Indian Springs.

They lived out near where Texas Station now stands.

Being from the South, they always enjoyed fried catfish with hush puppies. Charlie Ghormley was always on the lookout for the dish.

"I once paid a waitress $20 for one recipe," he said.

When he built the restaurant on the 5-acre parcel he purchased, about the only thing around it was desert and tumbleweeds. A sign with a big arrow served to direct patrons to the eatery. Back then, patrons enjoyed an unobstructed view of the city lights.

Roger Ghormley grew up doing every chore there was -- busboy, potato peeler, dish washer and maintenance man. He graduated from Western High School in 1972, then went to UNLV as a music major. After college, he performed on the Strip, most notably for the Coasters at the Sahara . But the family business was always intended to go to him.

These days, he is in charge of keeping both locations stocked with seafood gumbo, which he cooks up in 40-gallon vats.

"I make it at least once a week," he said. "I like being behind the scenes."

Business was brisk and the restaurant quickly gained a reputation for its good food. Within two years of opening, it expanded, doubling its size. Another expansion came in 1980. The restaurant now seats 250 diners within its 7,700-square-feet of space.

Its interior is a juxtaposition of rustic Western and Oriental bamboo. Shell-covered lights hang from the ceilings.

The restaurant's reputation was built on the taste of the hush puppies. Besides that dish, it's also known for its fried green tomatoes, rib-eye steak and seafood gumbo.