When the distinguished guests at a restaurant are also the judges of the food being served, the owner might be a little more than nervous.

Amy Chandler, owner of the Old Barn Restaurant in Goshen, laughing said she might have even sweated a bead or two Tuesday when the judges for Alabama Catfish Producer’s inaugural Alabama’s Best Catfish Restaurant Challenge sat down to dine.

The Old Barn Restaurant is one of four finalists in the Catfish Challenge and was the first of the four restaurants to be visited by the judges, Alabama Agriculture and Industries Commissioner John McMillan, WSFA news anchor Judd Davis, Alabama Farmers Cooperative’s Jim Allen and State Catfish Committee Chairman Will Pearce.

Being a finalist in a statewide competition is not new to Chandler. The Old Barn took top honors for the Best Steak in Alabama in 2015. The contest was sponsored by the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association.

“For the Best Steak contest, we didn’t know who the judges were, when they would come or that they were here,” Chandler said. “So for two months, I had to wonder if every customer was a judge and that was very nerve racking. I liked having the chance to serve the judges just like they were customers.”

Chandler said the goal of The Old Barn is to serve every customer the best meal she and the Old Barn staff can put on the table and provide the best service.

“We just try our best all the time,” she said.Chandler served the judges catfish prepared the Old Barn way – fried, grilled and blackened and with a generous serving of the house slaw, cheese grits and fried onion rings.

As judges should do, they ate heartedly and, as polite guests should do, they cleaned their plates and stopped just short of smacking their lips.

Chandler shared information about The Old Barn, which was constructed from the materials salvaged from a dilapidated farm building.

“Our initial plan was to build a hunting lodge but when we added the kitchen, we decided it should be a restaurant,” she said. “But, if you’ll notice all the wall plugs … we put those in so if the restaurant didn’t work out, we would have a place to live.”

That was 11 years ago and Amy Chandler and her husband, Scottie, are catering to their large base of customers the best way they know how.

“It’s like a big family out here,” Chandler said. “Whether our customers are from right here in Pike County or from way off, we treat everybody like family.”

Chandler said it would be a huge honor for the Old Barn Restaurant to be the winner of the Catfish Challenge.

“But we are just so excited and honored to be a finalist,” she said. “When we decided to put catfish on the menu, we tried a lot of different brands before we found the product that we wanted and we’ve stayed with it. And we serve only U.S. farm raised catfish, nothing else. It’s a clean tasting product. This recognition is an indication that we chose right.”

Commissioner McMillan said the purpose of the Catfish Challenge is to bring greater public awareness to the United States catfish industry and the superior product that it provides.

“U.S. farm-raised catfish are the best quality fish and have the best flavor of catfish grown anywhere,” he said. “Consumers need to be aware of the origin of the fish they are eating and how they are raised. You might get a less expensive catfish but you won’t get the quality of U.S. farm-raised catfish.

Pearce, who chairs the State Catfish Committee, said the foreign market dips into the U.S. catfish market, which is primarily in Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas.

“Many consumers don’t realize that imported fish are often raised in conditions that, by U.S. standards, are unsanitary,” Pearce said.

“It’s costly to raise catfish because it can take from 18 to 24 months to get them to market size. The feed we use for catfish is of the highest quality and we are committed to regular testing of the water quality. We do what is necessary to produce catfish that are U.S. farm raised quality. You won’t find catfish with better flavor.”

The judges left The Old Barn Restaurant for David’s Catfish House in Andalusia, which is also a finalist in the Catfish Challenge.

Chandler said the judges, laughingly, asked her if she had tried to fill them up before they got to Andalusia.

The judges will go to The Green Leaf Grill in Mentone and Pat’s Perfections in Centre today and Thursday. The judges are expected to make a very tough decision on Friday. “We are fortunate to have such dedicated people working for us,” Chandler said. “We started with seven employees. Now we have 19. We thank them for their hard work and dedication and the customers that keep coming back. We share this amazing Catfish Challenge recognition with all of them.”

The winner of Alabama’s Best Catfish Restaurant will be announced Friday. The winning restaurant will receive a trophy, a cash prize and will be featured in the Alabama Farmers Federation’s Neighbors magazine.

More than 150 nominations were received in the Catfish Challenge.

The Alabama Catfish Producers is a division of the Alabama Farmers Federation, the state’s largest farm organization with more than 350,000 members.

Alabama farmers currently produce more than 100 million pounds of catfish a year with an annual economic impact to the state of more than $158 million.