Comfort cooking is in the family at Kemp's Bar & Grill in Hurst

If there's a local restaurant ripe for a name change, it's Kemp's Bar & Grill. Contrary to its name, this tiny restaurant in a Hurst strip mall doesn't serve bar food. Rather, Kemp's specialty is home cooking, in the vein of the old Massey's. Also, there is no "bar," at least not yet. The owners are in the process of securing a liquor license.

For fans of fried fare, burgers and comfort food, Kemp's is a real find. Open since September, it's family-run. In the kitchen is Gerald LeBruce, who worked in local chain restaurants for 20 years before opening his own spot. His wife, Karen, who named the restaurant after her mother, runs the front of the house; son Tyler helps out.

Much of the food is made fresh, in-house. Gerald LeBruce uses handed-down family recipes as blueprints for his own dishes, which include fried catfish, chicken-fried steak, pork chops, ribs and desserts. Next year, our friendly and efficient server told us, he's adding blue plate specials.

The fried catfish platter ($11.99) is the most popular dish, and it's easy to see why. Two large catfish fillets came coated in a dusted cornmeal batter, with crunchy edges and a nice peppery flavor. The farm-raised fish, from Mississippi, wasn't overly fishy; instead, it had a fresh, clean taste, along with a silky, flaky texture. It came with a ramekin of cool tartar sauce and a pair of crisp, oblong-shaped hushpuppies.

LeBruce's approach to chicken-fried steak ($9.99) is slightly different than that of other restaurants. Instead of a heavy, thick batter, this was thin and airy, to allow focus on the meat. But despite having a good flavor, ours was a little too tough, and it separated from the batter too easily. On top of it came a large pool of creamy white gravy, and on the side were two pieces of buttered Texas toast.

We preferred the chicken-fried chicken ($8.99); it was so huge, it took up most of the plate. We loved the flour-based batter -- thick, and well-seasoned with pepper and other spices. It clung tightly to the chicken breast, which was juicy and fork-tender.

With entrees, you can choose two sides from fried okra, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, fries and baked beans. Mashed potatoes were instant but were doctored up well with butter and pepper. The okra had a nice crunch to it, and the green beans included tiny chunks of bacon.

Kemp's also does a good burger. Hand-formed patties of USDA beef, an inch and a half thick, weigh in at half a pound. Our Kemp's burger ($8.99) was perfectly cooked medium rare, with a warm pink and red center and traces of char on its exterior.

The patty had a terrific smoky flavor, and it was covered in tiny flecks of pepper. It came on a toasted, buttered kaiser bun, and was topped with chopped iceberg lettuce, fresh tomato slices and crinkle pickle chips. The patty was so juicy, it turned the bottom bun to mush. It would have been better to have the toppings underneath the patty, to soak up the juices. Crisp crinkle fries, lightly dotted with seasoned salt, came on the side.

There were several appetizers, including lightly battered fried pickles ($4.99) and tender Buffalo wings ($7.99). Desserts are made in-house, and consisted of several cakes: lemon, Black Forest and strawberry. We tried the devil's fudge cake ($4.99), and definitely needed to repent afterward. Served warm, it was chocolate on chocolate: a moist chocolate base topped with chocolate icing that melted all over the plate.

Kemp's resides in a space once occupied by a Mexican restaurant, and remnants of the former tenants linger, including murals and signs in Spanish. Seating is diner-style, with two- and four-top booths and tables. There's not much in the way of atmosphere, but Kemp's takes an admirably old-school approach, in which food is far more important than atmosphere.