Most fish tales seem too good to be true. But the story of Walkertown Seafood Shack and Johnny Shipman, the restaurant’s general manager, needs no embellishment.

We begin in the year 2011. At one of the restaurant’s six-tops, Shipman shared one last meal with his grandmother Bessie before she died just a few weeks later. He can’t remember what he ordered — maybe the Fried Captain’s Platter: a large piece of fried flounder atop a mound of popcorn shrimp, oysters, and a deviled crab, served with slaw, hush puppies, and French fries. A fitting meal for a growing boy of 14. That moment marked the end of one chapter in Shipman’s life and the start of another.

Maria Shipman, George & Melissa Paloumbas, Johnny Shipman, & Taylor Sgroi. photograph by Dhanraj Emanuel

The Seafood Shack is one of a few family-owned, sit-down restaurants in Walkertown, the Forsyth County town of about 6,000. Owner George Paloumbas transformed the former John Deere dealership on Darrow Road into a seafood restaurant in 2006. He envisioned a casual, beach-inspired joint — wood siding, metal awning, and colorful signs. Walkertown Seafood Shack became that setting for landlubbers: coverall-clad mechanics on their lunch breaks, families celebrating birthdays, and retirees out for their weekly dinner date. It also became a fixture in Shipman’s life.

A few years after his last meal with his grandma, Shipman started busing tables at Walkertown Seafood Shack. He even took culinary classes at Guilford Technical Community College. He felt drawn to the food industry, a passion he attributes to Bessie. Having grown up during the Great Depression, she “knew how to get the most out of what you had,” Shipman says. He recalls watching her can vegetables, tasting her scratch-made biscuits, and helping her make cornbread studded with her garden-grown jalapeños.

Although Walkertown Seafood Shack sits three and a half hours from the coast, the restaurant’s bright, aquatic-themed interior and the scent of fried fish transport diners right to the beach. photograph by Dhanraj Emanuel

And then, a major plot twist: Shipman fell in love with a waitress named Maria, Paloumbas’s daughter. The two married in 2019, and a handful of regular customers attended their wedding. “I married the restaurant and the wife,” Shipman says. It seemed like he’d found his happily ever after, but conflict was on the horizon.

In February of 2020, Shipman was promoted to general manager. When the Covid pandemic forced restaurants to close their doors, he was nervous, but he believed that the folks who’d always been willing to wait for tables on Friday nights would still show up to order takeout. They did. Shipman had to hire someone just to direct traffic in the parking lot.

In central North Carolina, whimsical aquatic flair inspires beach vacation vibes throughout the year. photograph by Dhanraj Emanuel

On any given day at the restaurant, Shipman, now 26, talks with Debbie Cameron and Amanda Mabe — both servers who’ve worked at Walkertown for more than a decade. They discuss the weekly specials on a chalkboard that’s pulled by a silhouette of a John Deere tractor on the wall — an homage to the building’s history. He’s quick to applaud the restaurant’s efforts to support other North Carolina businesses: Chocolate, butter pecan, and Key lime cakes from Cake & All Things Yummy in Kernersville make up the dessert menu; most of the seafood comes from Todd’s Seafood in Thomasville; and Ideal Printing in Walkertown handles all of the printed goods and signs.

Shipman’s time at the Seafood Shack has come full circle. He thinks back to that last meal with his grandmother, 13 years ago. She would have turned 100 last year. She may have missed some of the chapters of Shipman’s life, but she helped write his story.

Walkertown Seafood Shack
2890 Darrow Road
Walkertown, NC 27051
(336) 595-2932
walkertownseafoodshack.com