Daniel Cody - “Left on the Lake”

Winter is starting to set in on Milwaukee, which means three things are garnering attention again: Red Wings Hockey, kicking ass in my fantasy football league, and Friday night fish fries.

Fish fries are a longstanding tradition in many parts of the Midwest, but no one that I’ve seen takes them as seriously as people from Wisconsin. What is a fish fry you may ask?

From what I have seen living in many parts of the Midwest, the traditional Friday night fish fry started out (and remains strictly as such in some less than fish-fry-committed places) as a method for getting around the ‘Thou Shalt Not Eat Meat on Fridays’ Lent tradition. Fridays during Lent, the whole family would pile in the car and head to their local church where a fish fry was usually being served for a small ‘donation’. The church put it on both for the ‘donation’ factor, but also to facilitate good ‘fellowship’ among it’s congregation.

This is probably why so many of the oldest (and best) fish fries are still done in church basements.

Well it turned out that these fish fries - which is breaded or battered cod or haddock served with tartar sauce, rye bread, cole slaw, and french fries or potato pancakes, all typcially served in an ‘all you can eat’ fashion - were pretty tasty. Soon word spread to the non-believers and casual Christians (who you could barely get in a church on Sunday, much less a Friday), and regular restaurants started picking up the traditions adding their own small changes and flare. Thus, a tradition was born.

These days, almost every dining establishment in the city has a Friday night fish fry of some sort, so it can be hard to choose which one is worth your dime.

That’s why I was happy to see local food critic Dennis Getto run a special Fish Fry roundup in a recent article for the Journal Sentinel. Milwaukee citizens rate their favorite fish fry establisments in a number of different categories, and Getto chimes in with his personal picks as well. All in all, it’s a good - but naturally incomplete - list of places to head in Milwaukee when you’re looking for a satisfying low-priced night out.

My personal Favorite: Slim’s Bar & Grill on 2nd Street in the 5th Ward.

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