Here in NE Ohio there are lots of churches, ethnic halls, etc that feature Lake Erie perch or walleye dinners. They have been doing it so long they have the process running like clockwork. I tried a local Catholic church that I have not been to before and was quite impressed.
They had perch or cod dinners for $19 and $16 with two sides. Lots of sides: fries, sweet potato fries, mac n cheese, cabbage and noodles, pierogies, cole slaw and more. You walk up to a long table taking orders. Eat-in gets a white menu sheet with boxes you check off. Carry-out gets a blue sheet. Fill it out and pay then head for a table or a seating area to wait. A dozen young ladies are carrying the menu sheets to the kitchen, bringing trays of completed orders to the finishing table where they get rolls, napkins, forks, etc. Orders are bagged or served as names are called out… “Dennis” - yay that’s me! Empty trays are carried back to the kitchen. Everyone is talking and having a good time.
Excellent dinner and not skimpy. I had 5 or 6 fillets of Lake Erie’s finest perch. This church did not have walleye but next week we’ll look for some. I think the best that I have been to is the Slovak Hall in Lorain, Ohio but I may have a new favorite.
I grew up in places where Catholic folks were a decided minority, and hence didn’t encounter the whole notion of “give up something for Lent” except in comedians’ punch lines; I vaguely knew about it but didn’t know fish for dinner was a part of it. (I always think of fish as a subtype of meat, not an alternative to it).
Quite aside from Lent or Catholic parishes, though, I love fish and enjoy having them for dinner. We have some favorite fish recipes at home and I often order fish when I’m in restaurants especially if we go to one that specializes in seafood. I’m particularly fond of Portuguese and Cajun cuisine treatments of fish.
I was born and raised Catholic but still found a certain irony in the fact that I’d look forward to Lent for the all the places carrying cod sandwiches and pepper egg sandwiches. We’re supposed to be suffering here!
The wife loves her fish fries, a holdover from her Catholic youth. I had a really good one in Buffalo when we visited there. I’m guessing it’s popular here in MSP, but finding a good place may be a challenge. There’s a Hell’s Kitchen not far from us, so perhaps they do a good job.
I love a good fish fry, but I still wouldn’t want to eat anything that came out of Lake Erie. Fortunately I haven’t found that to be the norm: My church serves pollack, and most others seem to be various other ocean fishes.
I was raised Methodist and am currently Unitarian Universalist, and I grew up on and still love the Friday night fish fries that are ubiquitous all around Wisconsin. Nearly every non fast food restaurant and bar in the state offers one on a Friday. And they compete like mad to make their fish better than the others. That plus the cole slaw, rye bread, and potato pancakes with apple sauce is one of my favorite comfort meals.
To me, something served by a restaurant or bar isn’t a “fish fry”. A real fish fry is in a church basement, or high school cafeteria, or the like, served by volunteers as a fundraiser. Bars and restaurants might offer a fish dinner as a special during Lent, but it’s not the same thing.
I was briefly in Sawyer, WI, years ago, working on a summer job. I really looked forward to the Friday night fish fries they had, with everything coming from the clear lakes in and around the area. (The buckwheat pancakes I had for breakfast on Sunday, not so much. They sat in my stomach like lead for hours. )
I visited this in Hayward, WI:
If I were Catholic, I’d look forward to having fish every Friday.
MrsFtG used to muse about going to a fish fry at a church we used to pass by. I offered to take her to one but she always begged off. (Apparently the fact that I wasn’t myself interested in it made it my fault somehow.)
BTW, this was a Lutheran church. Several non-Catholics churches do this. Some it’s every Friday all Lent, others only do it, for example, on Good Friday.
The Pierogi Palace in Willoughby, Ohio make Ukrainian style pierogis. They are larger then the other ones with a braided seal. Every day they have about 20 different kinds. Towards the end of the day many are crossed off the hand drawn menu board as they are sold out. He will heat them up with buttered onions for you. Delicious! One of their more recent additions are sloppy Joe pierogis. Man are they good!
Being a protestant from Wisconsin, I never really even associated the Friday Fish Fry with Catholicism, or with Lent. They happened every Friday year round, and they still do. Per local scholars, they became so common on Fridays all year round due to 3 main factors:
1.The Catholic Church, as this state has a huge Catholic population.
2. Cheap abundant local supply of fish from Lake Michigan
3. Prohibition, which forced the taverns to find a cheap popular meal to replace lost booze revenue.
Cleveland is one of the best places for Church/Ethnic Hall fish fries you will find anywhere. I think the combination of a still quite strong ethnic (e.g. Catholic) presence as well as close proximity to Lake Erie and its abundance of walleye/perch is just an incredible combination for that type of thing.
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