In a Friday mood, I was just thinking about possibly going out tonight for some fish ‘n’ chips. Except most of the places I go to around here (Metro Detroit) offer mac ‘n’ cheese instead of the normal soggy chips. And ,at least among me and my friends, it is much preferable.
Is that a common thing elsewhere?
Edit: Not sure if I was clear, the chips are offered as an option as well, but M’n’C is my preferred option.
In the soutwest, fries are the default, but most restaurants offer mac’n’cheese as an option.
I hate mac ‘n’ cheese. So, even if it were offered I’d probably block it from my memory.
Mac and cheese is a staple side dish in the south, so you’ll often see it with fried fish.
I’ve personally never been in a place that offered mac 'n cheese as a sidedish for fish and chips. Then again, I’ve never found a good place in Colorado to get really good fish and chips, it’s normally places trying to ‘upscale’ the dish by using salmon and the like such as sweet potato fries.
I’m sure a few of the places I’ve been too could do some sort of side swap if I pushed, but again has never been offered. Personally, I like heavier mac and cheeses that most offered as sides and would probably be overfull from such a combo, but that’s a different issue.
Plus, at $15 for a medium serving (8oz fish) at the best rated place in town, I don’t normally feel like paying a premium for something that’s supposed to be a comfort / working person’s food.
This isn’t a swipe at the restaurants, because how many middle-market eateries do a $15 burger plate after all, but I bet I can do almost as well at home for a lot less.
ETA link to best rated place in town - default sides are chips, no mac on menu at all.
I used to mix tuna into my Kraft (mac and cheese) dinner until it most likely started to cloy, IIRC.
yeah i remember in school we’d have mac n cheese with fish sticks too
I think that it came from a "make at home/eat at school thing " … a lot of people would eat it with fish sticks years ago
Now when we had fish and chips it was fish fillets and mom had a slicer for potatoes that worked like one for eggs and you’d get perfectly round and somewhat thin slices of potatoes that were deep-fried… I never had fries with fish until I started eating out more
I did the same thing when I was a poor college student. However, I splurged a bit and used white albacore.
No, no, no. Fish sticks go with custard.
I worked with an outdoorsy type who always had mashed potatoes with his fish, and was taken aback when I asked if he ever had fish with rice. He had never heard of such a thing. It’s a thing, right?
I see MacNCheese growing in popularity as a restaurant side dish. And if you do like fish of some sort with the dish then get yourself some Lobster MacNCheese.
We like GB Fish and Chips in Denver, but that is the only other place in the state we have found. In Cod We Trust, but no mac 'n cheese on the menu. That is, as far as i can tell - they speak British instead of english.
I have eaten a lot of fish and chips from drive-ins to upscale, especially in the coastal areas of Washington and Oregon. I don’t recall ever seeing mac & cheese as an option to fries. Considering the northwest corner of the US has the best ingredients available for fish and chips, why would we need anything else?
Upstate NY here, mac and cheese is very often offered as a side with fried fish. Usually it’s french fries. Potato salad, macaroni salad is an option, and always coleslaw.
I still occasionally make mac & cheese with tuna, and also upgraded to albacore when I realized that I could afford to buy the good stuff.
Mmm. One 39 cent can of tuna in oil and a 35 cent box of store brand mac and cheese with the oil in the tuna substituting for the milk and butter- comfort food for a couple of drunk guys back in the early eighties.
All of Asia says yes, with a shout out from the sushi chefs.
Fried fish, with macaroni and cheese as a side dish, is a pretty common Friday special at independent “family restaurants” (frequently run by Greek-Americans) in the Chicago area. When we go out to one of those on a Friday night, it’s my wife’s go-to dish.