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I grew up in Ohio and during Lent, it seemed there was a fish fry on every corner. The churches, the VFW halls, the fire departments; everywhere. I moved around a bit after that and years later settled in DFW. I couldn't find a fish fry anywhere. I wondered if this was just something that wasn't done there, or if they had simply faded away. Are they still common in other parts of the country?
The number of fish frys in an area is directly proportional to the number of Catholics in the area. I will say that there are great fish Fry's and very mediocre ones in Northern Illinois and SE Wisconsin.
Yea the good ole days. I grew up in the New England area and most everyone had fish on Friday. I think that's why McDonalds came up with the filet o fish sandwich.
Yea the good ole days. I grew up in the New England area and most everyone had fish on Friday. I think that's why McDonalds came up with the filet o fish sandwich.
In Cincinnati, in the early Sixties, a McDonald's franchise opened a restaurant in the highly Catholic area of Western Hills. On his first Lenten Friday, sales were $0.69 for the day.
The franchisee complained to McDonald's for a fried fish sandwich. They refused. They did offer him a fried pineapple sandwich (I am not making this up.). That was a total flop. They eventually, a year later, offered what is now the Filet of Fish sandwich.
I grew up in Ohio and during Lent, it seemed there was a fish fry on every corner. The churches, the VFW halls, the fire departments; everywhere. I moved around a bit after that and years later settled in DFW. I couldn't find a fish fry anywhere. I wondered if this was just something that wasn't done there, or if they had simply faded away. Are they still common in other parts of the country?
Depends on the area of the country. Fish frys are a pretty big deal in St. Louis. We go to a different one every week during Lent, and in the past 3 years we've only gone to the same one twice (although that might change this year since we found one last year that was amazing). So there is a big variety of fish fries here, and everyone we go to is busy. The local news stations even have a fish fry finder on their websites during Lent. And some of the news stations and radio stations even advertise a different fish fry that they themselves go to each week.
Every Friday at the Seaside Grill in Seal Beach Calif. on Main Street just down from the pier has a great Haddock Fish and chips for $9.00. It's a favorite of the locals and the place is packed from opening hour to closing as it is among the best I've ever tasted on the So. California coast.
The only other place I've been to that had an equivilent was at the Lil' Hut in Morro Bay.
The number of fish frys in an area is directly proportional to the number of Catholics in the area. I will say that there are great fish Fry's and very mediocre ones in Northern Illinois and SE Wisconsin.
^^This^^ I do love the Wisconsin and Illinois Perch Fries.
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I grew up in a NJ town of ~40,000 that had a large Scottish population, folks whose families had come to work in thread mills in the 1800s. In the '50s there must have been at least 12-15 English style 'chippies' in town. Having been raised Catholic I probably had fish & chips at least 40 times a year and at the time, IIRC it was less than $1.00 for a large paper plate of fish & chips. I still love it and have access to 2 places making some pretty decent versions, albeit a bit more than $1.00.
I had fish n chips takeout last night, Thursday. I never heard of it being called fish fry. When I was a kid the Catholics had fish on Friday but I never knew what kind--I guess I figured they had a tuna fish casserole or something like that.
I usually skipped the fish and just got a large portion of chips on a Friday night. Ah fond memories of me and my brother running down the road to the chinese take away (they did excellent chips) to a portion of chips with "lots and lots of salt and lots and lots of vinegar"
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