What is a Fish Fry?

My definition of a Fish Fry is pretty traditional. You need five basic components: fish, potato, coleslaw, bread, and tartar sauce. Cod is the most traditional fish, but I welcome all kinds. For the potato I always choose French fries (unless potato pancakes are available) - every place has them as an option, and I flat-out like them better than the other choices. I don't care for coleslaw and really don't eat it, but I always give it a taste to see if it is at least okay. Rye is the traditional bread served with a Fish Fry. I don't really care for the "stank" of rye bread, but I do rate it highly if served due to this tradition. I also rate bread highly if I like it (i.e. the little basket of crackers and rolls you get at most supper clubs). I am also partial to the little loaves of bread with the cutting boards that you have to slice yourself.

About Me

Growing up I was not a huge fan of fried cod. On Friday nights I much preferred to order the baked cod from our local Eagles Club as opposed to its greasier, fried counterpart. This was partially because fried cod was commonplace, and partially because we usually got takeout, and by the time you got it home the batter on the fried fish had gotten soggy and gross. Thus, when I was young I didn't fully appreciate that which is the Fish Fry. I did eat Fish Fry sporadically while I was young, but certainly nowhere near as much as I do now.

Like most people, as I grew up my tastes changed. By the time I was a senior at UW-Madison I had developed a taste for Fish Fry, and really enjoyed going out on Fridays and ordering the special. One of the first places that rekindled my love of the Fish Fry was The Blue Moon. This was mostly due to the fact that it was located near the apartment I used to rent on University Avenue. At this point, I was just beginning to wet my beak in local Fish Fry, and was not eating it consistently and had no intention of ever cataloging my experiences. I have learned a lot about what makes a good Fish Fry since these early days, and am ready to share what I have learned with everyone out there who wants to know.

Conceptualizing madisonFishFry.com

The idea to record my Fish Fry experiences began innocently enough. I was getting sick of not being able to remember which places I liked the fish and those which I didn't, so I started to write them down. One thing led to another and I began having so many places that I needed a better system of organizing them all. The need to store all this info while still making it easily editable led me to the computer. I began a spreadsheet and started putting in the places I had been, and simply ranking the total experience (as I have seen some other web sites do). As the list grew I realized I wasn't capturing all the variability these places had to offer. It was at this point I decided to quantify the experiences and add individual attributes for each and every Fish Fry I went to. Eventually this spreadsheet got to be too large to easily manage - it was at this point I decided to convert all the entries from my spreadsheet into a database which could be easily queried so others could gain access to this info. The flexibility of the database allows you to create your own "Best of" lists based on what is important to you. For example: maybe you don't care what the tartar sauce tastes like and fish is all that matters. You can search for best fish only. What's more, since I have broken down each type of fish offered (cod, perch, walleye, etc) you can even specify things like "The Best Perch Fish Fry on the east side for under $12."

I am trying new places, and sometimes old favorites, every Friday night. Madison restaurant owners be aware, if you serve a Fish Fry you'd better be on your 'A' game every Friday, 'cause you never know where I'm gonna show up.