Fish Type: Walleye Price: $20.00
Overall, I would highly recommend this Fish Fry.
| Fish Score: Excellent Potato Score: Good Tartar Score: Excellent Bread Score: Excellent Miscellaneous Score: Good |  |
Comment: The Avenue is baaaaaack! Well, maybe not all the way back to their heyday back, but back for all intents and purposes they are. The Food Fight group has revamped the Avenue and have a Fish Fry focus the former owners can be proud of. The cod is a commendable rendition, but this time around we went for the $20 walleye, and were glad we gave it a whirl.
Both the cod and the walleye have the same Spotted Cow beer batter and as you might expect it works better on the cod. Its still good on the walleye and only slightly greasy which is a huge since the freshwater fish has a tendency to really hold the grease when a beer batter is applied. The Avenues fillet is a fat one which is probably a good 10 oz. or so. The meat is rich, but as expected, most of the flavor comes from the batter. This isnt necessarily a bad thing, since the batter is done right, but its still slightly atypical.
A decent amount of battered fries were buried beneath the fish and could almost be heard gasping for air from underneath the chunky fillet. Despite their lack of air, they retained a super-crunchy skin and were well-fried. Like the fish, they paired well with the Avenues amazing homemade aioli-style tartar. This sublime sauce had some serious sweetness and a perfect consistency. I could probably just drink it like water and dip anything and everything in it fish, fries, fingers, you name it.
A small slab of dense rye on the side tugged at the heartstrings and let you know the AC&BUB really cares about their Fish Fry in an old school kind of way. The slaw further proved that point as the homemade mix had a real punch that offset the stanky starch just right.
There was a day the Avenue boasted the best Fish Fry in Madison, no ifs ands or buts about it. Those days have come and gone, but they Avenue of 2016 is doing all they can to reclaim that throne. From real rye to a legit beer batter they are firing on all cylinders and staking their claim as best they can. Overall, we highly recommend this Fish Fry and are glad to see the Avenue back on the right path.
avenueclubmadison.com
1128 E Washington Avenue
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 257-6877
