Fish Type: Cod (AYCE) Price: $10.00
Overall, I would highly recommend this Fish Fry.
| Fish Score: Excellent Potato Score: Good Tartar Score: Excellent Bread Score: Good Miscellaneous Score: Good |  |
Comment: Western Wisconsin is known for fish, but not necessarily Fish Fry. The location along the Mississippi basically requires that fish be fried on Fridays, but most places simply take the easy way out with cod. Lake perch? Laughable. Bluegill? Bah. Walleye? Yeah, youll find that, but not usually as a special. The Big Muddy, and Western Wisconsin in general, is known for its catfish and thats what people have come to expect that, and cod. Always cod
Since Im like most people, and know how hit-and-miss catfish can be, I stuck to the cod when I visited the Spring Lake Inn. Both cod and catfish come AYCE for ten measly skins, but I figured what they hey, cod is what everyone does, so I should just try and fit in, right? Not a bad choice, but somewhat regrettable.
The Spring Lake Inn is kind of a bar-supper club hybrid and thus dole out the whole shebang before the fish. A big relish tray (bowl) comes stocked with carrots/celery/radishes/green onion/hot peppers and some sort of ham dip yes, ham dip. It was an impressive start, only further bolstered by Grandmas dinner roll and plenty of butter. Some standard creamy coleslaw capped it off with a kick and while this aint a supper club they do the relish tray more justice than most.
The fish, fries, and tartar were soon to follow and looked as good as they tasted. The first plate (it was AYCE dontcha know) had four pieces of cod of varying sizes. This was just flat-out solid cod. It held no grease, had a great flake, and was coupled with a light beer batter that had just enough flavor to let you know its there. When it comes to cod this stuff was in harmony and all was right with the universe.
Some steak fries accompanied the cod and were fine but nothing you havent seen before. Cripsy. Crunchy. Adequate. A thick and creamy tartar trolled the cod and really helped when it could, but since the cup was only about ¼ full I really had to ration. Sure, I could have had more, but the place was busy and the waitress was doing all she could to manage the bar and the adjacent eating area so I just let sleeping dogs lie. The cod could hold its own so all was not lost on a slim smattering of sauce.
I love getting out of the city and hitting up the small town frys and the Spring Lake only reinforced that belief. This was an all-around great experience and Id have no problem telling others to take the trip to PDC to give it a whirl. Overall, we highly recommend this Fish Fry and think its a great example of everything the river has to offer. Next comes the catfish!
www.facebook.com/Spring-Lake-Inn-110903418973298/
64040 County Road N
Prairie du Chien, WI 54626
(608) 326-6907
