Fish Type: Bluegill Price: $10.00
Overall, I would highly recommend this Fish Fry.
| Fish Score: Excellent Potato Score: Excellent Tartar Score: Excellent Bread Score: Good Miscellaneous Score: Excellent |  |
Comment: Unless youve been living under a rock youve probably heard of Tobys by now. The diminutive supper club on Madisons far eastside has been serving up some of the finest Fish Fry in the area for years and the masses have fully caught on to that fact. The fabulous food has led to some staggeringly long waits on Friday nights which has necessitated us taking a different route to get our fill of their delicious fishes. Instead of fishing on Friday nights weve turned Tobys into one of our noon hour destination since you can get the same fish, but without the lengthy wait. Its a win-win if ever there was one.
This time around I showed up right at noon with Norbert and Travis in tow. Since it was lunch there were plenty of tables to choose from even though there were several likeminded groups getting their fish fix this Friday. The specials were listed on the neon board and I was pleased to see they included bluegill in addition to Tobys standard cod and lake perch. I bounced back and forth between the freshwater fish momentarily, but of course settled on bluegill once our waitress came around.
Big Norb, Travis, and I only had a few moments to discuss the weekly high school football goings-on before the food showed up - Tobys simply doesnt mess around when it comes to frying fish. My basket looked just beautiful from the onset. It was home to 10ish bluegill fillets, and handful of Tobys special steak fries, a small Solo of tartar and larger one of slaw, a slice of French bread, and a lemon wedge (the citrus would go unused). It was pretty as a picture, but destined to be destroyed.
The bluegill fillets varied in sized, but were consistently delicious. Each of the small swimmers was perfectly breaded and fried. Tobys breading is light and flaky with just enough seasoning to give the delicate fish an ideal balance of flavors. Of course, Tobys bluegill comes with the skin intact, so if youre scared of the skin this probably isnt the fish for you, although if youre scared of skin, Fish Fry might not be your thing in general. In my opinion, the skin provides a flavor that the meat would never be able to achieve on its own making the bluegill truly unique and incredibly desirable.
The steak fries at Tobys are more conventional than the bluegill, but no less delicious. Like the fish, they are consistently well-fried and boast crispy exteriors and plush interiors. These are the fries youve come to know and love, and if you havent yet, you can bet you will should you ever get your mitts on some of them.
Light and flaky fish blends best with a mostly-mayo tartar, and that is exactly what Tobys delivers. Their homemade sauce contains the requisite amount of relish, but the mayo contingent comes to the front to provide the perfect complement to the fantastic fish.
When it comes to sides Tobys dont steal the show, but at this point they dont really need to. The slice of French bread that came with today was fresh, and soft, while the slaw was great, but still played second fiddle to the fish. Regardless, the killer coleslaw was cool and creamy with enough horseradish to keep things interesting.
Of course, once youve satisfied your salty side Tobys trots out a personal-sized cup of Schoeps ice cream for your sweet tooth. Today there were three flavors to choose from of which I went for the plain old vanilla. A little ice cream is simply a superb way to cap a Fish Fry, and since its included in the cost of the meal its a total bonus. Bluegill, fries, tartar, slaw, bread AND dessert all for only 10 skins? Sign me up!
What can you say about Tobys? They just never miss. The food is always superb, the staff is always incredibly friendly (even during the Friday night rush), and its simply a smoking great deal. Overall, we highly, highly, highly recommend the bluegill Tobys, and think its the #1 Fish Fry in Madison proper. End of story.
www.tobyssupperclub.com/Tobys_Supper_Club/Home.html
3717 S Dutch Mill Road
Madison, WI 53718
(608) 222-6913
