Review
We rolled into O'Grady's near noon, still emanating vapors from our previous evenings excursions. We were seated in a dimly lit corner which served as a welcome escape from the cloudless sky outside. On Friday nights O'Grady's does a full-fledged AYCE Fish Fry, but the lunch offering is limited to their more economical 2-piece fish 'n' chips, leaving us no choice.
It took a while to get our grub thanks to our less than expedient waiter, but everything was nice and hot when it arrived. I started with the fish which instantly put my stomach at ease. The cod played host to a standard beer batter which was good, but not great. The creamy coating was semi-thick, and housed a moderate amount of grease. The grease was soothing on this day, and didn't overpower the fish itself which was also basic, but acceptable.
Making the mildly greasy cod go down easy was O'Grady's homemade tartar sauce. While a bit of dill was visible in the thick sauce, its taste was negligible. Any remaining tartar that wasn't used on the two average sized pieces of cod was eagerly scooped up by the straight-cut, skin-on, French fries. While they weren't cut in-house and were slightly under-fried, they got the job done.
As per usual with "fish 'n' chips" dinners, no bread accompanied the meal which is to be expected, but is no less disappointing. Some homemade slaw did make the grade, and treated my tummy fine, but would have benefited from some added zing. I could take it or leave it, but in this case I took it due to the fact that the amount of fish and fries weren't exactly gigantic and my gut needed all it could get.
Overall, this was a fine "Fish Fry," but I'm not sure I'll be back to O'Grady's for lunch on a Friday. While their AYCE dinner is really a good deal, and won us over previously, the fish 'n' chips lunch just didn't quite do it. Everything was basically just acceptable, and while it did improve my condition, it was more a case of the greasiness, and not the deliciousness.
We arrived at the Mineral Point Road mainstay around 7:30 and were immediately ushered to one of the many available tables. The $10.25 beer battered cod special was on the board and to my delight it was listed as AYCE. The waitress came by a couple minutes after we sat down and took our drink orders - one Spotted Cow, one $2.00 Amaretto Sour (on special) and one Maker's Mark (for Jer, who was drinking his dinner this evening). The waitress was a little taken aback by his order and we were not exactly sure if his "Maker's, neat" would come as expected. When it came, it was definitely "neat," and a generous neat at that... this "double" was more like a "quadruple" as it was at least 5 ounces of straight booze. Well done barkeep, we all thought; starting the evening off right. At this point I also gave the waitress my fish order.
Prior to the fish I was treated to a lovely cup of clam chowder in lieu of coleslaw. The chowder was rich and creamy and tasted superb, as did the slice of fresh bread that accompanied it. After a quick taste, Jer also grabbed a cup to enjoy with his bourbon: mmm mmm mmm, clam chowder and Maker's Mark - it's a winning combination! The cod arrived about 5 minutes after I polished off my soup and was fresh from the fryer. The beer batter was actually really good as it wasn't terribly thick, but wasn't thin either. It had a good "creamy" flavor, which was not over the top. The fish itself was flaky, but the taste was pretty much dominated by the beer batter. After polishing off my first two pieces I asked for another round which was even hotter and tastier than the first, although I did have some lag time in between.
My French fries were also right on the money. The straight-cut, skin-on potatoes looked homemade and were perfectly fried. Like the fish, they were ungodly hot when served and came in good quantity, although unlike the cod, they were not AYCE which begs a question I have asked before: why would you offer AYCE fish, but not fries? I would think fries are cheaper and you would want people to fill up on them if possible. I may never figure that one out...
A very tasty tartar comes in the Fish Fry mix as well. It really improved the taste of the rich cod, but unlike the fries, more comes along with your second (and possibly third) helpings of fish. To top it all off, the service was pretty good, although it seemed like our waitress was a little clueless (at least when it came to booze, she knew the menu forward and back however).
Overall, I can easily recommend this Fish Fry for several reasons - one: the fish is good (and AYCE), two: the tasty fries and tartar are homemade, and three: the chowder was great and served with fresh baked bread. All that easily adds up to a recommendable Fry, especially when you take into account you get it all for only $10.25 which is a pretty square deal. The place itself is also much nicer than you might expect, considering it is in a mini-mall. When all is said and done the old soup maxim seems to have held. The food was great and the booze was cheap ($6.25 for all that bourbon), which is enough to keep us coming back. And hey, any time we need to give Jer a ride home from a Fish fry, we will chalk it up as a win.