Amy Stocklein
The Lone Girl’s haddock is brined in the brewery’s own ale, hand-breaded and fried. And you don’t even have to wait until Friday.
It is the Wisconsin Way: You don’t keep a good fish fry a secret. It’s un-Badgerlike, a Dairyland demerit. Behavior unbefitting a Cheesehead.
Of course, publicly commending a fish fry is a double-edged sword. Maybe currently it has no wait times. A plus! But if you say nothing and there continue to be empty tables, will the place go out of business? A minus.
For a long time, my favorite spot for a Friday fish fry has been Plata’s at Bridges Golf Course. I don’t understand why the place is so seldom crowded — it’s family-run, the service is quick and friendly, there are a ton of fish choices and they’re all good. The clubhouse is open and airy with big windows overlooking the course.
I’ve tried and liked the pan-fried tilapia ($14.75) and the pan-fried walleye, but the lightly breaded and deep-fried blue gill ($16.75) is the more seductive choice. It arrives as a pile of thin, crispy triangles, perfect for dipping in Plata’s tartar sauce. It is of the tart Southern variety, best friends with the specks of dill pickle dotting it.
Perfect for those who can’t make up their minds is the Plata’s Platter ($16.75): a piece each of cod, lake perch (also very good) and walleye, plus two breaded shrimp. The beer batter is shatteringly crisp and, satisfyingly, a little greasy.
Each table gets a half loaf of warm bread, which is often somewhat doughy, yet always disappears from the bread board with unseemly speed. Choice of potato includes fries, housemade chips, hash browns, sautéed vegetables or a baked potato. If this fish fry has a flaw, it’s the nondescript coleslaw, although it’s not bad, just a little dull. Sadly, my original go-to here, the catfish, was dropped from the menu to add fish tacos. Plata’s: Please bring back the catfish!
Word must be spreading about Athens Grill’s Friday fish fry. Earlier this winter, the dining room was full despite an aggressive sleet/snow event, and there was a brisk take-out business, yet our order took less than five minutes. Diners order at the counter, and a buzzer signals when the order is up. The dining room is lively; there’s even a comfy couch area with board games, and the bar features plenty of local microbrews.
The cole slaw is fresh — crunchy and lightly dressed — and only slightly sweet. Sometimes with a fish fry it’s the little things, and here again there is good, tart, pickle-y tartar sauce. The brioche-style dinner roll is more than an afterthought. The fries have a crisp exterior and a soft, creamy interior. Athens offers cod (two pieces, $11) and perch (five pieces, $15). Both have the same classic beer batter, dark, crisp, and a little spicy, but I’d go with the more flavorful perch
Well worth adding to your order is a cup or bowl of clam chowder, with shockingly tender clams. Herbs and bits of carrot and celery brighten a creamy, buttery broth that is real chowder broth, not the gravy so often found in the Midwest. During a return visit in better weather, the dining room was again full, and the service was again speedy.
Then there’s The Lone Girl, the Waunakee brewpub that puts out a very satisfying haddock fish fry ($15) every day of the week. (Fridays, the pub also serves a less conventional pretzel-encrusted fried walleye.) The haddock is brined in The Lone Girl’s SpeaKEEasy Ale and hand-battered in a crunchy beer batter that may bear a trace of panko. Tartar sauce here is sweet; coleslaw is also sweet and of the ultra-fine dice persuasion. The french fries are classic frites. Consider ordering the hushguppies appetizer. Less hushpuppy than crab cake, these crunchy orbs are breaded with panko crumbs and fried. Inside, it’s a creamy blend of shrimp, cod, and risotto, and the ’guppies arrive on a bed of the lemony slaw.
At the top of my fried fish hierarchy is whitefish. It’s more often seen up north than in Madison, so Union Corners Brewery caught my eye with its Friday whitefish fry ($11.50 lunch/$13.50 dinner). The other option here is pollock — another fish not often seen, and one which is never going to lure me away from whitefish.
Whitefish is indeed quite white, a denser, drier fish than the slipperier lake perch or walleye. Union Corners’ version comes with a light cornmeal breading and fantastic pureed “pommes” — rich whipped potatoes that may be the best version of mashed potatoes I’ve ever had. You can also choose smashed potatoes, or order the pub’s regular fries. There’s no bread component — a roll would be nice — and the coleslaw needed a better dressing to bring together the overly large shreds of cabbage and fennel, but unlike most places, the kitchen here changes up its sides, so there’s no guarantee it will be the same slaw twice.
Plata’s at Bridges Golf Course
2702 Shopko Drive; 608-244-1822 ext. 2; golfthebridges.com/restaurant/menu
Athens Grill
5430 Willow Road, town of Westport; 608-220-3340; theathensgrill.com
The Lone Girl Brewing Company
114 E. Main St., Waunakee; 608-850-7175; thelonegirl.com
Union Corners Brewery
2438 Winnebago St.; 608-709-1406; unioncornersbrewery.com
