Friday Night Fish

The Search for the Best Fish Fry Begins for 2012 (Plus, Post Fish Fry Coffeehouse)

Going West and South to Start the Fish Fry Season
The Fish Fry Family will start the fish fry season by heading west on Wednesday to check out St. Alban Roe in Wildwood. St. Alban Roe appears to only have a fish fry on Ash Wednesday. On Friday, we are headed to south county to Saint Catherine Laboure in Sunset Hills. Check out the reviews over the weekend.

Post Fish Fry Coffeehouse
What do you do when you are stuffed with fried cod and other goodies? How about some live music and coffee, all for a good cause! Friday Night Fish will be headed to the St. Margaret of Scotland's Friday Night Coffeehouse (Church basement at 3854 Flad Avenue). Doors open at 7pm with entertainment from the renown St. Margaret choir beginning at 8pm. $10 donation at the door with all proceeds benefiting the choir's 2013 trip to Scotland. The Coffeehouse will be monthly with the next two on February 24th and March 23rd. Did we mention the fair trade coffee and performances from some of the top choir members in St. Louis?

Weekly Fan Survey
Don't forget to take the weekly Fan Survey!

Fun Fish Fry Facts - A New Feature for 2012!

We are excited to announce a new feature for 2012 - a weekly look at fun fish fry facts! Every week (we'll try every week) we will ask fans a fun survey question about fish fries. Be sure to offer your opinion or share your fish fry habits and see how you relate to other fish fry fans from around the region!

This week's questions are "How many fish fries do you usually attend each Lent?" and "What is your favorite condiment for fried Cod?"
Vote in the survey on the right side of this page!

Countdown to Fish Fry Season 2012!

Fish Fry Season is coming soon! Are you ready for some fried cod!
Last year was a great year. Check out the year in review below. If you have some suggestions for the Fish Fry Family on places to visit this year, send us an email or post a comment below. Thanks to everyone who sent suggestions last year. Fish Fry Guy apologizes for delays in responding to emails - the email isn't checked from April through December!

What in store for Friday Night Fish in 2012?

Fan Poll 2012: Our annual Fan Poll! Last year over 500 fans participated in polling. Like last year, there will be two stages of voting. The first round to choose five finalists to proceed. In the second round, voters will choose from the five finalists to crown the Fish Fry champion of 2012. First round voting will start on March 2nd.
Regionalism: Our continued committed to exploring all parts of the St. Louis region to enjoy great and friendly fish fries! We don't just talk about regional fish fries, we walk the walk. We'll visit fish fries in the City, west county, north county, south county, Illinois, and beyond!
New Surprises: And we may have new surprises for this year! (However, we like to keep expectations low, so we won't throw out ideas we may try to implement this year) Be sure to check back throughout the Fish Fry Season.

Be sure to join our Facebook page and stay up to date on the latest Fish Fry posts.

2011 Year in Review

A great 2011 fish fry season! We ended the year close to home at Immaculate Heart of Mary, but as you can see from the list below, the fish fry family ventured east, west, north, and south in search of great fish fries. Everyplace is unique and it is always interesting to not only see the variety of food, the variety of how each fish fry handles ordering. Highlights included:

Best Fish Fry
Both St. Peter and Our Lady of the Lake were top notch, but for different reasons. Our Lady of the Lake was a small and cozy fish fry. They had very spicy cod, a great value with kids under 6 free, and a cozy atmosphere with wood paneling. St. Peter was big, but a well oiled machine. Drinks and peel and eat shrimp stations made waiting in line easy. Seating was so effecient that it made the ride fillers at Disney jealous.

Best Cod
A lot of great Cod this year. Both St. Peter and Our Lady of the Lake were highest ranked. St. Michael the Archangel and St. Joseph also had very good Cod.

Best Value
Best value was easily Our Lady of the Lake, especially with kids. Only $20 for our family of 5 with kids 6 and under free.

Best Atmosphere
Very good atmosphere at all the visits. Everyplace was full of buzzing conversations and friendly volunteers. A highlight was St. Peter where they re-fill your drinks at your table.

Other highlights:
The salad and bean buffet at St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was a unique feature. You could pick and choose as many of these sides as you wanted.

Our Lady of Guadalupe has entertainment and dancing starting at 7pm. We didn't stay late enough for it, but it is supposed to be great.

Here was our 2011 Fish Fry schedule:
3/9 - St. Michael the Archangel, Shrewsbury
3/11 - Our Lady of Guadalupe, Ferguson
3/18 - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Oakville
3/25 - St. Joseph, Freeburg, Illinois
4/1 - Our Lady of the Lake, Lake of the Ozarks
4/8 - St. Peter, St. Charles
4/15 - Saint Stephen Protomartyr, St. Louis
4/22 - Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Louis

See you at a fish fry in 2012!

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Fan Poll Winners - Best Fish Fry

About the Friday Night Fish Rating System

Friday Night Fish is the only review site site that combines comments on Urban Design, Sustainability, and Fried Cod! We rate fish fries on:

1. Wayfinding / Greening
Is the fish fry easy to find? Is ordering clear and easy? Are there logical and helpful signs? Does the line move efficiently? Are real plates, silverware used? Recycling?

2. Food
The most critical element: How does the Cod stack up? Other selections? Side dishes? Kids Menu?

3. Value
How big are the portions? Dessert and drinks included?

4. Atmosphere
Is the atmosphere lively? Music? What is the architecture? What kind of seating?

We rate each category out of 4 fishes and give an overall ranking.

First of all - THERE ARE NO BAD FISH FRIES! Every fish fry is GREAT! These reviews are completely subjective and meant to be fun. Fish fries are great for each parish and each community and are part of the neighborhood fabric that makes St. Louis such a great place to live! If you truly want to experience a sense of place and community, check out one of these fish fries (or any fish fry), you won't be disappointed!

Friday Night Fish Questions

Friday Night Fish is the only review site site that combines comments on Urban Design, Sustainability, and Fried Cod! A few questions from our fans.

Q. We invited you to our parish fish fry, when will you attend?

We truly appreciate all the emails and suggestions on good fish fries to visit or personal invitations to your parish fish fry. We will get there eventually! We strongly believe in supporting fish fries across the region. Every year, we try to attend at least one fish fry in the City, north county, west county, south county, and Illinois. That takes at least five out of seven fish fries. Plus with a wife in choir, kids activities, friends and family to visit, it can get hard to get your fish fry on our schedule. But keep sending us suggestions. Like I said, we'll get there eventually!

Q. Why attend so many fish fries?
When you have three kids under the age of 9, it is a good way to spend a Friday evening and feed the whole family for $25. Plus, it is fun to see the sense of community each church has. Every fish fry is a snapshot into the social and demographics of our area. People often say St. Louis is one big small town, there is no better way to celebrate that fact than a local fish fry!

Q. How many fish fries do you plan to review?
I figure 3 to 4 more good years for fish fry attendance before the age of our kids will make sports, music, and other social commitments limit our time (Or our kids will finally refuse to go). So maybe 20-25 more reviews with a total of about 55-60 reviews. With Ash Wednesday its possible to get 7 reviews each Lent, plus some churches will have fish fries in the "off season". But that is alot of fried cod!

Q. Are you available via Facebook and Twitter?
We're on Facebook! Thanks to our great technology group! (my wife). Twitter, probably not. Ask yourself, "Do I really need live updates about Fish Fries?" Of course, does there really need to be a website about fish fries?

Q. Can I list our parish fish fry on your website?
See the links above for Channel 2' fish fry finder and the Google Map listing of fish fries. Those are good sites to list your fish fry.

Q. I love the logo! Do you sell Friday Night Fish merchandise? We were thinking about having t-shirts or mugs with the proceeds going toward a charity. But to be sustainable, we would want to use a local supplier and there would need to confirmation of proceeds, etc. So the short answer is no. But if you have extra money burning in your pocket, give a little extra when you visit your local fish fry! Or visit these great charities:

http://www.ccstl.org/ - Catholic Charities http://www.redcross.org/ - American Red Cross

Q. Our parish needs some help with our fish fry. Do you provide fish fry consulting?
No.

Q. Your writing prose tends to be terse and fragmented. Plus you tend to say "A good solid fish fry" alot. Are you familiar with Strunk and White?
Yes - A good solid reference. I'll utilize.

Q. You gave our church a score of 2.5! Why don't you like us?
Remember, there are no bad fish fries! It is like you own a Gaugin worth $25 million and your neighbor owns a Monet worth $30 million. You're both millionares and you own a masterpiece. Each fish fry is a masterpiece of community spirit and the hard work of volunteers who toil and sweat each week for a labor of love and a good cause.

Q. Can you recommend any good books on St. Louis Fish Fries?
No, but I am currently reading David McCullough's 'The Path Between the Seas. The Creation of the Panama Canal'. Highly recommended.

Q. Did Ferdinand deLesseps ever go to fish fries?
I believe he once motivated his parish volunteers, when they once ran out of fried cod, by saying, "Avec les coeurs et les esprits comme le vôtre, tout est possible (With hearts and minds like yours, everything is possible)."

Contact us with questions or comments (but not necessarily responses) at:
fishfryguy@fridaynightfish.com