The Beach Club - La Pointe, WI

The Deal: The Beach Club in La Pointe on Lake Superior's beautiful Madeline Island offers a variety of fishy delights including a whitefish fish fry, fish tacos & sandwiches, whitefish livers and, apparently, even a sushi bar during summer weekends. Prices are in the $8-$12 range and sandwiches are served with fries.

The Food: As our group was there for lunch, we opted for fish tacos and a fish sandwich.



The tacos were quite light and delightful, but the real star was the fish sandwich.



It was the perfect combination of crispy batter & flaky fish. The lemons it was served with were almost completely unnecessary as the fish had so much flavor on its own. The accompanying fries were just of the humble shoestring variety, but were nonetheless tasty.

The Flavor: The Beach Club is located right on the water and you can choose to eat in the large indoor dining room & bar, on the front porch facing the main drag in quaint La Pointe or on the smaller outdoor patio right on the lake. You place your order with a friendly counter person and then find a seat. Or, if you're like us, find the bar.

Speaking of the bar, it looked to have the usual tap beers (Leinie's, etc.) and some specials, like the "Island Breeze" we enjoyed, which was basically vanilla rum with a small dash of fruit juices.

Second Opinions:

Urbanspoon

Harvest Restaurant & Bakery - Wittenberg, WI

Thanks to my friend Jamie for this review of the Harvest Restaurant & Bakery.

Harvest is located just off Hwy 29 and shares a building with a gas station. The décor is all Northwoods and large windows allow lots of natural light into the dining room. I dined here with my parents and grandmother on a Saturday afternoon.

Grandma and I opted for the fish fry. Our choices were Cod, Blue Gill or Walleye. I chose the Walleye, served with a potato and choice of two sides. I like how the potato is a category of its own before you even pick the sides. I chose fries, of course. I usually eat pretty healthy but when I’m out for a fish fry I put the emphasis on fry! I did, however, choose a salad as one of my sides. The iceberg lettuce was wilted but I still ate it all. The breading on my walleye was light and crisp and the fish was the perfect texture. For my other side I chose rice which turned out to be a serviceable wild rice pilaf. I couldn't finish that so my Dad helped me out by eating the rest.

My grandmother enjoyed her order of Cod. She received five pieces with a golden, crispy batter. It was more than she could eat so she took a doggy bag. Her sides were Chicken Dumpling Soup and Coleslaw. Her soup featured a dumpling that took up most of the cup it was served in and she claimed it was why she couldn’t finish her fish. The coleslaw was of the traditional mayo-drenched variety.

We had no room for dessert but we had some time so we bought some lottery tickets at the gas station next door. We didn't win a thing - not even a dollar. Should have spent my money on a candy necklace instead, or as I like to call it "dessert at my leisure." Ring pops also suffice!

Henkels Town Pump - Rhinelander, WI

Thanks to my sister Cherie, for contributing this review of one of her favorite local joints.

The Deal: Rhinelander's Henkels Town Pump offers a fish fry, pan fried or broiled fish for less than $10. Although there is not a salad bar, each order comes with a choice of french fries or potato salad, cole slaw and fry bread. Our bill came to $51.00 for five with two extra pieces of fish thrown in.

The Food: The two pieces of pan fried cod were excellent. The batter is light with a hint of nutmeg. It was fried to a deep brown. The fish was light and flaky. In this fish fry the fish really is the "star". The potato salad was flavorful and not dry, but creamy. The cole slaw was also very tasty. The only flaw was that one of my dinner companions requested a 1/2 order of fries and the other 1/2 to be potato salad. This was a request they would not grant.

The Flavor: The Town Pump is a local tavern that over the years has added a couple dining rooms. No need to dress up here. The dining rooms are decorated like deer hunting camps (without the odor). The walls are pine, and I could swear my Grandpa wore the black and white wool hunting jacket on the wall. The tables are an assortment of picnic tables. The food is served on paper plates. They have the usual Miller products on tap with some specialty beers in bottles. I give the Town Pump five stars, cause I can't stop thinking about that fish!

Second Opinions:
Fish Frys & Bar Flys

8th Street Grill - Minneapolis, MN

The Deal: Downtown Minneapolis' 8th Street Grill offers three styles of Minnesota walleye: a walleye sandwich for $11.99, pan fried walleye for $12.99 or walleye fish and chips for $11.99. The entrees come with a variety of sides including fries, rice pilaf and veggies.

The Food: As is my custom, I opted for the fish and chips. My three pieces of fish, which were breaded with a batter made from delicious Summit beer, had a nice hint of that beer and a good texture but were completely ruined by numerous bones. I don't ask that much from a fish fry, but I do enjoy not choking. So, I couldn't eat most of my fish, but I did enjoy the thick, hearty steak fries. The apple coleslaw was a huge hit at my table, but with my aversion to mayo, I'll have to take my dining companions word.

The Flavor: Given its downtown location, the 8th Street Grill is a popular place for lunch and happy hour. It's spacious enough to be a nice sit down option when you're sick of brown bagging it at your desk. As a particularly nice happy hour treat, the Grill has several varieties of delicious Point Beer on tap. Ah Point, what a wonderful taste of home!

Second Opinions:
Associated Content
Beer Advocate
Lazy Lightning
Thrifty Hipster
Trip Advisor
Urbanspoon
Yelp

Wigwam Tavern - Eau Claire, WI

The Deal: The Wigwam Tavern in downtown Eau Claire offers a fried cod dinner on Friday nights for $7.25. Dinner includes three pieces of cod, french fries, coleslaw and tartar sauce. There's also a shrimp basket with the same sides for $6.95.

The Food: The Wigwam has won some awards for best fish fry in the Eau Claire area, so my expectations were high. Unfortunately, those expectations were dashed almost as soon as our friendly waitress told us that she'd have to thaw our fish out first since it was "late" (8 pm) and she hadn't been sure they'd have more fish fry customers. I appreciated the info, but felt obliged to try the fish anyway.

After about 10 minutes, our fish was sufficiently "unthawed" (heh) and we got heaping baskets of mostly brown food. The fish was actually tastier than I expected. The batter was perfect and had a nice beery flavor. The fish itself wasn't quite as good and had a meaty, rather than flaky, texture. It definitely needed some lemon, which was sadly lacking from our baskets.

The fries were exactly like middle school cafeteria fries, which isn't to say that they weren't good and that I couldn't stop eating them. They were good, they just weren't anything special.

The flavor: When we walked into the Wigwam, people were either engrossed in the Brewers game or playing beer pong. There were plenty of NASCAR posters on the wall and the beer list started with Miller & Bud. Luckily, said list ended with Fat Tire & Spotted Cow.

The Wigwam is definitely a western Wisconsin bar, from the torn green vinyl booth seats to the video poker machines to the cheap beer. Although the food was simply okay, it was a nice change of pace from fish and chips and upscale supper clubs. Welcome home.

Second opinions:
Drinking Through Town
Volume One

German Hot Dog Co. - Minneapolis, MN

The deal: The German Hot Dog Co. (which I affectionately refer to as "Jose Germasians" due to its bizarre combination of Asian, Mexican and German cuisine) in Minneapolis' Skyway offers a walleye filet sandwich for $7.99. There are no sides included, but you can get some tartar sauce in a ketchup packet.

The food: Jose Germasians describes the sandwich as a "lightly breaded walleye filet on a steamed hoagie with scallop butter and toasted almonds". I describe the sandwich as a fishy mess that literally made me feel like I was going to throw up almost immediately after eating two bites. The fish was flaky and appeared decently cooked, but the flavor from the scallop butter was nauseating.

The flavor: Okay kids, this time I took one for the team. Although I could literally watch the Jose Germasians staff grill my fish, I knew this wasn't going to be very good. You can't expect good fish from a place named either Jose Germasians or the German Hot Dog Co. Not going to happen.

I think the scallop butter was used in an attempt to overpower the smell of years worth of brats, chicken satay and burritos on the grill. Mission accomplished.

Anyway, Jose Germasians is literally a hole in the wall in the Skyway. The staff are nice and since they cook to order it'll take a bit longer than a typical fast food joint. You can spend that time reading the newspaper and people watching and playing hipster bingo. It's not a bad place as long as you stay far, far, far away from the fish.

Second opinions

None...yet (and seriously, I hope there's never a second opinion - no one else should have to try this fish).

The Local - Minneapolis, MN

The deal: Sometimes you can't make it to a fish fry. While that's a tragedy, it doesn't mean you can't get your fish on. A good fish & chips is an acceptable substitute. The Local in downtown Minneapolis offers a fish & chips or walleye sandwich for $11.99.

The food: I opted for the fish & chips and got two nice-sized pieces of fish (sadly, not shaped like Ireland) and a heaping plate of fries. The fries were either tiny & crispy or big and full of an almost creamy potato texture. Both ways were simply delicious. The fish, however, was a disappointment. The batter was tasteless, even after squeezing a lemon on top. One piece of fish was nicely flakey, but the other piece was a bit mealy. I have no idea what kind of fish it was. I assume cod, but the menu didn't specify, so that's a little sketchy, right?

The flavor: The Local is a huge & busy Irish pub right on the Nicolet Mall. It's full of fun little nooks & crannies (include a "kissing room"). It'd be a fun place to get some fish and then settle in for a night of drinking. The beer menu includes a nice selection of English & Irish beers as well as classic hot toddies.

Second opinions:

Gayot
Thrifty Hipster
Yelp