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

Red Stag Supperclub - Minneapolis, MN

The deal: The Red Stag Supperclub in Northeast Minneapolis, in keeping with the fine supperclub tradition, offers a Friday night fish fry. For between $11 and $13 you can get a single fried fish basket of cod, some Alaskan fish or walleye (note that the fish shown on the menu online are not what's currently on the menu). Baskets include sweet onion tartar sauce, chips and a bit of coleslaw. A basket of bread is served with the meals. The fish fry menu also includes more exotic options like calamari, smelt fries, fried oysters and seared scallops.


The food: Although I appreciated the bread basket, I was a little sad that the rolls weren't hot and that the "butter" was some bean spread concoction that had almost no flavor. For fish, I went for the walleye and within 5 minutes (yep, it was really that fast) I had a basket of four small pieces of fish and about four large, thin chips. The fish was nearly perfectly flaky and flavorful while the batter was light and crispy without being too crunchy or dry. The chips were wonderful and for I didn't feel cheated by a lack of fries or hash browns. They had a bit of garlicky flavor, but not so much as to overwhelm the fish. As an extra little treat, each basket was served with a tiny spray bottle of malt vinegar. I didn't take advantage of it, but I appreciated the touch.

After the fish, our party split a special ginger creme brulee dessert. I loved the chocolate bottom, but when I have ginger in a dessert, I really want to taste the ginger. It should be the hero and here it wasn't.


The flavor: The Red Stag is really more of a faux supperclub. No real supperclub would be as pretty or have charming touches like the coasters shown here. You use one side of the coaster to show the waitstaff you want regular water or flip it over for sparkling water.

While our food was served incredibly quickly, once the place got crowded things slowed down and it took awhile to order dessert and get our bill. That's not a big deal, but it's something to be aware of if the Red Stag is just your first stop of the evening.

The drink menu was extensive and included lots of wine, an excellent and thoughtfully chosen selection of beer and lots of hot toddies. There's nothing better on a cold night than a hot toddy. I ordered a hot buttered rum and it was easily the best I've ever had. I'd highly recommend the Red Stag for a contemporary take on classic superclubs, whether you go on Friday or not.

Second opinions:

Chowhound
City Pages
Gayot
Hungry For Wine
Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Minnesota Monthly
Twin Cities Eats
Urbanspoon
Yelp

Anchor Fish and Chips - Minneapolis, MN

The Deal: The Anchor Fish & Chips offers, you guessed it, fish & chips for $8.50. Although it's not a real fish fry, sometimes when you're out of state, a good fish & chips is close enough, right?

The Food: As you can see, the cod at The Anchor is huge. Huge! While the fish itself was perfectly flaky, the breading was just a little too mushy for my taste. The ends of the fish were done a little bit more and they were delicious and I was a little bitter that the rest of my fish didn't taste like that.

The chips, on the other hand, were absolutely perfect. They're cut from Minnesota potatoes and you can certainly taste the love, or at least the skin. Crisp on the outside, they were thick and almost meaty on the inside. More please.

Of course I didn't touch the tartar sauce, but my dining companion loved it and used it as a dipping sauce for both the fish & the fries.

The Flavor: The Anchor is still a hot, new local joint, so it can be a bit crowded. Luckily, it has a friendly, rather than trendy, vibe and if you have to wait for a table, at least you'll be able to take in the view of a truly lovely restaurant space. And, if you just want to get your fish fry on far from the madding crowds, The Anchor does offer a takeout option.


Second Opinions
Twin Cities Metro
City Pages
Heavy Table
TC Foodies
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Minnesota Monthly
Twin Cities Metromix
Yelp
Urbanspoon
Vita.mn
Twin Cities Eats
The Onion AV Club