Fish Fry Fixation
A couple weeks ago I discovered what might possibly be one of the greatest websites in the history of the internet: Madison Fish Fry.
Unless you live here, it's hard to understand the grip that fish fry has on Wisconsin culture. Sure, we are hardly the only state to dip fillets in batter and throw them in a fryer, but it is standard for a bar and grill type restaurant here to have it on offer. If you don't have it people will ask why not.
This website is one man's almost two decade long quest to archive every single fish fry he's had in Wisconsin, its surrounding states, and seemingly the places he's been on vacation. The website feels straight out of 2008 but he's still regularly updating the socials and shows up on the occasional local podcast.
There are easily hundreds of restaurants documented by the website, many of them long since closed. It's a view into recent Wisconsin history through the lens of one of its favorite pastimes.
Here are some choice reviews from my browsing but you should really check this out yourself. The city's top fish fries are ranked and the reviews are quite granular, you can filter between different kinds of fish, location, etc. Behold the price of 2007 Culver's fish sandwich meal and weep:
Apparently people have strong opinions about fish fry. Madison's internet food discourse drama is insane and worthy of its own blog post. I'm glad that there are still places online where you can get in-depth reviews of maybe this city's only queer-coded fish fry. *
