Fish Fry-day #5

This week's expedition to King Cod and his fish loving posse to St Phillip in Crafton. The expedition was a fun one. King Cod was able to stop at the Sharp Edge for a half price Belgian beer while my friend Kristen and I left work at a reasonable time and hung out for a while before dinner. It was a positive change from the norm. Fast forward to dinner andour friends Matt and Laura joined the crew. 

This was my first trio to St Phillip. The church is beautiful and old stone from the outside. One day I will make it in for a peek. The fish fry was in the school cafeteria. It was so tiny, and not too crowded.  The best part was that the tables were the fold down tables with indivisible orange and red seats. It totally made me think of my childhood days at Forest School with fond memories. The food was typical fry fare, but definitely had the fastest service so far this year.  I enjoyed the fried firsh, pierogies, and Mac and cheese. Dinner finished off with a treat from the bake sale staffed by the little old lady. She was struggling with the prices. Pretty sure we all overpaid her - but it went to a good cause. 

King Cod's dinner

My dinner

Fish Fry-day #4

This week was the much anticipated trip to Epiphany Church in Uptown. We had heard rumors of the awesomeness of this fish fry for a couple of years now. They serve from lunch till dinner, and people have walked away at lunch empty handed because the line is too long!  They do a lunch outside if lent that includes some meaty deliciousness that I would like to try one of these days.

http://www.epiphanychurch.net/fish-fry.asp

This week it was just King Cod and I doing the fry-day. We were greeted by this awesome sign:

Fried Jesus fish?

I went traditional - a fried fish fillet with Mac and Cheese and Pierogies. The fish was giant. More giant than any im of the fish we've had so far. The Mac and Cheese was so-so, and I definitely enjoyed the Pierogies and onions. David had the fish sandwich and fries. The bun was on par with the fish, I think it could feed an entire family. Soooo much fish. Neither of us even finished our fish. If Kibg Cod can't finish, that says a lot. 

We weren't super impressed with the Epiphany fish fry. I think our expectations were way too high given the hype. The food was all good though. I could see a return trip and sharing a meal with extra sides. I think I might go try a meaty lunch after lent is over, it's not an entirely bad walk from work. 

After our fish extravaganza we tried to get a drink at one of the new restaurants. We missed the happy hour, but David now knows that 10 Penny and the Meatball Joint have awesome beer lists. One of these days we will make it to one of these places for a drink. :)

Fish Dry-day #3

This werk's fry-day involved a trip to an old favorite, St Norbert's in Overbrook. This has been a recurring favorite. The food is decent, the beer is free, and the atmosphere is good. It was a bit of a struggle to find our way up the hill through the road construction, but we held strong thanks to google maps :)

I enjoyed the fried fish and macaronnie and cheese. The highlight of my meal was definitely my potato pancake though :)

In 3 degrees of Pittsburgh news, we kept looking at this group of people about our age. The one couple looked so familiar. After racking our brains we just asked them if we knew them. After a few minutes of talking we realized we all used to take the same T into downtown and they work with our friend. Such a small world, and yes I totally felt like a stalker. 

Fish Fry-day #2

This week the 2014 tour brings king Cod and his fish fry loving posse to Church of the Ressurection in Brookline. I knew there was another Church in Brookline, but I honestly didn't even know where it was. This gem was right off Brookline boulevard, nestled in a residential neighborhood. Unfortunately, by the time we finished eating dinner the church was closed so I couldn't check it out. Rumor has it that this may have a gorgeous wooden interior. Next time we are geocaching in Brookline we will be sure to check it out. 

The important stuff.... We got there around 6:15. There was not much of a line at all. Once our dinner posse joined us we went straight to ordering. The options were pretty simple - a fish dinner (baked or fried) for $11 which included a roll, stewed tomatoes or vegetable of the week, Mac and cheese (homemade) or fries, and slaw or applesauce with coffee, tea, and iced tea; or a la cart fish sandwich on fresh local bread works bun, any of the above sides, homemade Pierogirs, and pizza. I went with the dinner, King Cod went with the sandwich. It was a lot of food for the price. I even wound up sharing some of mine with my dinner buddy Wyatt. Only down side was the normal rule - show up late and they might run out of the good stuff. 

I loved the atmosphere here. It felt like a neighborhood event. The room was smaller and even had a play area for the kids. It felt intimate and like everyone was glad you were there and most knew one another's names.  Lots of little old ladies were working the food line. We even ran into some friends of friends leaving while we waited for our posse!

Fish Fry-day #1

This week was fish fry-day number one on the 2014 Great Fish Fry Tour. 

We started out the year with a return trip to St Margaret of Scottland in Greentree. This is a perennial favorite for us. It happens to be near his office and a couple we are friends with send their daughter to the school. They are required to volunteer at the fish very to help support the school, so we talways go on a week that they work. Since they live on the far side of town this is usually the only time I see them all year :( 

Food offerings are pretty secent - fried cod, baked cod, crab cakes, fried shrimp, a pasta of the week, and a fish of the week (blackened cod). David and I both got the fried cod with fries and green beans (me). I regretted not getting the blackened cod - it wound up looking pretty good. 

The bad - (1) service was slow, (2) they ran out if food early. There are new people running the show and it is week one of lent  they didn't have a good system in place yet. 

The good - (1)  fried food!, (2) great friends, (3) BYOB fish fry, (4) a great atmosphere, (5) our friend who made it BYO Pie!

Even though the running out if food was disappointing, I look forward to returning again next year. This is one of our favorites in the area.