My daughter, with whom I do the newsletter, will sometimes inquire about a piece, “Don’t you do that every year?”, and in fact, I do, several times a year, because all these events are annual occurrences. But that is because New Orleans is a place of tradition. We have a lot of them, and they recur annually. We like it that way.
In reality, we move from annual tradition to annual tradition. As this newsletter goes out, we say goodbye to the king cake season as Mardi Gras gives way to Lent. And that means, as it has for generations, we stop thinking of meat and start thinking of penance. The “penance” of having to eat more seafood.
The Catholic community of New Orleans has embraced this penance by capitalizing on it. Every Friday, Catholic parishes gather the greatest school supporters in one place, the school cafeteria, where aproned parents and service organization members and Scouts start frying up fish and serving it to anyone with $5 (the price of yesteryear), $10 (more recent), and now $12-$15 (expect even more in inflationary 2022) As times have changed, so has the ritual. There are now drive-thrus and much- expanded menus, including crab cakes! But the basic formula remains the same: Food, family, and camaraderie makes more funds for the parish and school.
And then COVID arrived in 2020. Restaurants, struggling to keep the doors open amid lockdowns, offered an upgraded version of the local ritual. Fish Fry Fridays was born in the lockdowns, and it too is experiencing the same type of expansion as the original parish fish fry.
At first I felt bad for the schools, but they are doing just fine. It seems they are not competing for the same clientele. Just like there will always be patrons for Applebee’s, only some people will go through the trouble to peruse widely-varying menus from places like Galatoire’s and the Grill Room on the $30 plus high end to the Avenue Pub and Cafe Reconcile on the low end, with their respective $14 plates of Fish and Chips to $14 basic fried catfish.
From the sublime (Chemin a la Mer’s Ora King Salmon over Beluga lentils at $35) to the ridiculous (Fat Boy Pizza’s Skinny Boy slice at $8.99. It does have shrimp - I checked) this Friday free-for-all is getting more and more fun.
What started out as a way for restaurants to keep their doors open has turned into a fundraiser for the restaurant community. Now under the United Way umbrella, the Louisiana Hospitality Foundation supports Hospitality Cares, with $1 from each Friday fish fry plate going to help industry workers.
The problem with all this is that there are only six Fridays to sample these delicious menus. Tough choices must be made. Yvoone’s gets the prize for most expensive, with its $38, Le Crabe Softshell, Whaler soft shell French crusted over corn macquechoux and fingerling potatoes topped with a crawfish cream sauce. Right up there is the $34 Speckled Trout Almondine at Briquette with its roasted almonds, Bordelaise sauce, green beans, and heirloom potatoes, the aforementioned $35 Ora King Salmon with Beluga lentils from Chemin a la Mer, Galatoire’s fried Trout Meuniere Amandine with Rockefeller spinach at $32, Tommy’s $32 Gulf Fish Capri Louisiana Crawfish and Blue Crab, Artichoke, Tomato in a Lemon-Caper Butter Sauce, Broussard’s $35 Bronzed Redfish with Louisiana Blue Lump Crab, Seasonal Vegetables, and Lemon Beurre Blanc, and Boulevard’s oddly pricey Cajun Seasoned Wood Grilled Redfish with Lemon Butter Sauce paired with Crabmeat and Seasonal Vegetables, for lunch at $34 and dinner at $36.
Staking out the mid-range price would be all the Copeland’s with their Shrimp Platter at $25.99 which includes onion rings and beer battered fries and corn fritters. Mahoney’s has its Catfish Pontchartrain, a delicious-sounding plate of Fried Catfish Filet over Seafood Butter rice, smothered with Gulf Shrimp, Louisiana Crawfish and Blue Crab, topped with Alicia Sauce and served with collard greens and French bread. This is $23.99. Upper mid-range is at the Windsor Court’s Grill Room, $28 Local Striped Seabass with Creamed Spinach and Nettle, Red Lentil and Mushroom Broth, followed by Annunciation’s $29 Crispy Fried Catfish with Garlic Steak fries, onion rings, and housemade tartar sauce. A Tavola’s $26 Pesto Shrimp Linguine with its Basil Cream Sauce, and Gulf Shrimp is a little different. So is the entry from enigmatic newcomer Mr. Mao, offering Salt & Pepper Shrimp with Bok Choy fried rice for $24. Also in this range is Bourbon House’s $23 Trout Pecan with Brown Butter and Haricot Verts and Ralph’s on the Park’s $23 Shrimp and Crawfish stuffed Catfish with pan-fried crawfish tails, baby green beans sauteed with sweet onion and sauce Beurre Blanc.
There are countless versions of Catfish and shrimp poor boys, and catfish plates at the other end of the spectrum, averaging $15. Redfish Grill’s Fried Shrimp poor boy with Crystal aioli and Creole potato salad looks great. Scot Craig’s version at Katie’s, Francesca’s, and Bienvenue are all safe bets, along with Middendorf’s, Brown Butter, and both Northshore Pyre’s. For that same price $15-$18 you can deviate with crawfish etouffee from Gattuso’s at $13.99 or Larder’s for $19.
In this lower price category it’s hard to beat the next two for creativity and value. The Commissary is a peculiar outlier that I happen to love, for just things like this - their Des Allemand’s Catfish with bean salad, mirliton slaw and cornbread at $14. Another must-get for me is Luke’s $15 Crispy Cornmeal-Fried Catfish Plate with fries, fried shrimp and crawfish boudin ball, coleslaw, pickles, and remoulade sauce. And NOLA phenom Ruby Slipper has a $16 plate of grilled fish of the day over cheesy grit cake, sauteed spinach and tomatoes, a skewer of grilled shrimp, topped with Creole Mustard Hollandaise. That one will be easy to get. (There’s a Ruby Slipper on every corner now, I think!) More fish and grits can be had at Ma Mama’s House of Cornbread with Creamy grits and Southern Fried Fish served with a Freshly Baked petite waffle and whipped butter.
Remember, all this starts Friday. Don’t skip even one Friday. There are too many choices, and I’m starting to plan the season to make sure I can sample as many of these as possible. Can’t decide? Get more than one, and you’ll benefit the charity even more.
Catholics across America are getting ready for their Friday fish sticks and tuna salad. How lucky we are!
For full menus, hours, prices, etc. click here.
