Week 3 Review: 1847 Stamm House

Week 3 Review: 1847 Stamm House, Middleton, WI

This week's fish fry takes us back to our previous home of Madison, WI.  We were visiting family & friends for the weekend and decided to do our fish fry in the area.  The Stamm House is a Madison area favorite that was renovated and changed it's name to "1847 Stamm House".  A few years ago we went to the original Stamm House for a fish fry--and liked it--and thought we'd try the new 1847 Stamm House's fish fry.

Of course since we were back in town we invited some very good friends to join us for our fish fry.  And they assisted me with my review.

I had made reservations earlier in the week just in case they were busy on a Friday night.  When we arrived it was really great to see that they kept the original stone walls that gave it a very upscale-rustic feeling.  The restaurant was very beautiful and had a really nice bar area.  Our table was ready for us upstairs, right at the time of our reservation.  The restaurant was fairly full, but not overcrowded.

When we arrived at our table I was surprised that it was so dimly lit.  The others in my group didn't mind, but because I'm judging everything, I made note of this.  It was a very nice dining area with great light fixtures and wall art.

Our server arrived quite a while after we were seated, and I really can't say much about him as he really did not make an impression on us, as it appeared that he didn't care to wait to on us.

We ordered a bottle of wine while we reviewed the one sheet menu.  The Friday night special was the Fish Fry for $16.00.  You could choose from Lake Superior Whitefish or Line Caught Cod.  Either could come baked or fried.  With your fish comes diced potatoes, coleslaw and tartar sauce--all items were house made.   I chose baked Whitefish, and the rest of my group chose fried cod.

Dinner is served! My Whitefish came out looking too beautiful to eat, alongside it was diced potatoes and coleslaw in a cute little glass jar.  The Whitefish was outstanding! It had just the right amount of flavor and spices to where you actually didn't need tartar sauce.  And as you know, you never hear me saying that!  But let's talk about the tartar sauce. The tartar sauce had a sweet taste to it with just the right amount of mayo that made it actually very good. It was unlike any tartar sauce I've ever had, but I actually really liked it.  The potatoes were cooked perfectly.  And now for the coleslaw...it's very hard to describe the coleslaw. To me, it was very dry, tossed with a light vinegar.  The rest of our group seemed to like it, but me, not so much.  As my group had ordered the fried cod I was able to try the cod.  The cod had a breading that I described as tasting like funnel cake. Seriously, the breading on the cod tasted so sweet to where I thought it tasted like funnel cake.  The group didn't care for the sweetness of the breading, and neither did I, but it wasn't terrible, just different.

This Fish Fry was definitely different than any other fry I've been to for my reviews.  I would not call this a "fish fry" as it was more like a fancy fish dinner; by the display of food and the very different ingredients within each food item. 

Overall comments/rating: the Whitefish (baked), was amazing and I highly recommend it.  The potatoes were very good, but the coleslaw, by my standards, was not up to par.  The price of $16.00 was a little over the top in my opinion for a fish fry and the items you receive, but after experiencing the environment of the restaurant, it is very apparent that they are looking at the new 1847 Stamm House to be more of an 'up scale' dining experience.  Service was acceptable as we got our food and drinks, but our server really did not try to get a better tip and frankly didn't care.  The dining environment was very pleasant and really beautiful.  The dinner company was once again GREAT as we really enjoyed everyone's participation in helping me review the dinner.

This Fish Fry was really hard to assess appropriately as it really wasn't anywhere close to a traditional fish fry.  I decided to give it a 6 out of 10.  The Whitefish was good, but because this fish fry really wasn't at all what I'd expected (or hoped) I really have to judge it against the others we've reviewed.

I would definitely recommend experiencing 1847 Stamm House, as it really was a nice dining experience. But if you're looking for a "fish fry" experience, it really isn't the place to go. 

Week 2 Review: Hideaway Acres, Benton, WI

Week 2 Review: Hideaway Acres, Benton, WI 

For our 2nd fish fry of the season, it was suggested that we head to a Wisconsin supper club.  This supper club was one that I used to visit yearly to celebrate my aunts birthday, so it brought back some great memories. We had some good friends join us for the dinner, so the company was very pleasant.

When traveling to the Hideaway, be prepared to drive right past the entrance, as it's literally "Hid-away" among the trees.  It actually was a very neat place for a supper club.

When we arrived the place was fairly empty, and turns out, we wouldn't have needed a reservation.  The Hideaway was definitely your more traditional supper club with dining area, bar, and dance floor.  It was extremely dated, but quaint and had a very old fire place in the middle.

Their Friday night special was Cod for $12.95.  With your fish you got a potato and one trip to the salad bar.  Our server was a young woman (perhaps in High School), and she was very nice and accommodating to our drink and dinner orders. 

The salad bar consisted of : three kinds of soup, toss salad, coleslaw, pasta salad, cheese spread, and a dinner roll.  The soup choices were none that I typically like, so I skipped those, The toss salad was pretty good, but surprisingly they didn't have shredded cheese available.  The coleslaw was runny and didn't have good flavor (by my standards), and the pasta salad was different, but not terrible, just didn't have much flavor either. 

Dinner is served! The Cod dinner was four nicely sized pieces of lightly breaded cod, and the baked potato that I chose.  And of course, a few sides of tartar sauce.  The cod was excellent! It was lightly breaded and cooked perfectly.  The breading had a light seasoning that didn't overpower the taste of the fish.  The tartar sauce--amazing!! Just the way I like it. So this, of course, made my fish taste even better.  I was able to eat three pieces of my fish, and then took my potato home.

Because we were at a supper club I knew what I had to order for dessert--a grasshopper!

We ordered two grasshoppers for the table. The grasshopper was pretty large and one would have been enough for four of us.  It didn't have as much of a mint flavor that I usually like, but it was sure tasty! And a great way to finish off the dinner. 

Overall comments/rating: the Cod was very good, salad bar was mediocre, tartar sauce--outstanding! The price of $12.95 was reasonable, but could be seen as just a bit overpriced compared to other fish fry's.  Service was very good, environment and dinner company was entertaining, and the grasshopper really helped bump this fish fry review to an 8 out of 10.

If you're ever in the area on a Friday night, I would definitely recommend stopping by the Hideaway for a cocktail, dinner or a grasshopper. 

FFC Week #1 Review: Rhody's

Week 1 Review: Rhody's, Dubuque, IA 

We started off the 2016 challenge with a local bar & grille.  Rhody's is a what I would call a 'townie' bar that also serves a full menu. The decor on the inside was not elegant, but it wasn't a dive either. 

We arrived at Rhody's ahead of our reservation of 6:30pm, and they already had our table for 7 ready to go. Due to it being a small establishment it looked somewhat busy as most tables in the front were occupied. When we got to our table our server gave us our menus and took our drink orders right away.  As we were a large, boisterous group, I was pleasantly surprised that our server was able to handle us right from the start. 

As for their Friday night special, it was just as we expected: All you can eat (AYCE) Cod or Catfish for $12.49.   Per the recommendation of one of our group members, I decided to start of the season with the Catfish. Our AYCE fish fry came with a potato side and the salad bar. I ordered garlic mash potatoes as that is not typically an item you get to choose from on a fish fry.  

The salad bar consisted of : broccoli cheddar soup-which was extremely salty, dinner rolls, macaroni salad (fantastic!), potato salad, coleslaw--a little too runny-- toss salad (french dressing was exactly how I like it), cheese spread with crackers -yum- and then a few other items that I didn't care to try. Overall, for it not having a lot of items on it, the items I did choose were all very good, except the salty soup, and runny cole slaw. 

Dinner is served! I was happy to see that the Catfish I ordered was lightly breaded and was a fairly decent size piece of fish.  It came with tartar sauce, lemon on the side, and the garlic mashed potatoes I ordered.  The Catfish tasted very light and the light breading was much better than a thick coating.  There wasn't a lot of flavor to the breading which really didn't bring out much flavor to the Catfish, but still had a decent overall taste to it.  My table guests offered me their cod to try. Umm, no thank you. The Cod was way too mushy and not crunchy how I would have expected it to be.  

And now I'm sure all of you are wondering "how was the tartar sauce???" Not good. It had a very strong relish taste to it, which didn't make it horrible (and believe me, I've had horrible!), but it was not to my liking. As for the garlic mashed potatoes--they were good. They had a good amount of garlic to where you didn't need to add any butter. 

Our server: she did a good job of coming back to check in and offered us more fish when she thought we needed it.  She didn't make any mistakes, at least not to my knowledge, and was very cheerful throughout our meal.  The overall environment was pleasant as well. 

Overall comments/rating: the Catfish was good, and if we go here again I would order it. Stay away from the Cod, or at least until they figure out how to get it crispy.  Salad bar, garlic mashed potatoes, and service gets two thumbs up.  Tartar sauce gets one thumb down--like I said, I've had worse.  Price, $12.49--reasonable for being AYCE and including a salad bar.  

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.  Catfish was good, but Cod and tartar sauce were not up to my standards. 

Week #2 location:  Hideaway Acres Supper Club in Benton, WI (recommended by friends)

4th Annual Fish Fry Challenge!

4^th Annual Fish Fry Challenge--2016! Starts Friday, February 12th

This year is special for us as it marks our 4^th year for the fish fry challenge, AND we have also changed our location for the challenge due to us moving to Dubuque, IA.  

For those of you who are new to my Fish Fry Challenge, here are basic details:

·         during the 7 week Lent season (fish fry season) I will visit 7 different Friday Fish Fry’s,  judge and rate (on a scale of 1-10) these fish fry’s based on the following criteria:

1.      Fish—quality and taste

2.     Tartar sauce (because I LOVE tartar sauce)

3.     Side dishes-

4.     Service & environment

5.     Price of fish fry—is the price worth what you get

I will then write up my review, give my rating and post in my blog.

Know of a great Fish Fry? Let me know, as we love suggestions!

Want to join us for a Fish Fry? Heck yes! Just let us know in advance (in case we need to make reservations).

For our Fish Fry Week #1 –Rhody's in Dubuque, IA