5th Friday of Lent: Part II.

5th Friday of Lent

St Matthias

F remarked with some relief that giving up on inciting religious genocide for Lent is going well, though the first two weeks were kind of hard.

This week our master blogger was trapped in Dayton, so she entrusted the dinner choice and keyboard to us and the three of us ventured out to St Matthias, 1566 Ferris Road on the north side of town.

St Matthias was the 13th apostle; chosen after Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. The remaining disciples needed to fill in the line-up. They narrowed down their choices between Joseph and Matthias and then they prayed about it, asking God to help them with the choice. Then the rolled some dice, God intervened and Matthias got called up to the majors. He is often depicted with an axe.

Matthias is the Patron saint of alcoholism, carpenters, small pox and tailors. In the US, he’s the patron of Gary, Indiana and Billings, Montana.

Depending on what you read, he died of old age, beheading or stoning and is buried in modern Day Georgia, Ethiopia or Jerusalem respectively.

But enough about history, right? You came for the review, didn’t you?

The Fry is actually served in the attached school gym. Once you get to the parking lot, signs are pretty easy to spot. The school must decorate for this time of year, for there were shoals of fishes tacked to the hallway corridors leading to the gym.

It seems they do a brisk carry out business. The first desk we came to had a line and a number of people waiting. This was for take-away.
If you’re staying for dinner, walk into the gym. Volunteer staff will seat you. Menus are at the table. Waitstaff take your order, tally up the money, give change and deliver your order. It seems like this would have a lot of people handling the money, but it seems to work for them. They also bus the tables and reset them, so they’re busy bunch.

The staff we spoke with didn’t seem to know what they were raising money for and whether it was for the school or the church. The lady next to us thought that it went to the General Fund, but she goes to a church down the road.

In addition to baked fish, which looked very good there are 3 options for fried fish. There is a 1 piece small or a 2 piece large, plus a 9 oz piece. (Largest?) The former were the same type of fish, uniformly triangular and seemed processed. The 9 oz piece was a nice piece of lightly breaded cod. We shared pieces around and all believed that the 9 oz piece was the best. F didn’t think there was any reason to order a Large dinner since a bigger, better fish dinner was just 50 cents more.

French fries were had by all, and they were bad. Probably the worst we’ve had all season. Dry and dusty; no amount of condiments could save them. Letting them get cold only made them worse.
Others around us raved about the baked potato. We should have tried one.

The coleslaw seemed tart and was not too well received. The apple sauce was cinnamon-ny and this was a plus.

Fruit punch and ice tea were included. Pepsi products were extra. Perhaps because St Matthias is the Patron of alcoholism, there was no beer or wine available at any cost.

I did try the clam chowder. It came highly recommended by our waitress, though she did admit that it was not homemade. I think that would be quite a feat to cook clam chowder for hundreds each week. Our table mates reported that they get it from GFS. It was not bad.

Maybe the highlight was the desserts. St. Matthias caters in pies from “Just Pies” in Worthington. These are circulated on carts, dim sum-fashion. Large wedges of pie are $2.25 which is the highest we’ve paid for desserts, but on a per calorie basis they’re probably competitive.

This event had lots of regulars. You could feel the sense of community in the familiar greetings and hugs amongst the diners. From a quality point of view though, this location was pretty average with the 9 oz. fish and the desserts being the high points.

There were pictures to go along with this entry, but I couldn't get them inserted with Blogger.com. Will work on that and try for next time.

See you next week!

Lent Week #3: St. Paul the Apostle.

I want to take a moment to give some advice to anyone planning a Fish Fry, or any other charity fundraiser that serves food and potentially serves it to people who are unfamiliar with your venue and or your system. Please be generous in your signage!

We have visited several Fish Fry’s both this year and last that had poor signage. On more than one occasion we searched around large multi building facilities trying to find where the Fish Fry is located. We have also wandered through buildings searching for the dining area. You can follow your nose, but this sometimes leads you out back where they are frying the fish.

Finally, your Menu should be readily available both at the table you pay, and at the place you get your food.

This Friday on the third week of Lent Z and I, and our wayward Catholic friend Beth, went to St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Westerville. Thom and Fe were away on spring break, so this week it was just the girls. I brought up the suggestions about signage because of our visit here, but St. Paul’s is not the first Church where we have experienced this.

We arrived at their huge complex on State Street that contains what looks likes two Churches and a school. Despite the lack of signage on the outside of the buildings we were able to spot the school cafeteria from the outside and people mingling around. This was our clue and we ventured in.

We were in luck. Our dinners were $7 for adults and $4 for children 12 and under. Bargain hunters note: this was the lowest price so far this year.

After we paid ,we received our color coded tickets and a small orange traffic cone. We found a place at one of the tables and put the cone on our table. After just a few minutes of waiting a nice man from the Knights of Columbus came around and took our order.

The adults had the option of fried fish, baked fish, or macaroni and cheese for our entree and French fries, scalloped potatoes, or macaroni and cheese as side dish. There was optional coleslaw or apple sauce, and white roll or wheat. Drinks were also included and were served yourself.

This is another situation where they could have printed out menus and either posted them on the wall or had them on the table. It would have made it much easier of us and for our “waiter”. The only difference between our menu and Z’s was that she was not able to order baked fish.

Also if you were paying close attention you may have noticed you are able to order macaroni and cheese with a side dish of macaroni and cheese!

We all ordered fried fish and let me first say that it was both hot and yummy. My side dish was scalloped potatoes and coleslaw, Z had the macaroni and cheese and apple sauce and Beth had the scalloped potatoes and coleslaw.

I apologize that we didn’t order the French fries. I will tell you that they looked good and if the fish was any example their fried food was very good. The scalloped potatoes were tasty and Z gave the macaroni and cheese a thumbs up.

Z’s best quote of the evening was that our rolls tasted like communion bread. The amazing thing is that she was right, at least compared to our church.

Desserts were an extra dollar and once again homemade. Z had “dirt” in a cup which made her very happy and I had a nice piece of cake.

Our little group enjoyed our evening and our only complaint would be the poor information sharing. Again, something to keep in mind if you are planning your own fish fry.

Let us know if you have a great Fish Fry to wow us with!

Our Lady of Victory-Marblecliff

Loyal Readers: I am sorry for the delay this week. Being a single parent last week kept me busy and distracted. Fear not though here is Fish Fry week two.

Our party was down to three this week due to a minor bug that had Z down for the count last Friday. So it was up to Thom, F and I to venture out to Our Lady of Victory in Upper Arlington. Due to the Buckeye basketball game we started a bit later just to confirm our Buckeyes had a decisive lead, then checked on Z, took her carry out order and headed out into the rain.

If you are looking for scenery, give Our Lady of Victory two thumbs up. It is nestled in Marble Cliff one of the more beautiful neighborhoods in Columbus. Lots of big trees and winding roads with a bit of a hill, such as we have in Central Ohio, surround the area. I imagine it will be even more beautiful when spring gets a little more established here in Columbus.

We lined up with the crowd at the entrance and paid for our four meals, three to eat in and one to carry out. Adults were $9 each and kids, 12 and under, were $5 which covered everything. There was no family discount.

The main attraction is the FRESH LAKE ERIE PERCH! Ok, yes, I grew up on Lake Erie and am a bit partial. That said, I didn’t love the breading, but both boys did, and the couple we shared our table with were regulars, so clearly it must be a taste thing. This mother and son pair also told us that the church has it brought in fresh every Friday.

There is also the ever present coleslaw, steak fries and bake potatoes. They will get credit too for offering salad and rice as options. Bread with butter too. And for all you fans, Grandview’s own, Rotollo’s Pizza is an option for the kids meals.

I enjoyed my baked potato, especially since they had sour cream after our first week’s experience. F thought the fries were too salty but good. We should also note that our family is not big steak fry fans, so French fries would always make us happier.

Desserts were clearly homemade which is a plus as far as I am concerned, and our mint chocolate bundt cake was a hit at our table.

Sodas and water are included. Beer and wine are available for a donation.

We brought a carry-out meal home to Z. We aren’t sure if it was because of the lateness of the hour or because it was carry-out but she was given four pieces of fish instead of our three. The food transported well enough, but I’m not sure that anything fried is as good once it has cooled off. Even so, she gave her dinner a thumbs up.

Coming soon, our review of St. Paul’s in Westerville.

Plus, we’ve added share buttons to make sharing this blog with your friends even easier.

2011: First week of Lent- St. Patricks, Downtown Columbus

Lent begins again and the intrepid Mak family is off in search of Columbus’s best Catholic Fish Fry.  Our hope this year is to visit new locations and explore new offerings.

 

If  you are considering visiting any of our locations from last year, we would love to hear of any changes and updates.  We discussed over dinner what our favorite was from last year and we universally agreed that it was St. Michaels on High Street in Worthington.  In fact, it was the one that was requested for a return visit this year.

 Both the Mak-lings are entering that phase of adolescents where they have plans on the weekends that don’t involve their parents.  I include this as a ray of hope for my friends with younger children who feel like it is impossible to spend an evening alone with your spouse. Your day will come!  

The downfall of this is that we are now glorified chauffeurs doing the pick-up and drop-off all night long. Even with a busy Friday evening our dedication is to you, so our family of four ventured out early to St. Patrick Catholic Church at 280 N. Grant in Downtown Columbus.

Because our children’s busy schedules dictated, we were early birds and pulled into the parking lot at 5pm. The lot was filled with teenagers getting ready for an event, happily joshing and horsing around. We worked our way into what looked like a newer parish hall and found ourselves first in line.

Our dinner was a choice of two types of fish, fried or baked.  Each dinner had two pieces though you were not allowed to mix and match. All of us opted for fried, I think in honor of our first of the season.  Though, I did try and get one of each. There was also macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and two types of potatoes, baked and French fries.  Dessert was homemade brownies and cupcakes.  Drinks were sodas, water, and fruity punch as part of the dinner price or wine and beer for a $2.50 donation. Adult dinners were $9, kids 12 and under were $4 and there was a family deal for $30.

Probably because we were the first ones there and this was the first Fish Fry of the season, they were a bit disorganized but they quickly recovered and were able to sort out what color our ticket was supposed and what their portion control was we were quickly served with a smile. 

Along with our fish each of us had the mac and cheese. Thom and the kids had coleslaw and fries and I tried the baked potato.  The food was basic but generally tasty. The fish was hot and crispy, but F decided felt that it was “uniformed in shape and that kind of creeps me out.” The baked potato was good but they had only butter and oddly, cream cheese but not sour cream.  The French fries were proclaimed good but needed salt. Thom and the kids thought the mac and cheese was good and it was better than average but I thought it was only just above average. I will admit to being pretty picky about my mac and cheese. We all thought the brownies were great and Z claimed a coveted corner piece.  F thought his cupcake was good.

If our visit is an example of what to expect in the future I would suggest this for families with small kids you want to feed early since it was easy to get in and out and the portions were filling. The people were friendly and by the time we left to drop the kids off for their evenings of fun the room was filling up with families with small children.

Again, if you go to a fish fry, let us know what you think.  We need contributors, so feel free to chime in!

3rd Week of Lent: St Catherine's-Bexley/Columbus

In the interest of full disclosure, I was a Delta Zeta in college. T was a Delta Sigma Phi.  I am telling you this because this week I became curious about the Knights of Columbus.  So far we have visited two fish fries that were sponsored by the K of C. Interestingly, the Catholic friends that I asked were not really sure what the K of C did, so I thought I should check this out. First of all I went to the K of C website and while I did not read every page I did get the general idea.  I disclosed my greek-ness because to me it looks like the K of C is essentially a fraternity for Catholic men. Founded in 1882 in Connecticut as a fraternal benefit society, they are to strive for charity, unity and fraternity.  It seems that they are to take care of their community of families and the community around them.  Like many fraternities they have some pet charities. Two that the website highlighted were: Coats for Kids and the Global Wheelchair Mission.  Also, as an extension of their goal to take care of their community they offer health insurance.  I will say that I did find an issue or two that concerned the liberal side of me. Not surprisingly, for a Catholic organization the K of C website had a very pro-life bent. I know that this is part of the Catholic doctrine, though it would make me feel better if I thought my fish money was going to wheelchairs or coats than to pro-life rallies. Hmmm, something to think on. Of course, there are websites with conspiracy theories, but I’ll leave that one for Dan Brown. One thing I do know is that the K of C at St. Catherine’s makes really good homemade donuts.  I am taking that on the word of my friend N and her parents J and S. I figure who can I trust better on donut quality than one of my favorite eleven year old girls?

J, S, N and her brother E joined us at their parish St. Catherine’s, at 500 S. Gould Rd. on the East Side of Columbus, for our third Friday of Lent Fish Fry.  Proving that there are many ways to host a Fish Fry St. Catherine put their own twist on things. Like our first two F.F’s you were able to purchase an adult or child meal but at St. Catherine’s you could also purchase a family meal for $24. This covered a family of two adults and two children.  Another twist is that St. Catherine’s served their meal as an all you can eat buffet. Finally, they were the first we’ve seen  to offer baked fish as well as fried.  Both types of fish were tasty. I especially enjoyed the baked fish. It had great flavor and I liked the dill seasoning.  Also offered, were the standard fries, coleslaw, applesauce, and macaroni and cheese. Punch, water, and ice tea as well as a trip to the dessert table came with your meal and you have the option of soda for .50 cents and beer for $2. Overall the flavors were very good and most of our group thought that the creamy coleslaw was tasty. The girls liked the macaroni and cheese,  but thought the cheese sauce could have been creamier. The two boys, 13 and 14, seemed to pretty much gobble down everything on their plate without complaint. The one downfall to the meal  stems from the buffet style. Most of our food was not hot. I am sure that this stems from the fact that they are trying to have masses of food ready and out at the buffet table. Once they master getting it served hot I think that it will be an even better experience.  Overall our family had a great time with our friends and enjoyed our meal.

We are taking suggestions for this Friday. Let us know!