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!

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.

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