Season's eatings! The weather may be getting colder, but Dining Month on OnMilwaukee is just cooking up, dishing out your winning picks in this year's Best of Dining poll. Dining Month is brought to you by Fein Brothers, your premier food service equipment and supply dealer in Wisconsin since 1929. Congratulations to all of the winners, and happy eating for all those who voted! See all the winners for the month so far here.
Lakefront Brewery
The readers have spoken, and Lakefront Brewery has once again come out on top in this most essential category when it comes to Milwaukee dining.
Lakefront's incredibly popular fish fry takes place every Friday from 4 to 9 p.m. and offers four options. The classic Milwaukee cod fry features fish dipped in a batter made with Lakefont's East Side Dark beer. The baked cod dinner is gluten free, topped with herbs and fried capers, and comes with melted butter. There's also a perch fry and a smelt fry.
All of the fish fry dinners come with coleslaw, bread and a choice of side, including fries, potato pancakes and (sometimes) warm potato salad.
Come for the food, stay for the lively, um-pah-pah sounds of the Polka Kings.
Meanwhile, the OnMilwaukee staff selected the vintage classic fish fry at Kegel's Inn as its favorite.
Runners up:
3. Kegel's Inn
2. The Packing House
4. St. Paul Fish Co.
5. Serb Hall
OnMilwaukee editors' pick: Kegel's Inn
Lori Fredrich's pick: Bass Bay Brewhouse
When it comes to the Friday fish fry, I’m pretty old school. And that means I have a couple of rules. You have to have some sort of fried lake fish (I almost never order cod), and you must serve potato pancakes. That said, I’ve bent my rules for the fish at Bass Bay Brewhouse, where the hand-breaded cod is heads above the rest. The secret is in the hybrid breading, which takes the best of beer batter and combines it with traditional breading for a crisp amazing coating that doesn’t fall off the fish, and which reheats like a charm (seriously). The potato pancakes are fantabulous. And, oh, if you go, be sure to get a bowl of clam chowder. It’s da bomb.
