I love my stand-by / go-to fish fry places, like Turner Hall, but lately I've been eager to try some long-standing ones in the area that I've inexplicably missed.
The Friday before last, we went to check out the Bartolotta version at the Boerner Botanical Gardens and were amazed at how big and how popular it is. I expected a quiet, candle-lit fish fry with an intimate crowd. Instead, Jim Liban and company rocked a smaller room while a huge ballroom packed in the fish crowd. The fish was great and the accompanying buffet was as fabulous as you'd expect from the Bartolotta family.
Since we had a toddler with us, it would have been nice to be served without a long wait and us finally having to approach someone and request service, but it happens. And they offered us free dessert as an apology. In the end, the food and the atmosphere guaranteed we left happy.
Last week, we went to the Bavarian Inn. I know, how could it have been our first time? But it was. Two of us arrived early and filled up on happy hour noshers in the bar, but still made room for the fish fry once inside the awesome dining room with its huge fireplace and the piano stylings of Jean Rex ("she not singing," my toddler noted, although she did sing, albeit very, very quietly, later).
Here the vibe and the surroundings were the highlight. The food was good, but didn't floor me. The buffet was basic but reliable and the potato pancakes were marvelous. I was a little disappointed that the $11 fish plate includes just one piece of fish. It wasn't that big a deal since I'd eaten some wieners and quesadillas out in the bar, but had I not, I might have left wanting more.
All in all, I'm glad I got to these places and will continue my quest. In the meantime, I'm likely to add these two spots to the fish fry rotation.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
