Friday Night Fish
If you’re not from Wisconsin, you may or may not be aware of a local tradition: The Friday Night Fish Fry. This is a weekly event where folks wander out in search of a fish dinner. The tradition is popular throughout the country but is strongest in Wisconsin– where a big population of German Catholics needed a delicious way to survive meat-free Fridays. For this reason, fish fries are popular throughout the year but see their height of popularity during Lent.
If you ask a Wisconsinite (especially an older one) they likely have their favorite spot that they attend on a weekly basis. They’ve gone for years, their friends have gone for years, and they look forward to running into each other and catching up on the happenings of the past week.
Most Wisconsinites also have an opinion about what constitutes the perfect fish fry. Commonly the meal includes 2 to 3 pieces of battered and fried fish (cod, walleye, haddock, blue gill…), a potato of some kind (french fries, potato pancakes, baked…), coleslaw, rye bread, tartar sauce, and lemon. Traditionally, and now only at select, old-school supper clubs, there would also be a relish tray of various pickled things and deli-style salads (pickled beets, three bean salad, creamy peas). Most places that serve fish fries also have some “healthier” options, like baked fish drenched in butter or crab stuffed shrimp swimming in cream sauce. At our fish fry at The Country Club, we serve a grilled walleye that is actually healthy– and damn delicious too.
The beverage selection at a fish fry is important too. You’ll often see bottles of beer at the table but the true, official drink of the fish fry is the Old Fashioned. I like mine with whiskey but the Wisconsin way is with brandy. You can have it sweet or sour, with cherries or with olives… but however you order it, the best method of mixing is from scratch: muddled cherry and orange with sugar and a couple of dashes of bitters, ice, a healthy pour of booze, and then either sour or sweet soda. Garnish and enjoy.
I prefer my fish fries in the summer– when I can sit outside, sip a cocktail, and watch the sun set on another week. But just like most Wisconsinites, I will wander out in blowing winds and several feet of snow to get my weekly fix of good food and good company. After finally eating in my own restaurant this week, I can safely say that the SweetSpot at Whitewater Country Club has one of the best fish fries in the area: beer battered fried haddock, potato pancakes, really good coleslaw, rye bread, a house-made tartar sauce, and plenty of lemon. It was great to take a break from managing the fish fry to sit down and eat one. After 3 weeks of no fish fry, I was missing it a lot.
Don’t get used to this…
This post is by no means a commitment to keep this page up to date. Quite the contrary… I have very little extra time on my hands and, boy oh boy, is it ever easier to update the old Facebook or take a quick snapshot on Instagram to share my day.
However, I was feeling kind of bad that my last post was from Mother’s Day 2012 and thought it might be wise to update things a bit.
So here are some new things that have happened…
1. We moved to a bigger place and have had a good time decorating it. My favorite thing? Our barn board table that seats 12!
2. The SweetSpot has expanded by taking over all of the food service at The Whitewater Country Club (and it’s fun!)
3. Althea is 3(!) and can now add “BRILLIANT” to the ever growing list of qualities she possesses
4. I dyed my hair brown and cut my bangs (ooh! big news!)
5. The hubs got a new job, which he loves: Business Developer/Manager of a holistic healthcare practice
6. Downtown Whitewater is getting a bit cooler all the time! We now have 2 new App Development companies down the street and my favorite Pub is serving brunch!
See ya ’round!
Inspired
I think I need a new blog.
I’ll write about this stuff here until Savored Sweetness cannot contain it anymore… then I’ll create a new space for my crazy wild ginormous dreams to get fleshed out in plain English.
So lately I have been thinking “WHAT’S NEXT?!”
Things are going super awesome at The SweetSpot. We are busy, we are making money, and we are growing. I have finally moved myself into a role that I love: supportive supervising (i.e. Dear Staff, I’m here if you need me but you are doing awesome on your own). We just hired 3 new employees and we are about to hire a baker. We have 25 wedding cakes this summer and catering orders keep rolling in.
But even with ALL THIS going on, I find myself getting bored (did I mention we’re also moving in 2 weeks and have a 2 year old? wtf is wrong wih me? pfft, bored indeed) and I have found myself wondering what the next big step is. And there are just so many options.
I guess I am what Marie Forleo would call a “multi-passionate entrepreneur”… I seem to have business A.D.D. I have expansion ideas for the SweetSpot (new locaions, second location, distribution network, online sales, etc.), new restaurant ideas for Whitewater (diner, bbq, tapas, food truck, smoothies, rathskeller, thai, pizza, etc.), online business ideas, non-profit ideas, and retail store ideas for downtown Whitewater. If I had a billion dollars and 200 years to live, I probably wouldn’t run out of ideas.
So which do I choose to pursue?
None.
That’s right. I’m not pursuing any of them yet. I’m going to perfect what I have going on at The SweetSpot, work on some self-improvement things (seminars and trips to the gym, anyone?), and relish in the fact that life is just so flipping awesome. And I’m going to just share my ideas, talk to people, and wait for an opportunity for collaboration or inspiration to pop up. Then I’m going to tackle it with all the multi-passionate A.D.D. I can muster. And I’m going to CRUSH IT.
Hello!
I'm Lacey... café owner, coffee lover, mama, wife, and so much more. I like ugly color combinations, fun food combinations, and discovering new things. Thanks for reading along!