I stopped in Wegmans this morning to pick up the Friday New York Times. I like their “Fine Arts Section” even though it’s getting combined with other weekend nonsense as they shrink the content and jack up the cost to stay afloat. My cashier’s name was “Heaven”. I told her I liked her name. I spotted this sign near Culver and Ridge for a place called Ricky’s diner. Never been inside but I plan to put their sign in the Funky Signs section as soon as I get around to updating it.
Are Friday fish fries more common in Rochester than other parts of the country? I looked up “origin of the fish fry” in Google for the low down. When I looked up something for someone we do work for she started complaining that the way history is being written today we won’t have anything to trust down the road. Unless I was reading her wrong she was insinuating that people are free to put whatever they like online. I didn’t want to push her because I’m liable to say something boneheaded and she pays the bills so I’m only guessing here. But she wrapped that subject up by saying, “An entire generation will be lost.”
When I was growing up Catholics weren’t allowed to eat meat on Fridays. They rewrote the rules in 1966 so that now the Friday meat abstinence only applies during Lent. We had some fish but I remember toasted cheese sandwiches and fried egg sandwiches that my father called “Mickey Mouse Sandwiches”. It seems every place around here has one on Fridays. Shamrock Jack’s has one of the best but they are too busy during the summer. When we lived in the city the bar at the corner didn’t serve food at all during the week but they had a big crowd for their Friday Fish Fry.
Sure enough Wikipedia’s entry on the “Friday Fish Fry” says “the fish fry is one of the trademarks of Upstate New York cuisine, especially Buffalo, as well as Rochester and Syracuse, New York. But can we trust this entry?
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When I lived on Driving Park just west of Dewey Ave. (1980-82) there was a place that only opened on Friday. It was near Garofalos Grocery and they put out a simple signboard that said: HOT FISH TO GO. It was fish and fries by the pound.
Not too many fish frys here in Minneapolis, nope.
Surprising because food’s so good in general here.
Not enough late night diners either, or Italian or
greek food. Too many Lutherans?
I used to cook at the Village Grill in Penfield back in the early 70s. I would sling hundreds of fish fries every Friday night. I would go home with a pretty substantial film of fishy oil on my entire body. I couldn’t even think of doing something socially after work unless I went straight home and into the shower. It was gross. But I love fish fries, especially a good beer batter.