Here in fish fry season, we heard someone wondering why there was all this fuss about it—was it a St. Louis thing?
Short answer: No. The Times-Picayune in New Orleans (among others) offers a calendar of local fish fries in their fair city, and it’s fun to compare and contrast. New Orleans is even more Catholic than St. Louis, and like here, the majority of fries are at local parishes, with a few at other service organizations.
But the big difference, and an interesting one to folks who really enjoy their chow, is in the menus. Some appear short and standard. But there are often striking differences. The most obvious one is the near-mandatory appearance of potato salad as a side. Then, as the list goes on, gumbo begins to appear, and the reader may then start to salivate.
Occasionally, crab appears, whether as a topping for fish or—gasp—as a soft-shell crab dinner. And crab boil, that seasoning for the liquid to cook crabs, is seen with potatoes or corn cooked in crab boil.
You can find the list on the T-P’s website. It’s hard to imagine giving up a chance to eat in the great New Orleans restaurants on a short visit, but some of the places could lure us away.
