If you live in Wisconsin, you need no introduction to Friday fish fries, which are awesome. If you’re a regular reader of Milwaukee Record, you need no introduction to Caleb Westphal, whose weekly column documents his six-years-and-counting Friday fish fry streak. So we’ll keep this short: In a travel feature published today, Chicago Tribune writer Jay Jones investigates Wisconsin’s beloved Friday fish fries. And he does so by kicking things off with Westphal:

In America’s Dairyland, folks have about as much love for their Friday fish fries as they do for the Packers, cheese and beer. And leading the cheering squad—for the fish, not the football—is a Milwaukee guy named Caleb Westphal.

“I have eaten a fish fry every Friday night for at least 279 weeks,” Westphal said in an email in mid-May, meaning the number of consecutive weeks has likely grown by a few. He started keeping track in early 2014 but said that his streak actually extends back to the summer of 2013.

“That would make the number a bit higher,” noted the 33-year-old Westphal, who writes about his weekly “fishing” trips for the Milwaukee Record website.

Fun!

Jones’s piece—”Tasty, fun and cheap: It’s easy to see why Wisconsin is hooked on Friday fish fries”—also features chats with Lakefront Brewery’s Jim Klisch, 5 O’Clock Club’s Jason Knutson, and others. Does it contain Westphal’s top fish fry picks? Of course it does. Read it here.

About The Author

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Co-Founder and Editor

Matt Wild weighs between 140 and 145 pounds. He lives on Milwaukee's east side.