Caleb Westphal hasn’t missed a Friday fish fry since 2013. Follow his never-ending adventures—sponsored by Miller High Life—HERE. This week, fish fry #560: Alioto’s in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
“Every Friday since I was 5 years old, I’ve waited for my Nana to get her hair done, and as soon as she’s finished, we go for a fish fry,” narrates Joe Pera in the Joe Pera Talks With You episode “Joe Pera Waits With You.” Most of the 10-minute episode takes place in a hair salon, but it ends with Joe and his Nana getting their Friday fish fry. If you are from the Greater Milwaukee area, you might notice that the restaurant they are eating at is Alioto’s in Wauwatosa (3041 N. Mayfair Rd.; 414-476-6900). (In fact, Alioto’s was Pera’s favorite place to have a fish fry when he was filming in the area, he went there for fish more than any other place, and he even scouted for the actress to play his Nana by talking to people eating fish frys.)
“There are a lot of old people,” my 10-year-old stepson said, as we settled into seats in the hushed, wood paneled dining room at Alioto’s, just before 5 p.m. How many Nanas were we about to eat fish with? Was Joe Pera and his Nana a few tables over? In truth, even I felt young here, like how I did sitting in the crowd at all those concerts I went to between 2005 and 2015—you know, for artists like Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, John Prine, Eric Burdon, and Peter Noone. Now that I’m 38, the feeling doesn’t happen at many places except for funerals, and maybe still at an occasional concert or fish fry.
I’d been to Alioto’s for a fish fry a few times before, first in 2015 and again in 2022. It’s been located at the southwest corner of N. Mayfair Road and W. Burleigh Street since 1958, but dates back to 1923, when John Alioto opened Alioto’s Garden at Jefferson Street and Clybourn Street in Milwaukee. In 1948, he opened Alioto’s supper club just a few blocks away, near where the U.S. Bank Center now stands. But after a decade he was pushed out of the area due to construction, and he relocated to the present location.
John’s sons Angelo and Joe and daughter Frances helped run the business. Joe passed away in 1963, and John in 1972, but not before hosting his nephew, San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto—who was in the state campaigning for Senator Hubert Humphrey ahead of the Wisconsin primary—for a 200-person dinner at the restaurant that spring. When a fire nearly destroyed Alioto’s in 1981, Angelo buckled down and made sure it was up and running in eight months. (Two firefighters who worked as paramedics, Larry Schampers and James Lorbeck, lost their lives in the fire.)
Angelo died in 2011 at the age of 87, and his daughter Catherine “Kiki” Warren and her husband Tom took over ownership, and ran Alioto’s with the help of two of their children—John’s great-grandchildren—Michael and Catherine. Kiki passed away in 2016, but the Alioto family continues on her legacy and that of the family with the restaurant.
The seafood choices on the Friday Special Menu, which runs from 11:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m., are fried Icelandic cod (two-piece for $13/ three-piece for $16/ four-piece for $18) and fried perch ($18), which come with coleslaw and french fries or red potatoes. Broiled cod ($17) comes with a choice of potato or pasta, and a tossed salad can be substituted for the slaw for $1.50. Gluten-free cod (three-piece for $17.50) or perch ($18.50) comes with coleslaw or salad and choice of potato. Salmon ($24) is served over angel hair pasta, topped with homemade dill sauce, and expanded with a choice of soup or salad.
There’s more! Shrimp and scallops (five of each for $20.50), scallops (seven for $16/ eleven for $25), shrimp, either lightly breaded and deep fried or grilled (six for $16/ ten for $20), and a combination plate (three scallops, three shrimp, three pieces of perch, and one piece of fried cod for $20.50) are on the menu, too. They come with a choice of soup or salad, and a choice of french fries, red potatoes, or pasta. Potato pancakes are also available à la carte (two for $3.50). Both of my stepsons who were along and I all ordered the combination plate with coleslaw and french fries. While I thought of having both clam chowder and coleslaw, I skipped the chowder since it wasn’t New England style.
As we waited for our fish frys, one of my stepsons made a funny face so I could send it to his mom, while the other made an origami parrot and perched it on the brim of his water glass. We chomped on some thickly sliced, sesame seed-topped Italian bread. I had an Old Fashioned ($8) while they had Kiddie Cocktails ($3). Our fish arrived in 15 minutes flat.
The coleslaw, presented in a dish, was juicy with a robust crunch, and was augmented with what appeared to be celery seeds and sesame seeds. This was a step up from standard plastic-cup slaw, somewhere up there with the top two-thirds of slaws. The french fries weren’t so much a filler as they were fill-you-up fries, with a hefty potato presence. They were rather basic and standard crinkle-cut fries, like that Boston or REO Speedwagon album you’ll put on every once in a while because it’s alright, but won’t try to turn your friends onto it.
The breading on the scallops gave a small crunch, which gave way to a succulent interior, the contrast of the two being delectable. I’m not sure how shrimp like this can be done wrong, and these were done right like so many others, nothing amiss, everything on the track. The breading on the cod was comparable to that of the scallops. Its mild flavor highlighted the fish, which also had an understated flavor, but was beefy and dense, making the best of the space it had.
Along with the scallops, the high-water mark of the meal was the perch. Covered with a light, somewhat soft breading with a light pigment, the perch was fleshy and moderately flavorful. The tartar used on the perch and cod was pickle heavy—and I mean pickle heavy. This was confirmed by one of my stepsons: “Oh yeah!” he said, when I shared my pickley observation.
While not breathtaking, Alioto’s is a must for getting a fish fry, at least once. This was my third time, and I’d happily go back again. It’s a fish fry that’s lasted for decades; a staple of the Milwaukee area that holds up after all these years. It’s a place to go with your stepsons or your Nana. Like Joe Pera’s Nana, I could say, “This is so good.” And to that, Joe would say, as he did at the end of the episode: “It’s fried fish. Of course it tastes good. But the wait and the company make it taste, uh, really good.” I couldn’t agree more.
Takeaways: Owned by the same family for multiple generations; lots of seafood options, including gluten free; bread on the table; seeds in the slaw; REO Speedwagon album french fries; scallops, shrimp, cod, and perch on the combination plate; pickle tartar.
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