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 #579: B-Lazy Bar & Grill in Wind Lake, Wisconsin.
In 2025, I’m seeking joy. Not the superficial, saccharine kind, avoidant of the tribulations of an often crumbling world, but a deep, abiding joy that rises above the turmoil and looks to the dawn, to the future, in spite of it all.
The idea to seek it washed over me in three crests. First, it was Bob Dylan, on X of all places:
“Saw Nick Cave in Paris recently at the Accor Arena and I was really struck by that song Joy where he sings ‘We’ve all had too much sorrow, now is the time for joy.’ I was thinking to myself, yeah that’s about right.”
Yeah, that’s about right, Bob.
Shortly after, I started reading a tome on the first Trump presidency, The Divider, by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, as if there was a way to steel myself for the next term. “Just be nice to yourself and reread A Promised Land,” a friend commented. Just be nice to myself. Yes, as exceptional as the book is, what am I doing subjugating myself to 652 pages of near chaos? Why hadn’t I remembered what Nick and Bob had said? I think I’ll choose books that are more uplifting and joyful in the coming months. Read the joyful books first, or you might not have a chance to read them at all, to riff on Thoreau.
But it was the third crest that rose the highest. “The moment of pure joy in my life was when my son was handed to me when he was born,” expresses Nick Hitchon in 63 Up. Early this year my daughter was born, and I have to say, Hitchon’s observation is an astute one. The pure joy of my daughter’s birth has continued to lift me since. It’s been the month of magic. And of course, she came home on a Friday and the first food she smelled in her new home was of a fish fry from The Packing House drive-thru.
But my seeking of joy really isn’t new. I’ve found it every week for the past 11 years in the form of a Friday fish fry, and I’ve sought it out in simple, sometimes nonsensical activities. That was the case this past Friday when I put on a flannel shirt and drove to Wind Lake because I found a place that gives a dollar off Friday fish frys to those who wear a flannel shirt. How about that for some joy?
When I walked inside B-Lazy Bar & Grill (7922 S. Loomis Rd.; 262-895-7300), I immediately saw someone wearing a flannel shirt. In fact, many of the employees were wearing official B-Lazy Bar & Grill flannel. I was seated facing the bar at a long, skinny table. Three guys wearing hats and flannel shirts were standing at the bar and drinking beers. People were eating at the five or so tables behind me and at another set of tables behind a dividing wall. I took a selfie to document my flannel wearing, and did a double take of it and then took another after I realized a sign that said “Flannel Fish Fry Friday” was behind me and that a couple wearing flannel was sitting beneath it.
By this time I had a menu in hand and had already heard people talking about the fish fry:
“How’s the fish fry here?”
“Damn good. Best price around.”
B-Lazy offers the following seafood dinners: three-piece fried cod ($13), three-piece baked cod ($14), walleye ($16), lake perch ($15), bluegill ($14), fantail shrimp ($15), popcorn shrimp ($14), and cod sandwich ($12). They also have seafood buckets. That’s right, buckets: ten-piece fried cod ($28), fifteen-piece fried cod ($34), ten-piece baked cod ($30), walleye ($36), lake perch ($34), bluegill ($32), fantail shrimp ($34), and popcorn shrimp ($30). Dinners and buckets come with tartar, slaw, rye bread, lemon, and a choice of fries, tots, salad, onion tanglers, or potato pancakes. Seafood chowder is also at the ready ($4.25). The menu says these offerings are available seven days a week, but notes that the flannel shirt special applies only to those who dine in on Fridays. There also is a seafood special each Friday. This week it was a fish melt sandwich and the week prior it was chili lime baked cod.
In an effort to be as clearheaded as possible around the time of my daughter’s arrival, I haven’t had a drink for a few months. So I started off my order with an O’Doul’s instead of an Old Fashioned. The Old Fashioned reviews likely will return, but I’m not sure when just yet. I also ordered the perch with potato pancakes, as well as the seafood chowder.
There’s so much to look at and do while waiting for food at B-Lazy, that I imagine it’s hard to actually be lazy there. I found a laminated sheet that listed a dozen raffle opportunities, and counted six—wait…seven—raffle-related containers sitting atop the bar. There’s not only the usual meat raffle and shake of the day to keep you busy, but also the Veterans Outreach Pontoon Boat Raffle, the Wind Lake Fireworks Gun Raffle, and a raffle for a bottle of Blanton’s Gold bourbon. B-Lazy also has cribbage, darts, bingo, music bingo, Granny bingo, birch tree painting, open mic night, car and bike cruise nights, and various fundraisers. And don’t forget about their Deviled Egg Competition on March 9. Flyers for their events are plastered all over the building to a dizzying degree, and there’s plenty more about them on their website and on Facebook.
Having been asked if I wanted the chowder as an appetizer, it arrived quickly, so I didn’t have a chance to enter to win the pontoon boat or guess the number of soda pull tabs in the big plastic container. The chowder was an even blend of potatoes and the seafood, the seafood listed as being fish, clams, and shrimp. Clams took the front seat from the fish and shrimp, and the overall effect was the chowder was pretty close to clam chowder. It was smooth, but not overly creamy, and even-keeled in flavor too, being robust but not biting, alluring but not mind-blowing.
The perch plate came out quickly as well. There was a piece of the lightest rye bread, halved and stacked at one of the plate’s corners. When I ordered I had been asked if I wanted the bread. Of course, yes, I did, but I could have survived without it. Square-chunked cabbage and long-slivered carrot do-si-doed in the classic slaw cup. There was some sweetness, and a bit of something beyond that, a little left of the dial, that kept me coming back. The potato pancakes were hefty and compact, and ground pepper and garlic powder came to mind as I tore into them, with some onion fragments also being visible.
Paper-thin breading covered the four perch fillets, being thin enough that the stripes beneath it were visible. Without the flavor of beer or other heavy flavors, the breading was fairly neutral, but did have a salty tinge. A hint of that ol’ sweet perch flavor popped through the fillets, which were moderately meaty with a fresh suppleness. The breading and fillets were consistent, without variation. A helping of pickle chunks thickened up the tartar, which had a sweet pickle and lemon taste. With the perch and tartar, as with everything else, nothing was off the charts, though nothing was off-putting. Taken as a whole, this was a typical representation of a Wisconsin fish fry.
If you are looking for some simple, nonsensical fun on a Friday, put on your best flannel shirt and take Loomis Road all the way to Wind Lake, just past the roundabout, to B-Lazy Bar & Grill. Your flannel will give you the power to knock a dollar off an already reasonably priced and fish fry. All the turmoil in the world can wait until tomorrow. Friday night belongs to us. Go find some joy.
Takeaways: Wear a flannel shirt and get a dollar off your fish fry; endless array of raffles and events; weekly Friday seafood special; many other fish and seafood options; even-keeled chowder; compact pancakes with an aura of pepper and garlic powder; paper-thin breading covering moderately meaty and supple perch; pickle chunk tartar; friendly waitstaff; buckets of fish you can take home; hosting Deviled Egg Competition on March 9.
Note: I’ve got a new fish fry Instagram page.
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