Caleb Westphal hasn’t missed a Friday fish fry since 2013. Follow his never-ending adventures HERE. This week: fish fry #651, at In Cahoots Saloon & Eatery in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin.
A sea of goats and children stampeded across the grass at Green Meadows Petting Farm. There was no reason to be alarmed, it was just the goat run, which takes place at 3:30 p.m. every day the farm is open. It was a Friday, and I, too, was getting the urge to stampede, not towards a barn, but to a place with a fish fry. We spent another half hour at the farm, until they closed at 4, and headed towards Genesee Depot, to In Cahoots Saloon & Eatery (S43W31325 WI-83; 262-968-2399).
In Cahoots Saloon & Eatery—or In Cahoots & Co. Saloon & Eatery, as it’s also called—has been open since 1987. I’ve been aware of it for a much shorter period of time, but long enough that it’s been on my fish fry get-to list for a half dozen or so years. It’s about a 40-minute trip from Milwaukee, but only a 25-minute jaunt from Green Meadows Petting Farm, which is located just east of East Troy, so the time felt right to go. Plus, I was with my daughter and vegetarian wife, and I saw there was a black bean burger on the menu.
The building dates to 1860, and the items on the walls reflect the era, largely being rooted in the Old West. There’s a picture of Wild Bill Hickok and some 19th century rifles. There are many pictures of Native Americans, including photographs of Geronimo, Little Big Man, and Chief Joseph. There are steer horns and taxidermied heads of large North American wildlife. These came into view when I opened the saloon door, as did a sign on a pillar that said: “Please, place your order at the bar! Wait Staff is only available Friday Nights from 4:30-9:00 pm.” It was one of those signs that’s obviously referencing a Friday fish fry, even though it doesn’t explicitly say so. I love those signs.
It was five or so minutes after 4:30 and I didn’t see any waitstaff, so I got the attention of a bartender, who said we could sit wherever we wanted. Being as early as it was, only the bar was full, and there were plenty of open tables in the dining area. We sat in a booth and I grabbed one of the standalone Friday fish fry menus to look over. In Cahoots has fried cod (two-piece for $11.75 or three-piece for $14.75), baked cod (two-piece for $12.75 or three-piece for $15.75), walleye ($17), and fried perch (three-piece for $12.75 or five-piece for $15.75). Each comes with a choice of red potatoes, crinkle fries, chive fries, onion rings, or tots. A cup of chowder ($4) or chili ($4.25), or a side salad ($4.50), can also be added. There also is an “extras” section listing tartar sauce (50 cents), coleslaw ($1), potato pancake ($2), piece of cod ($2), and piece of perch ($2). Perch ($13.75) and cod ($12.75) sandwiches are also on the menu, and come with chips, a choice of cheese, and tartar sauce. The Friday menu is served all day, except the baked cod and red potatoes aren’t available until 5 p.m.
While an astute diner may attempt to order the two-piece cod for $11.75 and add an extra piece for $2, making it a three-piece cod fry for $13.75 instead of the list price of $14.75, I decided to go for the five-piece perch with potato pancakes, and added a cup of chowder, as is customary. While “Do you want that out right away?” might not be as common a saying in Wisconsin as “ope,” it has to be close, considering it’s said almost every time clam chowder is ordered with a Friday fish fry. The answer to the question is always an enthusiastic “yes.”
The chowder had an orangish complexion, as if there were carrots in it, but I couldn’t positively identify any. In fact, the only vegetables I could positively identify were potatoes. This was because the chowder had a thickness where the indecipherable components—which surely included vegetables—hit the palate like they had been simmered down to a stew or pureed. The other component I could identify besides the potatoes were the pieces of clam, of which there were many in assorted shapes and sizes. They weren’t at the forefront of flavor—the flavor came more so from the stew—yet they were at least unmistakably identifiable. As far as flavor, the stew was rich, and not spicy or peppery.
Less than 10 minutes later I had the fish fry. A crusty, inessential piece of rye bread led me quickly to the coleslaw, a pleasant cornucopia, mild in seasoning, but sweet and flavorful because of the thin coating it was bathed in. Onion was in front with the potato pancakes, with a little sweetness on the back end. They were soft and thin, yet large, and put together well. I’ve had these before: they aren’t overly rare, but that’s because the formula works.
A thin breading dotted with green herbs encased the five pieces of perch. It was a rather mild breading, somewhere in the middle. Middle would become the chief descriptor of this fish in more ways than one. The flavor of the perch was in the middle, neither subdued nor striking. The size of the pieces? It was in the middle, too, or maybe a little on the bigger side, but neither skimpy nor hulking. Being in the middle isn’t a knock, as if something is lacking. No, sometimes being in the middle isn’t a drawback, and may even be an asset. Being slightly relish forward and rather thin, there wasn’t any salient component of the tartar sauce, it also being in the middle.
Altogether, the perch, breading, and tartar, the potato pancakes and coleslaw—these fish fry elements that were often in the middle—built a whole greater than the sum of their parts, making this a fish fry well worth trying. If you find yourself in the Genesee Depot area on a Friday, whether to watch goats and children stampede, to visit the home of Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne, or to hike the Ice Age Trail, there’s plenty of reason to stop at In Cahoots Saloon & Eatery for their fish fry afterwards.
Takeways: Rich, stew-like chowder that you want out right away; pleasant slaw; familiar yet satisfying onion-forward potato pancakes; breading, perch, and tartar that aren’t too much of one thing or the other, and are thus in the middle, and that’s just fine.
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