Caleb Westphal hasn’t missed a Friday fish fry since 2013. Follow his never-ending adventures HERE. This week: fish fry #652, at Brass Monkey Pub & Grill in West Allis, Wisconsin.
The three wise brass monkeys were sitting above the doorframe ahead of me, one seeing no evil, another hearing no evil, and another speaking no evil. It was Friday, so along with all the things they weren’t doing, I assume they also were going to be eating lots of haddock, the activity I had planned for myself.
Brass Monkey Pub & Grill, the establishment I was sitting inside of (11904 W. Greenfield Ave.; 414-476-6099), has been open since 2007 and is named not so much for the three wise monkeys above the doorframe—nor for the Beastie Boys song or for the expression “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”—but for the brass monkeys affixed to their bar rail. Located in West Allis across from Greenfield Park on Greenfield Avenue, the building may be remembered by old-timers as being home to Leffler’s Cave or The Cave in the 1970s and ’80s, Moloney’s in the 1980s and ’90s, and Butch’s Steak And Fish House and Tavern On The Green in the early 2000s.
With the three monkeys overhead, I looked over the menu, not that the haddock was ever in doubt—after a week of bluegill, a week of walleye, and a week of perch, I was okay being at a place that exclusively serves haddock. On Fridays they offer beer-battered haddock (one-piece for $17.95 or two-piece for $24.95). The two-piece is listed as “The Big Catch,” along with an invitation to “haul in this monster fish fry.” It comes with a choice of fries or tots, and potato pancakes can be substituted for another $1.50. They also offer lemon butter haddock (two-piece for $21.95), a pan-fried blackened haddock drizzled with lemon butter sauce and served with broccoli, as well as baja fish tacos ($16.95). These two entrees also come with fries or tots, with potato pancakes being available for $1 more. I ordered The Big Catch with potato pancakes and got ready to haul in this monster fish fry.
In less than 15 minutes I had the fish fry. At first glance the rye bread didn’t look like much. I figured the two half-slices were likely a standard marbled rye, or maybe even crusty and inessential like last week. But, no, this rye bread had been toasted, to the point that it enhanced both the flavor and the texture—bringing out additional flavor and transforming the texture into something new. Maybe it was the toasting that made it feel more substantial, too, not meager, because it wasn’t fluff—I had to work to eat it. I was pleasantly surprised. It was probably decent bread to begin with, but it became something wholly different, and it demonstrated how food can quite easily be tweaked for effect.
The same could be said for the coleslaw. On the surface it appeared to be a standard cup of slaw, with an average amount of cabbage and carrot and average juiciness. But it was as if a filter had been applied to the slaw, another tweak. This time it was a seasoning that permeated the slaw. It didn’t seem like a singular seasoning, but a blend of them. Could it have been garlic powder meeting cumin, or chili powder meeting onion powder? Could it have been Lawry’s Seasoned Salt? What filter was applied to this standard slaw? For sure, it didn’t make it into the world’s best coleslaw, but it captured my attention like the bread had.
The potato pancakes were homemade, though their uniformity, texture, and flavor made them reminiscent of premades. They were greasy and savory, with an essence of onion; they were soft yet some edges were close to charred. Syrup, applesauce, or sour cream were offered with them, and I took the sour cream.
Two large pieces of haddock had a crisp, thick beer batter. Seasonings were visible, but along with the beer were not central to the batter’s flavor. It was the fish that brought the most flavor. I kept coming back to the thought of it being another kind of seafood, not haddock. When I thought about it more, the taste reminded me of lobster, which also made me think this haddock would be an excellent candidate for poor man’s lobster. But it was an excellent candidate for beer-battered fish too, and delivered the same rich flavor each time I returned to it, richer than I had anticipated it would be. While the pieces of haddock were large, I wouldn’t describe them as “monster.” But while I’ve had more fish in an all-you-can-eat fish fry, this still was an all-you-need-to-eat fish fry.
What I thought would reach me first in the tartar sauce was dill, which was visible in the tartar and on the rim. But it was a lemon tang followed closely by a horseradish-like sharpness that asserted themselves. Large pickle chunks lurked near the bottom of the deep well, and complemented the dill, but still were subordinate to the tang and sharpness. It was an exceptionally thin tartar, and dipping the haddock drew comparison to dipping poor man’s lobster into drawn butter.
The price of The Big Catch isn’t cheap, especially with the potato pancake upcharge, but I appreciate that the Brass Monkey has addressed the cost with an online post, demonstrating their care and dedication to a quality fish fry. For those who want to get away from cod or freshwater fish for a week, who want flavorful, large fillets of haddock, or who want a fish fry in a bar atmosphere, Brass Monkey can fill your wants. This is what I found, and it was a worthwhile trip for me.
Takeaways: Toasted marbled rye; seasoned coleslaw; greasy and savory potato pancakes; thick, crisp beer batter; haddock with a rich, seafood flavor; the Big Catch is not all-you-can-eat fish, but all-you-need-to-eat fish.
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