Caleb Westphal hasn’t missed a Friday fish fry since 2013. Follow his never-ending adventures HERE. This week: fish fry #667, at Rounding Third in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
It was the Friday between the Brewers beating the Padres in the National League Division Series and taking on the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, a lull for Brewers fans, but just another Friday for fish for Wisconsinites who partake in the weekly fish fry tradition. With the Brewers advancing towards the pennant and a long-elusive chance at winning the World Series, the moment felt right to once again have a fish fry at a Brewers bar or tie a Brewers theme into my fish fry.
I’ve taken this path from time to time, with two instances being the most memorable. I went on a Brewers Friday fish fry adventure in October 2018 when the Brewers were on their way to sweeping the Rockies in the National League Division Series, and I went to a Brewers bar for a Friday fish fry on the Friday between the season opener and home opener in 2025, before making a pilgrimage to the Bob Uecker statue outside of American Family Field. This past Friday I decided to go to Rounding Third (6317 W. Bluemound Rd.; 414-475-1982), a Brewers bar along a stretch of other Brewers bars where I’ve previously had Friday fish frys, such as Dugout 54 and Magoo’s On The Mound.
Besides the bartender at the far end of the bar, Rounding Third was empty when I walked in:
“Are you open?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have food?”
“Yeah.”
I took a seat at the bar, ordered an NA beer and was handed a menu. A one-size-fits-all fish fry ($15.95) with fried cod and french fries was listed on the bottom of the back of the menu. I had hoped for perch, potato pancakes, and maybe even some clam chowder, which I had seen they once served on Fridays. I asked if there were any options besides what the menu said and was told there weren’t, the implication being that they kept it simple because there was only one cook in back. (Someone called the bar shortly before I received my meal, and upon asking about the fish fry was told that potato pancakes were available, so the bartender must have misinterpreted my question, thinking I was only asking about fish, not sides as well.)
The Rounding Third building dates to 1925. In the 1930s, ’40s, and into the 1950s it was home to the Bluemound Coffee Shop then the Blue Mound Coffee Shop & Tavern. From the 1960s into the 1990s it was Cassidy’s Hall then Cassidy’s Restaurant. Bobby Ostrowski won a $7.9 million lottery jackpot in 1992 and opened Bob E O’s in the space around 1996, running it until 2005. Cassidy’s may have been in the space again for a short while afterwards, but Tim Toetz bought the building and opened Rounding Third in it in 2008, and has had it since. He put it up for sale in 2025, but as far as I could tell, it was he who joined the other bartender behind the bar shortly after I got my fish fry, and the building is still currently for sale—looking at photos of the place on a realtor website can give an idea of what the rest of the large building looks like and what else Rounding Third has to offer, because I never made it past the front bar.
While waiting for the fish fry, I contemplated the emptiness of the bar. No barstools were taken, but if it had been two days prior or two days in the future I imagined how every one of them might be taken, with only limited standing room behind them. I thought about all the Brewers games people packed the place for in the past, and all the shuttles Rounding Third had run to the stadium, what it would look like inside if the Brewers went to the World Series, and what it would look like if they won it. For the moment it was just me there, alone on a Friday waiting for a fish fry.
After just shy of a 20-minute wait, I had my meal. A piece of liberally buttered rye bread was chilled and slightly stiff. A very small cup overflowed with coleslaw. Its heavy coating seemed to have a pungency of its own that wasn’t drawn directly from the cabbage, and celery seeds added additional flavor. The crinkle-cut fries, of which there were an average amount, were light and puffy, and while adequate, made me pine for what a potato pancake or two could have been.
The cod was meaty and dense. It was somewhat dry, not moist, which added to its density, yet wasn’t so dry as to be off-putting, and instead was captivating. The fish had a light breading with a light yet satisfactory seasoning. The tartar was mainly mayonnaise, with only a scattering of relish or pickle mixed in, but it had been zapped with something to give it a zip.
Rounding Third offers a simple but competent cod fish fry. It could be a place to get a fish fry if you want to get away from crowds—if you go on a Friday when no Brewers game is going on—but could also be a place to get a fish fry if you want to eat one in the midst of a cheering crowd—if you go on a Friday when the Brewers are playing. A small group did come in while I was eating, but they went to the back room, and it wasn’t until I was finishing up my fish fry that someone else came in and sat at the bar.
As I drove home, I went past an empty American Family FIeld. Throughout the following week, as the Brewers beat the Dodgers on Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday, I contemplated the empty bar I had found and wondered how full and loud it might now be. I thought about what it would look like inside the moment the Brewers won the pennant or their first World Series. As I finish typing this now, late on Thursday evening, the Brewers are popping champagne in the clubhouse in Los Angeles. Maybe that’s what it looks like inside Rounding Third right now too—and maybe that’s what it looks like throughout all of Milwaukee. Milwaukee is the Friday fish fry capital of the world and home to the World Series-bound Brewers. Yeah, it’s pretty swell to be a Milwaukeean right now.
Takeaways: Tiny but mighty slaw; dense cod; light breading with a satisfactory seasoning; zippy mayo-forward tartar; has karaoke in the front bar on Fridays and Saturdays; offers Brewers shuttles; a place to eat a fish fry alone when there is no Brewers game or with a crowd when there is one; the Brewers are going to the World Series for the first time in 44 years.
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