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 #623, at The Brick Pub & Grill in Glendale, Wisconsin.
The Tucker 48 didn’t last long, with only 51 automobiles being produced, but it sure shines bright on the 1947 Tucker Car Corporation Christmas Card. An evergreen tree with holiday lights stands in front of a snow-covered home with gold-tinted windows, with a burgundy Tucker 48 in the foreground. There’s a similar picturesque wintry scene on Green Bay Avenue in Glendale. A wreath with holiday lights hangs on the front of a snow-covered building—it’s The Brick Pub & Grill (6343 N. Green Bay Ave.; 414-797-0710)—which is covered with even more lights. Instead of a Tucker 48 out front, positioned for a Christmas card, it’s me, pulling into the exit driveway instead of the entrance one and making a fool of myself, if anyone happens to look, on my way to a Friday fish fry.
Photo: Alden Jewell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
While the Tucker 48 is remembered for legal troubles and for what could have been instead of what was, The Brick Pub & Grill, owned by Glendale natives and wife and husband team Chelsea and Tim Hren, has a long, redemptive, buy back the farm kind of history. Tim’s grandfather, Louie Hren, opened Wren’s in 1961, in a space kitty-corner from where the Brick is, where one of Kletzsch Park’s baseball diamonds now is. Wren’s closed in the early 1970s, but Louie opened Wren’s II in a new building in 1981—the building The Brick now calls home. Friday fish frys were served from the start. As a child, Tim Hren helped his grandfather at the restaurant.
Wren’s II closed and was sold out of the family in the mid-1990s, and the building became home to Mini’s Italian restaurant. Tim built cabinets for a living but also worked in the restaurant business over the years—including at the now-shuttered Silver Spring House, just a few blocks north of The Brick—and held a dream of someday owning and running a restaurant in the building where his grandfather had ran Wren’s II. Tim and Chelsea bought back the building in late 2014, gutted and rebuilt the interior, and opened The Brick Pub & Grill in October 2015. The restaurant’s name is a nod to the Cream City brick on the horseshoe bar, which was repurposed from a chimney on the property.
Upon entering just before 5 p.m., I was immediately greeted and asked if I would like a low top or high top table. I didn’t have much time to absorb the large barroom in front of me or what was beyond it, but I assumed a low top meant a seat in a dining room, while a high top meant a seat near the bar. My assumption was proven true when I was whisked past the bar and into a back dining room, and given a seat at a booth in the far back corner. This was my kind of seat: a cozy corner spot with a great view of the room. While the bar and grill wasn’t packed, it was fairly full, and I was surprised about how quickly I had been seated. This promptness continued for the rest of my time there. In moments, the same person who had seated me had given me a menu, gotten me a drink, and taken my order.
The Brick’s Friday section of the menu lists fried cod (two-piece for $14.50 or three-piece for $16.50), pan-seared or deep-fried perch (two-piece for $16 or three-piece for $18), pan-seared walleye ($19.50), pan-seared bluegill (four or five fillets for $18), baked cod with rice pilaf and cooked vegetables ($16), and grilled salmon with rice pilaf and cooked vegetables ($20), available plain or with Cajun, lemon pepper, or bourbon flavoring. They are listed as coming with potato pancakes or another side choice. Sides are listed elsewhere on the menu as french fries, tater tots, and dipping veggies; onion rings, waffle fries, a side salad, a cup of soup, cooked veggies, and mashed potatoes also available as sides for an upcharge. Fish frys are served from 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
There are certain words that one picks up out of conversations across a room, and for me these are words like “clam chowder”—the same words that matter most on cold and snow-covered Friday nights. When I heard them, I was all but certain they signaled the soup of the day. Once this was confirmed, I ordered a bowl ($6), which was only a dollar more than a cup, as well as the three-piece deep-fried perch with potato pancakes.
“I’ll be back with your chowder” is the ideal phrase to hear after ordering chowder with a fish fry, and that’s what happened here. Within minutes I had the soup, the aroma of it hitting me as it was set on the table. It was a small bowl, suggesting why it was just a dollar more than a cup. It was rich and smooth, and almost silky, with a sharp, peppery bite. It had a moderate amount of vegetables and clams, but the prevailing component was the base, which ensured it was a stellar chowder and very satisfying to the body and soul on a cold night.
I had ordered the three-piece perch. Three pieces didn’t seem like much fish, but the other option of two pieces really didn’t sound like enough. When the plate came out I first thought they gave me an extra piece of fish, but when I counted them up I saw I had been given six pieces! Had the menu meant three perch, not three pieces of perch? I didn’t ask, assuming either that was the case or that I had been blessed with providential luck.
The medium-sized pieces had just the right amount of breading on them, which not only allowed the stripes of the perch to show through, but the flavor of the fish itself to come through, although it was not a strong flavor. The breading was crisp, and crunchy on the edges, but had but a faint flavor, too, albeit a pleasant one. Although the fillets weren’t sweet or mouthwateringly flavorful, they were meaty, although they were neither overly tender nor tough.
I thought there was no way one cup of tartar sauce was going to last for six pieces of fish, but somehow this tartar did it. In flavor it was reminiscent of the Miracle Whip-based tartar I’ve made at home, but with a more pronounced lemony and tangy zing. There was pickle relish present, for sure, but it’s less important to the story than just how little of this tartar was needed to do a lot, and how much the tartar gave to the perch.
Once I was able to stop seeing double with the perch, I saw the sides were some of the better ones I’ve had all year. The small piece of dark marbled rye was soft and scrumptious—The Brick isn’t fooling around here when it comes to where they source it from or how fresh it is. The freshness thread continued to the slaw, which must have just been whipped up because of how crisp it was. It consisted of straight-up green cabbage that was lightly coated.
The potato pancakes were second only to the ones I had at Henry Flach’s when it comes to originality this year. These were very much like breakfast pancakes in terms of look, texture, and taste. And if you would have told me there was cinnamon and syrup inside of them, I would believe you. But there also was a lot of saltiness and onion that took them far away from breakfast pancakes. These seemingly conflicting sweet and savory elements were not conflicting at all, being more yin and yang, more Simon and Garfunkel, having found a way to have a symbiotic relationship for the greater whole of the pancake. Hold the ketchup and hold the applesauce—these pancakes were not only original, they were wonderful.
The Tucker 48 may have flopped, but The Brick Pub & Grill is cruising along just fine. While more flavor in the breading and a little less subtle perch could have knocked this fish fry out of the park, the fish was still pleasing and this fish fry is still an important one, not least because the tartar went the whole mile and the sides didn’t slack. With enticingly memorable potato pancakes, simple but effective slaw, well-sourced rye bread, and outstanding chowder, the perch had plenty of high-caliber collaborators by its side. The possibilities of pan-seared perch or bluegill provide continuing allure, too. So send me a Christmas card. Send one with a Tucker 48 on it, or send one with The Brick Pub & Grill on it. Both are sure to bring me cheer, whether it’s during the holidays or any Friday of the year.
Takeaways: Heartwarming building history; efficient service; rich and smooth chowder; it said three pieces of perch but I got six pieces of perch; pleasant but subtly flavored breading and perch; tartar that goes a long way; well-sourced rye bread; simple but effective slaw; excellent potato pancakes with sweet and savory symbiosis.
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