Milwaukee's best fish fry, 2016

By OnMilwaukee Staff Writers Published Oct 14, 2016 at 7:01 AM

For the 10th straight year, October is Dining Month on OnMilwaukee, presented by the restaurants of Potawatomi Hotel & Casino. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, dining guides, delectable features, chef profiles and unique articles on everything food, as well as voting for your "Best of Dining 2016."

Lakefront Brewery

The readers have spoken, and Lakefront Brewery came out on top. Lakefront's incredibly popular fish fry takes place every Friday from 4 to 9 p.m. and offers four options. The classic Milwaukee cod fry features fish dipped in a batter made with Lakefont's East Side Dark beer. The baked cod dinner is gluten free, topped with herbs and fried capers, and comes with melted butter. There's also a perch fry and a smelt fry.

All of the fish fry dinners come with coleslaw, bread and a choice of side, including fries, potato pancakes and (sometimes) warm potato salad.

Come for the food, stay for the lively, um-pah-pah sounds of the Polka Kings.

Runners up:
2. The Packing House
3. Kegel's Inn
4. St. Paul Fish Co.
5. Brown Bottle Pub

Lori Fredrich's pick: Bass Bay Brewhouse
When it comes to the Friday fish fry, I’m a fan of old school. And I have a couple of rules. You have to have fried lake perch, and you have to have potato pancakes. My vote for this year breaks those rules (no perch), and I still think they’re fabulous. And that’s Bass Bay Brewhouse who serves up a mean hand-breaded cod every Friday. It’s crisp and tender and delicious. And even the leftovers don’t lose their lovely crunchy texture, which is a bonus that can’t be underestimated. Oh, and if you go, be sure to get a bowl of the delicious clam chowder as well..

This year we also asked a variety of prominent Milwaukeeans to weigh in on their pick for specific categories. For this category, we consulted 88Nine Radio Milwaukee's Jordan Lee.

Lee's pick: The Packing House