Fish Type: Ocean Perch Price: $14.00
Overall, I would highly recommend this Fish Fry.
| Fish Score: Excellent Potato Score: Good Tartar Score: Excellent Bread Score: Excellent Miscellaneous Score: Good |  |
Comment: I typically like to keep my head down, but when a writer for Madison Magazine asked if I’d like to do an interview for a piece he was working on my ears perked up. When he said he’d buy, and suggested the Esquire Club he had me, hook, line, and sinker.
I haven’t been to the Esquire since it changed ownership, then subsequently changed back, and I was curious to see if the old standard still applied…from all I could see (and taste) it does! The AYCE Ocean Perch is still the move at the Sherman Ave staple, but since we were there for lunch, and I knew dinner was in my future, I stuck with the $14 4-piece (which turned out to be the perfect portion).
At first blush I could tell this OP was a carbon copy of that in my memory. The fillets were fat and dense (almost heavy feeling). They were dusted by the ‘squire’s signature light and crumbly breading resulting in perfectly grease-free fish. This is a tried and true recipe that is about as consistent as any you’ll find. And make no mistake about it, while the fish alone is good, it’s taken to the highest of heights by the legendary tartar. Is this thick and zippy sauce the best fried fish accompaniment on the planet? I’m not sure I’d go that far, but I wouldn’t cry fowl of anyone who did.
The fries are just your standard crinkles, but like the fish, fried to perfection. Two styles of oven-fresh bread come nestled in a basket and while the white looked divine the rye was simply radical. Rounding it all out was plenty of chin-dripping homemade coleslaw that was easy to enjoy but tough to stop eating.
Like most of Madison, I was saddened when I heard the Esquire had slipped under the regime change. But, like our fair city, I was equally enthusiastic when I heard the original owner said, screw that, not on my watch. Overall, we highly recommend this Fish Fry and can safely say the old Esquire is back (and let’s hope it never leaves us again).www.esquireclubmadison.com
1025 N. Sherman Avenue
Madison, WI 53704
(608) 249-0193
