Review
The Coopers Tavern recently opened to much acclaim and since I have been waiting for a Food Fight place that offers Fish Fry I jumped at the opportunity to give it a try on the first available Friday. We arrived at the West Mifflin establishment around 6:30 and put our name on the list. The place was packed, so his 30 minute estimate seemed short sighted, but we rolled with it and grabbed a couple drinks at the jam-packed bar. After only about 20 minutes he found us on the other side of the "snug" and showed us to our table, complete with a spectacular view of the capitol building.
The waitress wormed her way through the crowd and was at our table a couple minutes after we were seated. While it was not listed on the menu (or anywhere in the "gastropub") The Coopers Tavern was offering a 2-piece cod Fish Fry for $12.95. Three of the four at our table went for this special while our lone vegetarian obviously did not. The cod came about 15 minutes or so after the order went in and was hot, but not scalding when served. It tasted good and was cloaked in a beer batter which was just fine. This batter was dark in color and wasn't as light in texture as I normally like, but I wouldn't say it was thick and heavy either. The fish itself was good and seemed to be high quality. The cod fillets were not really flaky but were not mushy or greasy either. In the end, the cod was similar to that of the Old Fashioned, not great, but certainly not bad, although another piece for that price would certainly be reasonable.
Like a lot of "classy" places in this day and age they can't simply call a French fry a French fry. The "frites" are served in a cone shaped piece of paper in a pint glass. I can't really figure out the point of serving fries in this method and hope it is more about space saving rather than grease filtering. Regardless these frites fell slightly below my expectations. They were heavily salted, but not super hot. The result was some limp salty potato strings which still tasted good but were not excellent. In comparison, I had an order or frites at Jacs the night before which were head and shoulders above these babies. Jacs frites were pushing a perfect 10, these were maybe a 7.
Before the fish came we treated ourselves to their pretzel appetizer with beer cheese sauce. The homemade pretzels themselves were good, but the beer cheese was out of this world. I almost picked up the little cup and drank the remainder once all the pretzels were gone, it was just that tasty. This leads me to believe they have a kick ass sous-chef since the tartar sauce was also just fantastic. It was sweet and smooth and improved the taste of the fish ten fold. I buried my portion even with a mere two pieces of fish.
It also turned out that no bread is served with the thirteen dollar Fish Fry so these preemptive pretzels were a great idea. However, since they are not part of the Fish Fry I can't give them any points for them. I will give them some credit for the mountain of slaw that my fish seemed to be climbing when served. This slaw was made in house with lots of green pepper. While it was "clean" it was not super tasty. This is the kind of fancy slaw I would expect at a Food Fight establishment and while it was kind of a raw tasting I still ate most of it.
After our first visit to The Coopers Tavern I can say that we will definitely be back, although maybe not for the Fish Fry right away. The fish and fries were good but the tartar and beer cheese were the stars of the show. The service was quick even though it was pretty damn busy and the host did a good job of keeping things moving. Overall, this Fish Fry is recommendable and could easily move into the highly recommended strata with some good bread and another piece of fish. As it stands The Coopers Tavern has a tiny bit of work to do to get their Fish Fry up to snuff with the rest of the Food Fight reputation, but I do give them a lot of credit since it was their first week in business.
We chose The Coopers Tavern on a whim, or so it seemed. Jer was at the Underground Kitchen attending a birthday get-together, and since the gastropub is right down the street, it just made sense. We arrived a little before 6:00 and were immediately seated in the cozy confines of Coopers. The waitress came around eventually and grabbed our orders for two Fish Frys specials and a couple beers. We talked hockey for a bit, and 15 minutes or so later the food arrived.
Wasting no time we both broke into our bounty the second it made contact with the table. The cod looked idyllic as the three golden beer battered pieces shone brightly despite the dim lighting that graces Coopers. Looks can be deceiving and the first bite told a bit of a different story. While the batter looked flawless, the thin coating lacked any distinctive flavor, and did little to help the pedestrian cod underneath. The fish itself was actually quite flaky, but like the batter it lacked substance and finished with an almost watery taste. By and large it was acceptable, but very average.
Thankfully, the common cod keeps good company and the friendly French fries and trustworthy tartar urged him along. Coopers' fries are clearly homemade and even though a couple were slightly undercooked, they bulk of them were simply excellent. Likewise, the tartar was clearly made in house, and the thin, mayo-rich blend did what it could to pull the cod from obscurity. The only drawbacks were the tiny bit of dill present, and the miniature pitcher the sauce was served in which made dunking difficult, and was just kind of cheesy in general.
Coopers has definitely done some things right, but when it comes to coleslaw and bread they seem to have missed the mark. Like the fries and tartar, the slaw is clearly homemade, but for whatever reason they have chosen to load it up with peppers and sweet vinegar. While I could take it or leave it, Jer was straight up put off by the tangy concoction and had no problem letting me know about it. I was more put off by the lack of bread accompanying the $13 meal, especially since I know they have some good stuff back in that kitchen (I've had the Reuben, and it features a fine bread).
There is really a lot to like about Coopers, and we appreciated the speedy (but somewhat lackadaisical) service which helped us make it to the Kohl Center with time to spare. The Badgers would go on to lose the game 1-0 in overtime, and while they didn't get blown off the ice, they didn't take advantage of anything that was given to them. I was disappointed in their performance, and kind of felt the same way about this Fish Fry. Coopers is obviously doing some really great things, but this time they didn't bury the biscuit when they had the chance. Kicking the cod into high gear, and throwing a shot of bread on net would at least make them a force to be reckoned with, but as it stands their game is currently lacking.
Overall, I still think this Fish Fry is recommendable, but like the Badger hockey team, it probably isn't gonna win a championship this year. These squads both have a solid foundation to build on and with some refinement and more experience they may be in line for a shot at the title one day, but as of now we'll call them works in progress.
Since it's not family-owned and operated the idea of a Friday special goes right out the window and the best thing you can hope for in terms a Fish Fry is the $14 for Fish-n-Chips on the regular menu. The management at Coopers knows what they are doing and A) have a very impressive beer selection, and B) make sure the food comes quickly, and ours certainly did. The fish in this case is haddock which is encased in a very thick batter. Despite the abundant coating (which we usually loathe) the fish was still really tasty. The batter had lots of flavor which surprisingly complemented the smooth haddock rather than overwhelming it. An unexpected balance was struck and even though we wouldn't go out of our way for this fish, we'd definitely get it again.
Like the fish, the skin-on, Julienne-cut fries were also good, but not great. The portion was adequate and the spuds were well fried so there's nothing to complain about, but not a lot to rave about either.
We have come to expect consistency from the Food Fight folks which usually means there won't be any surprises. When it comes to Fish Fry anything out of the ordinary is often unwelcome, but in the case of Coopers' tartar we were surprised in the best of ways. The "shot glass" of anchovy infused sauce was incredibly zesty and flavorful, and really put the haddock in its place despite the bountiful better. There were clearly some mustard seeds in it which really perked things up and helped the creamy concoction last until the very end. Well played, management.
A little bit of house-made slaw came along for the ride, and like the tartar carried a surprise, but unlike the tartar this wasn't a welcomed one. It was an incredibly sweet vinegar-based slaw that had a pear essence that we could have done without.
Since this was a Fish-n-Chips affair no bread was expected and sure enough none came.
While Fish Fry isn't unique to family-run operations it certainly seems to thrive at them. We've had fish at several Food Fight restaurants including: Coopers, Craftsman, Monty's, and Hubbard Avenue, to name a few, and not one has bowled us over even though all have been decent. There just seems to be a slight disconnect between making good food, and something uniquely special. Overall, we recommend the Fish-n-Chips at Coopers Tavern, but think there are plenty of better places to get your Fish Fry fix.