Review
Last trip to Rude's I ate dinner. This time I ate lunch. Last time I had lake perch. This trip I tried cod.
We arrived at 12:15, Rude's is open for lunch. The full cod dinner was nine bucks, worth every penny. We left at 12:45, the drive to DeForest worth every drop.
Before the fish Rude's give you sides. Regular rolls, zesty coleslaw, and tasty baked beans stated their case. All were found guilty, and sentenced to life ingested.
Rude's cod glistened with grease. The fat chunks were somehow succulent, and delicious. The three big pieces were flaky, despite their omnipresent oil. Previously, the perch was less greasy than the cod. We prefer the perch, and would choose it next time. Both fish shared the same light beer batter. Spotted Cow is delicious, fried or fresh, apparently.
A pillow of Rude's fries brought the cod barward. Plain as can be, and not even well-fried, a total let down for the Fish Fry guy. Luckily, a potato pancake picked up the slack. It came late, at a point where I was already full. I ate every crumb anyway. I'm good like that. The pancake was made from scratch, the apple butter on the side was too. For an undercooked starch it was still delicious. The melt-y spread insured that it was so.
Mostly mayo makes for tremendous tartar. Evidence of relish gives it a kick. Rude's tartar kicks like a mule. The brutish blend battled the lavishly lubricated fish, and tamed it with saucy superiority.
Four Solo cups came, filled to the brim. Four solo cups went, stacked neatly inside one another. Bye bye baked beans. So long sharp-tasting slaw. Happy trails thick tartar. Adios apple butter. Join your friend fried cod in beer battered bliss. Your work here is done. What a great all around Fish Fry this is, and in a bowling alley, no less.
You like fish. I like fish. We highly recommend Rude's fish. Take the trip, you will thanks me.
Even though we had just visited The Swansons in DeForest the previous Friday I decided to take the short jaunt up Highway I and meet The Rudes anyway. We introduced ourselves around 6:30, looked over their lanes briefly, and took a spot at the bar. One of the bartenders came by right away, and took our orders: a couple of Cows, a plate of perch, and a burger (for Garrett... I know, lame, right?). She brought the beers first then returned with a small plate containing a roll and cups of coleslaw and baked beans for me.
As per usual, I got chummy with the grub right away and polished off every last crumb. The roll was fresh and soft and served with a pat of room-temperature butter which was fine, but had I known my options I would have certainly chosen differently. The option in this case was to substitute a homemade potato pancake for the regular roll, which I would have jumped at had I known it to be available. Since I balked on the PP I was left with the creamy, horseradish-laden slaw (which appeared to be homemade), and baked beans which were a nice addition and bridged the gap between the this plate and the entrΓ©e adequately.
There was a good 15 minute lag before our new friends introduced us to the main course making me wish I'd made the slaw and beans last longer. During this frying period we actually saw the cook (this guy) come right over to the tap, fill the batter bucket with Spotted Cow, go back to the fryer, attempt to batter a piece, realize it was still too thick, and come back for more of the Cow. It was pretty cool to see, and clued us in to the Rude methodology. My $11 plate of perch arrived fresh from the fryer about 5 minutes after that incident and was simply too hot to handle. I waited as long as I could, acquainting myself with the fish less after less than a minute later.
The beer batter was superb and nearly bubbled off the 4 small butterflies of perch. The incredibly light batter had a translucent golden-brown-ness and complimented the razor thin, tender fish perfectly. It was simply fantastic and probably in the top 5 we have eaten. Pushing the fish even further up the ladder was Rude's tartar which was rich and creamy with the perfect amount of relish.
The fries weren't exactly unwelcoming, but the plain crinkle-cut numbers didn't go out of their way to make us feel comfortable. While they were fried well, the portion was small and, they were so boring they left me wishing a potato pancake or two could have been substituted for their blandness.
It turns out our friend from the bar had the story straight - Rude is a dude who knows his Fish Fry. I think it is fair to say that we have a new friend in DeForest and will make it a point to canoodle with his delicious fish sometime again soon. The perch was superb and from the looks of it, the cod, walleye and smelt aren't far behind. Overall, we highly recommend this fish fry and suggest you go introduce yourself as well. Who knows? You might just make yourself a new friend, we did.
I rolled into Rude's for lunch and snagged one of the many open stools at the bar. The bartender came right over, grabbed me a Spotted Cow, and went through the fish specials. I passed on the walleye, and skipped the cod, instead picking the perch.
Prior to the fish a plate with baked beans, coleslaw, and a dinner roll showed up. I pounced on them and enjoyed what I found. The slaw looked plain, but was zesty and flavorful; the beans were good, and loaded up with onion (which was a welcome surprise); and the roll was a roll. I polished off these precursors with ease and had a plate of fish in front of me moments later.
The plate was piled high with five perch fillets and a bunch of fat crinkle-cut fries. It looked just right, but of course, looks can be deceiving. The perch were petite, which in and of itself isn't a problem, but they were drowning in batter. The semi-thick coating was simply too much for the fine fillets, and although it had a nice flavor it totally dominated the fish. While I fully believe the batter would have blended better with a beefier fish, it totally overwhelmed the lake dwellers. I even peeled some of it away at the end to get to the fish, but by then it had already gotten mushy, and was less than appetizing.
The fat crinkles-cut spuds were well-fried, but straight Sysco. So that is what it is.
Since the fish was so hearty it needed a thick tartar to offset it, and that's just what it got. The rich sauce was nice and creamy, and had the necessary pop - at least the first cup did. There was so much fish that a second cup was needed, but cup #2 was almost straight mayo (albeit chilled), instead of the appropriately relished first round. Was it a different shipment or maybe a different supplier altogether? I have no idea, but regardless, it was kinda odd to get two wildly different sauces with one Fish Fry.
My final tab ended up at $15.70 so I'm assuming the fish was around 11 bucks - which seems about right for the amount of food I got. Despite the overly-battered fish everything was done well and the portions were plentiful. Overall, I still recommend the lake perch at Rude's Lanes, but would probably get the cod next time since cod pairs better with the thicker beer batters.