Review
The Fountain is into the whole hyper-fresh, hyper-local thing that plays so well in Madison, which is cool and all, but as we mentioned, does not jive eating Fish Fry - especially if you like cod or haddock. So how is a place like The Fountain to keep up with the Wisconsin tradition of Friday Fish Fry when the main ingredient in the meal doesn't jive with their philosophy? They do what any other place would do; they compromise to appease the Friday Fish crowd. Wise move.
It turns out, not all the fisheries in the world are overfished and one of those in fine shape is the Pacific Cod. While we're not sure if the The Fountain's cod comes from these waters or not, we'd suspect it does based on this fact (the Atlantic Cod is on the Do Not Eat list). So, while it may not be a local fish, it is at least a more environmentally friendly option. The presumed-Pacific cod is available in a 2 or 3 piece for $10 or $12, respectively; and when we showed up to try it we were delighted to be seated immediately.
For being 7:30 on a Friday The Fountain wasn't nearly as busy as we thought it would be especially since downtown was jumpin'. The waitress came over right away to take our orders and no more than 5 minutes later our fish was ready - a good start. As you might have guessed, the cod was screaming hot since the five minute wait didn't give it a chance to sit. The three hearty pieces were very good, featuring thick and flaky hunks of pristine meat. The smooth fish was complimented by a semi-thick beer batter which had a lot of flavor including something spicy that I couldn't quite put my finger on... Cayenne? White pepper? No doubt, one of the two played a roll, but we may never know exactly which one...Regardless, the fish was good and all got eaten.
There are no options for sides with The Fountain Fish Fry, but that's alright since none are needed. The "cheezy" hash browns that are offered are a good choice and while we'd say they were more cheezy than hashbrowny, they were still tasty. According to Jer their delicate flavor was the product of Cream of Mushroom and/or onion soup mix, but that is neither here nor there in my book, I'll just call them yummy and leave him to nitpick the nuances.
Rounding out the trio of tastiness was The Fountain's homemade tartar which was smooth, zippy, and held up to the creamy cod despite its thinner than average consistency.
Of all things, I was sure that there was no way they'd skimp on bread since they were doing everything in their power to keep their Fish Fry traditional. Well, I was wrong, and none came with the meal which left the coleslaw to fend for itself. Luckily, the slaw was supreme. It was creamy, and zesty - simply delicious. Gabe, Jer, and I all liked it which is really saying something 'cause Gabe normally don't do no slaw. This has to be some of the best slaw we've ever had, and I would gladly eat it with every Fish Fry. Nicely done, gents!
There is a lot to like about the Fish Fry at The Fountain - lack of bread aside. The food was really good, and the service was quick and friendly. If there is any downside to meal (other than no bread) it would have to be the dreadful location The Fountain occupies. It is basically the old Tiki Shack space which is saddled with a dated design and split in half by a long hallway that connects State Street to Dayton Street. It is a kludge setup and makes patrons on their maiden voyage wonder what the hell is going on, and where exactly they should go (the correct answer is: an immediate left if you enter from Dayton, or all the way down and on the right if you come from State. All geographic qualms aside, we recommend the Fish Fry at The Fountain as the quality of the food and the attention to detail in its preparation was evident.
We even showed up early, but to our dismay it didn't matter much - The Fountain was already falling behind. Several things on the menu weren't available, and we lucked into the second to last order of cheese curds. Seriously, the second to last order of curds at 6:00 on a Friday night (you can bet there were some PO'd patrons after us). It took a while for the curds to get to our table (the waitress was frazzled from the get-go) but when they did come they were rich and delicious although accompanied by a bevy of batter crumbles.
Surprisingly, or maybe not, the fish took a while to swim our way. The $11 2-piece took about 20 minutes to fry and was adequately hot when it showed its fins. The fish was super flaky, but the batter was so light that it couldn't contain it, and it flaked apart in the tartar. It was also greasy and a bunch of errant oil literally oozed from the second piece until I got it flipped over. While the batter had some seasoning it was slight and didn't give the fish much of a lift at all. Also, there were only two pieces which isn't much for eleven bucks.
Accompanying the cod was a side of what The Fountain calls "hash browns". This rendition on the shredded spuds was more of a cheesy casserole than real hash browns and was incredibly goopy. By default it doesn't come with onion in it, but they somehow worked them in for me. On the plus side, the potatoes were clearly shredded in house, and loaded with real cheddar, but they were just kinda odd, even with the requested onion.
A tremendous amount of tartar came along for the ride, but the quantity was the only thing tremendous about it. While it was zesty, and didn't hurt the fish, it didn't make it better either. It was kind of creamy, but had more dill than relish, and didn't improve the fish one iota.
Some serviceable slaw was clearly fresh, but didn't have a lot to hang its hat on. It was semi-creamy, but super boring, and left me wishing there was some bread to pair with it, which, of course, there wasn't. Boo.
Scattered. Slapdash. Piecemeal. While this dinner at The Fountain wasn't awful, the whole thing just kind of seemed thrown together. Overall, we don't recommend this Fish Fry since there was no cohesion, and although there is potential here, the execution was lacking.