Through Easter Sunday, religiously devout Tri-Staters will refrain from eating meat on Fridays while observing Lent. Although Lenten traditions vary between Christian denominations, no-meat Fridays are common, and so are Friday fish fries. The weeks leading up to Easter are filled with these community gatherings focused on fish and fellowship. Here are a few in the Evansville area.
St. Matthew’s Church, 3007 N. First Ave., kicked off its fish fries in February and continues to roll them out on March 10 and 24 and April 7. Plates of southern fried fish filets, baked beans, green beans, potato salad, and more can be had for $10 a meal. Children 10 years and younger eat for $5. This drive-thru only event is open from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
St. Benedict Cathedral, 1328 Lincoln Ave., has a fish fry scheduled for 4:30-7 p.m. March 3, with seafood favorites served to adults for $16, children 6-12 years for $8, and children under 6 for free. Carry-out dinners cost $13 per person.
St. Boniface Parish will offer drive-thru and dine-in options at its annual fish fries on March 3 and 17 at Saint Agnes Cafeteria, 1620 Glendale Ave. From 4:30 to 7 p.m., patrons can feast on fried fish, mac and cheese, potato wedges, coleslaw, cornbread, and dessert for $12 per person.
Over in Posey County, St. Matthew’s Catholic Church, 421 Mulberry St., Mount Vernon, Indiana, will start its March 3 fish fry from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., put on by the St. Matthew Men’s Club. For $12 for adults or $8 for children, diners can eat in or carry out cheese pizza, fries, hush puppies, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, and coleslaw.
St. Joseph in the County Parish, 6202 W. Saint Joseph Road, is throwing fish fries on March 3 and 17 from 5 to 7 p.m. Dinners of fish fillets, German potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, and cornbread can be had for $14 per person. This fish fry is carryout only.
St. Wendel’s fish fry at the Knights of St. John Home, 11714 Winery Road, Wadesville, Indiana, is slated for 5-7 p.m. March 3 and 24. For $14, diners can dine in or carry out a full plate of filets, potato salad, baked beans, mac and cheese, coleslaw, grilled cheese, and cornbread.
St. Clement Parish, 422 E. Sycamore St., Boonville, Indiana, will hold a fish fry every Friday during Lent with fried or baked fish fillets, cornbread, slaw, sides including choices of potato salad, green beans, baked beans or macaroni and cheese, and dessert. Plates cost $15 for adults and $6 for children 12 years and younger.
The Lent-long fish fry at St. John the Baptist, 625 Frame Road, Newburgh, Indiana, will feature fried or grilled fish options, cheese pizza, rotating sides, cornbread, mac and cheese, coleslaw, and dessert. Dinner costs $12 for adults, $6 for children ages 4-12, and is free for children under age 3.
Observing Lent while dining at a restaurant? Riverwalk by Acropolis, 6 Walnut St., has rolled out a seafood menu with an all-you-can-eat catfish dinner, lobster rolls, a clam strips dinner, blackened shrimp dinner, Cajun catfish dinner, fried shrimp po’boy, salmon filet, and shrimp scampi. The restaurant also serves a fried shrimp dinner on Fridays.
Prime Time Pub & Grill‘s two locations — 8177 Bell Oaks Drive, Newburgh, Indiana, and 12301 Hwy. 41 North — have introduced a special Lent lineup featuring a breaded catfish sandwich for $12.99 and a two-piece fried catfish dinner with a salmon or shrimp Caesar salad or shrimp cocktail for $17.99.
Major Munch, 101 N.W. First St., Suite 100, does a brisk lunch business and serves a feed-fried catfish sandwich each weekday, in addition to a shrimp sandwich and catfish shrimp po’boy. At Tin Fish, 707 State St., Newburgh, Indiana, patrons can tuck into platters of mixed fish including salmon, swordfish, tilapia, trout, or walleye. Tin Fish also is holding a weekly Lenten Friday Fish Fry Drive-Through from 2 to 7 p.m. that includes fish and chips, grilled mahi-mahi with fries and coleslaw, and popcorn shrimp with applesauce for kids.
Hungry for more? Read about Major Munch’s catfish sandwich and Tin Fish’s shrimp po’boy in the March/April issue of [Evansville Living] magazine, on newsstands soon.
