Lake Perch from the Great Lakes

Phil Smidt's near Chicago, but in Indiana is famous for their Lake Michigan lake perch and frog legs. ( http://www.froglegs.com/ ) We used to dine there regularly when I was little and we'd go to Chicago to visit family and it's still serving some great meals yet today.

I vaguely recall another great fish house in the area, but I don't know what it was, just that it wasn't all that far from Phil Smidt's.

Are there other places that serve lake perch that anyone wants to turn me on to?

I haven't been there in 40+ years, but last weekend I happened to be talking to a friend and he told me that the 'Doo Drop Inn' in Muskegon still serves up a good perch dinner. My family (Catholic) used to get perch dinners there on Friday nights when I was a kid.

I also recall that the 'Bear Lake Tavern' in North Muskegon also served a good perch dinner. Certainly has more ambience than the 'Doo Drop Inn' if that's important to you.

I've eaten at 'Dockers' at the Muskegon channel and they served up a good perch dinner. However, I've heard it's recently changed owners and will be closed for a few months.


Dino

Is perch the same as walleye? I have been told that it is and told that it isn't by folks who were very sure of themselves.

It is a totally different fish.

John

I remember Phil Schmidt's also and would always love to get an order of the smelts when they were available. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

John

Walleye are members of the perch family of fish.

http://www.reelfishn.net/Walleye-Perch%20ID.htm

The Lake Perch dinners I have enjoyed consisted of small thin filets of fish...almost Sand Dollar sized filets. The fish they come from are what that link describes as 'Yellow Perch' as opposed to Walleye. The Lake Perch (not sure if that is the true name of the specie) is more of a panfish than the Walleye. They may be in the same family, but they are distant relatives at best.

We were just in Door County, Wisconsin, and I had a very memorable lake perch dinner at a place called Greenwood Supper Club. The perch were very fresh and fried up perfectly. I'd definitely go back. Here's a local review.

Food/Dining : Fish Creek


Greenwood Supper Club
9087 County Rd. A
Corner of Hwys A and F (about 2 miles east of Fish Creek)
Dinner
920-839-2451


This is an old-time supper club - lots of old wood, with an interior that looks like it's never been touched since it was built many decades ago! Typical supper-club fair - ribs, steaks, some fresh fish dishes, fried shrimp, etc. When you walk in, you walk right into the bar area where you will be waiting for a table if it's crowded, so take your time and enjoy. They've got lots of things on the menu and nightly dinner specials too, but we feel their children's menu (10 and under) is somewhat limited - French fried shrimp, French fried chicken, hamburger, steak, or child's portion of the daily special.

Some menu items include steaks, seafood

Actually, walleye and yellow perch are close cousins. While I enjoy catching perch, Perca flavescens, and prefer the taste to walleye, Stizostedion vitreum (which I love), the fact is, I'd rather fillet one walleye than 12 perch for dinner. The so-called lake perch used to be yellow perch-only. Now, however, it is entirely possible that white perch might be included in a restaurant meal. The white perch made it into Lake Erie via the the St. Lawrence Seaway, and through Lake Ontario back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Since then, they've also spread into Lake Huron, with some also being found in Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.

Now, about the 60 yellow perch fillets in my freezer ...

Michael,
When we had a perch dinner it consisted of 4 or 5 of the filets the size I described above. Is that typical of the serving size? Or would your 60 filets feed a large gathering of Perch eaters?

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

Michael,
When we had a perch dinner it consisted of 4 or 5 of the filets the size I described above. Is that typical of the serving size? Or would your 60 filets feed a large gathering of Perch eaters?

I'd say that four or five fillets would be about right for a restaurant meal -- unless they were from really small perch. My 60 are the result of cleaning a limit of 30 fish. Some were pretty small, but I think the largest were in the nine or ten inch range.

By the way, some places along Lake Erie's Western Basin have all-you-can-eat perch dinners.

Tiebels in Dyer Indiana is also famous for lake pearch. Route 30 and 41.

Thanks Ricky, and Welcome to Roadfood. Tell us more about some of the good places to go in N W Indiana!

Being a life-time So Cal gal, my opportunity for Great Lakes perch has been essentially non-existent. At a restaurant in Huron, Ohio - I think the name was "The Angry Bull" - we had an appetizer of 'perch nuggets'. I liked what I had and would try perch as an entree if I ever make it back to that region.

I sincerely wishwe had a lake perch place in Knoxville. We have nothing like that. I think there is someone opening up a place close by that will sell fresh hot fish.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Paul,
I will have many challenge me about it but sunfish (bream, shell crackers and the like) are basicaly the southern version of perch.

I can feel the attacks coming.

I have blue gill at my dock buy the hundreds. They like to hang out there because of the shade I guess. I feed them and I really have a hard time wanting to catch them and filet them cause I have fed them and made them native to my dock.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Paul,
Kind of like shooting fish in a barrel, Huh?

You might have a real problem w/ sending a pig to the butcher. Last year we had one named BBQ that had the ost soulful and beatiful blue eyes you can dream of in any mammal.

Tasty fellow however. live weight was 328# just he right mix of lean and fat.

but one thing to warn about is to NOT buy the hybrid bream for a pond unless you kill out the pond every four to five years. You''ll be walking across the pond on the backs of green sunfish if you don't.

Hmmmm, I wondered how he did that 'Walking on Water' thing??? I always thought it was some kind of illusion, but your explanation sounds more like the real thing.

May have been it. I "harvested" about two tons of the little buggers four years after I seeded the pond w/ them. Pond is about an acre in surface area. I put them through a chipper and scattered them about a pasyure. No poison just drained the pond and went in w/ the front end loader. May have been cruel but I wasn't going to give up all the fertilizer. Cats around us went crazy for a few days

There's a restaurant in East Tawas, Michigan (on the Lake Huron side) named Genii's Fine Foods that serves an excellent fried perch dinner in a basket with fries and cole slaw. The perch is fresh and the serving is generous. The restaurant serves other fish as well but we ordered the perch every time we went there because it is so good. The place is informal, the food is good and the price is right. This restaurant is definitely a roadfood gem.

quote:

Originally posted by V960

Paul,
I will have many challenge me about it but sunfish (bream, shell crackers and the like) are basicaly the southern version of perch.

I can feel the attacks coming.

No attack, but while sunfish and perch are panfish, sunfish and are not at all Southern versions of perch. The texture of the flesh and the taste are far too different. And, of course, those sunfish grow all over the north. It's just that in the north we call bream bluegills.

How safe are fish from the Great Lakes? I was under the impression that the pollution level in all the Great Lakes made the fish unsafe to eat. Mercury contamination was the greatest concern as I remember. I would like very much to be wrong on this, but I think there is still high concern regarding Great Lakes fish.

I might be mistaken but I was under the impression that restaurant lake perch are mostly from Lake Superior. Generally speaking, it's the larger fish that one should watch one's intake. Our utility just won the right to build a new coal fired plant which will only add to the Lake Michigan woes.

quote:

Originally posted by Greyghost


How safe are fish from the Great Lakes? I was under the impression that the pollution level in all the Great Lakes made the fish unsafe to eat. Mercury contamination was the greatest concern as I remember. I would like very much to be wrong on this, but I think there is still high concern regarding Great Lakes fish.

It's recommended that pregnant women not eat more than one meal of (Great) lake-caught channel catfish a month. It is also recommended that others not eat more than one meal of such catfish per week. Salmon should be limited to one meal a week. Walleye, yellow perch, largemouth and smallmouth bass, steelhead, white bass, white perch and lake trout may have some limits, but they are considered safe to eat.

quote:

Originally posted by MilwFoodlovers

I might be mistaken but I was under the impression that restaurant lake perch are mostly from Lake Superior. Generally speaking, it's the larger fish that one should watch one's intake. Our utility just won the right to build a new coal fired plant which will only add to the Lake Michigan woes.

I know that a large amount of commercially caught yellow perch come from Lake Erie and these fish are quite common in restaurants around the Great Lakes.

For some good information on Great Lakes fish consumption, check the state-by-state recommendations here:

http://www.great-lakes.net/envt/flora-fauna/wildlife/fishadv.html

My grammy ate a lot of fish caught by her father, uncles, brother, husbands, sons, etc from Lake Michigan. Diagnosed w/cancer 3 times. Be careful of fish from the Great Lakes. To be enjoyed as a treat only!

quote:

Originally posted by V960

You might have a real problem w/ sending a pig to the butcher. Last year we had one named BBQ that had the ost soulful and beatiful blue eyes you can dream of in any mammal.

Tasty fellow however. live weight was 328# just he right mix of lean and fat.

but one thing to warn about is to NOT buy the hybrid bream for a pond unless you kill out the pond every four to five years. You''ll be walking across the pond on the backs of green sunfish if you don't.

Funny stuff lol.