Minnesota Fried Walleye Sandwich

quote:

Originally posted by Davydd


The Mall BTW is a liberals anathema. All my Twin Cities friends hate the Mall and denigrate it every chance they can and claim they refuse to go there. They said it would fail. But I was the architectural technical director that put three years of my career into helping create it. I enjoy going there just to walk around indoors in the winter if nothing else. Even if I don't shop I never leave without sampling and buying cheese at Rybicky's Cheese Shop on the 3rd level west end.

Then I offer you a thank you and a job well done! Even though I am not much of a shopper, I always enjoy visiting the MOA. There have been many years when I have flown into MSP and done all my Christmas shopping in one day.

I do remember reading that while it was being built, many were predicting it to be a colossal failure. Instead, it has been an amazing success. Congratulations again!

If that cheese shop is the one I am thinking of, I agree about the quality and I always stop in myself.

Today we had dinner at Maggie's Family Restaurant in Wayzata, Minnesota. We had our kitchen counters installed today and the adhesives were overwhelming us and with a minus 1 degrees we could not air it out. That was good enough of an excuse to get out the house. So we went to Maggie's. Maggie's is an eclectic restaurant with a full line up of breakfast items served all day, appetizers, salads, American dinners, Italian dinners, pizzas, hamburgers and sandwiches. They'd give Cheesecake Factory a run for their money with their menu listings at a lower price point.

I ordered the Walleye BLT sandwich consisting of breaded walleye sticks, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo with a side order of fries.

Davydd,my husband and I will be in Rochester,Mn in late Feb. Can you recommend a restaurant that has a good walleye sandwich ?

Culver's down here in Indiana has just brought their Walleye Dinner and Sandwich back on the menu as a 'seasonal specialty'. While I don't know how long the Walleye "Season" lasts, I will attest to the quality of the fish serrved by the FF Chain !

iqdiva,

I don't have a lot of knowledge about Rochester. The same question about good restaurants came up on the LTHForum and I realized I don't think I have ever stopped in Rochester but one time to visit my old boss in the Mayo Clinic waiting for a heart transplant. I was the architect for the SuperTarget there but Rochester is so close to the Twin Cities that it was a dash down and back trip without exploring road food. Now I am blasting through it on my way to La Crosse, WI and back without stopping. Rochester is a community of doctors and professional people. You would think there would be some good places but I draw a blank.

If you are flying in to the Twin Cities catching a flight to Rochester or then driving down to Rochester I would recommend stopping at the Mall of America's Twin Cities Grill. Also, Axel's Woodfire or Ike's in the Lindbergh main airport terminal have excellent walleye sandwiches.

Thank you Mr.Davydd ! We love the Mall of the Americas,but the Twin Cities Grill is new to us ... My hubby ,Paul,and I will have to give those establishments a try !

I googled "rochester walleye sandwich" and got a few hits. There is a place called Beetles with a decent website, and a seafood discussion on Chowhound. And the Green Mill, a small local chain, I haven't tried them.

Davydd, we had a good cod fish fry tonight at Syl's, a local spot in Barre Mills just outside of La Crosse. It was recommended by local friends, and they were right. Long, thin pieces of fish, real clean and nicely fried. All you can eat on Fridays.

quote:

Originally posted by iqdiva

Thank you Mr.Davydd ! We love the Mall of the Americas,but the Twin Cities Grill is new to us ... My hubby ,Paul,and I will have to give those establishments a try !

The Twin Cities Grilll is on the north side first level.

easydoesit,

It is interesting how fish interest changes in short distances. Rochester is tucked in the southeast corner of Minnesota near Wisconsin and Iowa. The idea of a fish fry all you can eat seems more popular in Wisconsin than Minnesota. And once you cross the border into Iowa the Walleye just about disappears and cod or catfish becomes the equivalent sandwich. Maybe Rochester is influenced by this. Rochester is located totally outside of the lake regions of Minnesota.

Well, I've got to say that growing up in Winona we always crossed the river into Wisconsin for those fish dinners. It became habit, first with my parents and later with my dates. We never looked deeper into Minnesota, always over that bridge, then there were dozens of places to choose from, and a 30 mile drive one way was just part of the evening. It was just natural to go east, and not just us, but everyone we knew. Cod and walleye both readily available, and AUCE was the rule on Friday.

Having said that, there were some memorable fish places in Minnesota, a couple in Winona and the Anderson House in Wabasha (still there)...but those are border towns.

But now I'm thinking about Minnesota being one of the healthiest states, and Wisconsin one of the fattest....maybe we can blame Wisconsin on the beer, or the cheese, or the brats, or.....LOVE OF LIFE!

Now we've spent 20 years in several Wisconsin cities, and you can't swing your arm without spilling some tartar sauce. But there are some differences within the state. We lived 10 years in Fond du Lac, and over there perch replaces walleye. Perch is everywhere (cod also) and walleye harder to find. And maybe taste is what you grow up with, but we could never warm up to the perch like we did to walleye.

But how about french fries and tarter? We grew up with that in Minnesota (border town) and it is just a natural expectation in Wisconsin. When we moved to Omaha in 1971 we found a place famous for chicken, and ordered fries as a side. The lady who took the order could not get over that we wanted tarter sauce with our fries. It was just wrong to her. But that was a long time ago. Maybe it's different now. How about Indiana?

I've always wondered why the Friday fish fry is mostly a midwestern thing. Maryland is a catholic state with easy access to fresh fish, yet i've never see any anouncements about a fish fry at a church or community group.

Robeajr,

We Midwesterners are simple folk who enjoy community activity. What I do miss is our local Excelsior South Lake Minnetonka volunteer fire department used to have a spring smelt fry where the whole community showed up to raise money. The smelt, little sardine like fish, used to run every spring in the rivers feeding Lake Superior. People collected them with buckets. The smelt were deep-fried, heads, guts and all. The smelt runs have died out on the Minnesota north shore but I understand other areas of the Great Lakes still have them. Minnesota may still have them but not in the volume that would send thousands up north for the spring ritual like back in the 1970s.

This past weekend we visited Wabasha, MN on our way home from La Crosse, WI. Wabasha has the newly opened National Eagle Center, a recommended stop if you are ever in the area. After our visit to the Eagle Center we stopped at Slippery's Bar & Grill for a late lunch. They had both breaded pork tenderloins and Walleye sandwiches on the menu so my wife and I ordered both and shared them. The Walleye sandwich was so so. I guess their hamburger carries the day for them. That and the fact they live off their reputation of being featured in the 1993 movie Grumpy Old Men and 1995 movie Grumpier Old Men with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. They have a nice riverside view of the Mississippi River and soaring American bald eagles. Here is the sandwich.

Davydd,when my husband & I have been in Rochester,MN. , we always make time to go to Wabasha & Slippery's...I've never tried the walleye sandwich , but I've had the burger...It was delicious !

Sunset's in Wayzata, MN serves a decent Walleye Sandwich. I had this one recently.