Wells Street Tavern, Delafield, WI

I'm starting to really look forward to Friday nights each and every week.  What started as a little "fun project" has taken a life of it's own, not only do we have over 70 followers on Facebook, there's been a little bit more interaction on the blog of itself.  It's so nice to know that something I truly enjoy has brought my friends together as well.

This week week Kendra and Alyssa joined Ann and myself for the weekly pilgrimage to the local eattery -- the Wells Street Tavern.  The girls are guest-blogging again and you're sure to enjoy all the opinions, we all had different entrees, but I think overall we had the same experience food-wise.  Nothing outstanding, but nothing awful.  I'll start with Ann, as she probably had the best weekend of all of us -- being a Purdue Alum, she has to be feeling pretty good about Mr. Brees and his Saints.

Ann Grevenkamp: GO SAINTS!!!!!!

Friday night fish fry was attended by 6 ( plus my brother who showed up later but did not eat fish!)  I ordered the beer battered cod, keeping my fingers crossed that this week was going to be better then last.....Beth and I did a rigorous two-hour Yoga Jam before fish and I was looking for some comfort food to sooth my aching bones!!!  I decided to spice it up a little by ordering the sour cream and chive fries with my cod.  I was very happy when my food arrived, and I had a chance to sample off of everyones plate, that I ordered the sour cream and chive fries. They were BY FAR the best side to order with the fish.  My fish was very light, especially for being beer battered, I really enjoyed the slaw and the fries...I think I could have eaten just fries!!!!  I give my meal a 8.5/10.  Very delightful. I cleaned my plate!!!!! 


Kendra Ferguson: Once again, Friday night fish fry was an amazing evening with outstanding people. The destination for this week’s outing was Reveres Wells Street Tavern in Delafield, which is in my part of town. I’ll admit that I’m partial to this tavern, as it is one of my favorite watering-holes in downtown Delafield. That being said, the establishment has changed ownership recently, and has lost some of the authentic Irish tavern feel in the transition. Although the service continues to be very quick and personable and the crowd fun and boisterous, the place has definitely lost a bit of its charm.

As a somewhat a regular patron of Reveres, I had not previously had the pleasure of partaking in its fish fry dinner. I decided to go for a healthier option than last week, and ordered the baked cod rather than fried. The fish was flakey and light, but a bit lacking in flavor which made me use more tartar sauce than I typically would like. Luckily the tartar sauce was very good. Rather than family style, each dinner came with rather skimpy individual servings of applesauce and coleslaw. Having a negative experience with potato pancakes the previous week, I decided to order the sour cream and chive fries instead, which turned out to be a very good choice. They were crispy and flavorful and definitely the highlight of my dinner! Overall, the amazing fries made up for the lack of flavor of my fish, so I give Reveres a 7.5 out of 10.

Alyssa Klopatek:  My Wells Street experience was a series of highs and lows. First: the good. It’s a huge building with a modern interior and it wasn’t packed with oldsters. The fish fry menu was short but sweet, and pricing was consistent with others in the area. This week I ordered beer-battered bluegill ($12.95) with potato pancakes.

OK, now for the lows. This was not a traditional fish fry that served bowls of coleslaw and rye bread for the table – we had to wait for those to appear alongside each of our main dishes. The coleslaw was dry. I only got one (admittedly robust) potato pancake, and it had a certain spice that I couldn’t pin down – something pie-like – nutmeg? Eating the mystery pancake with the cinnamon apple sauce was like taking a bite of hash brown sweet apple pie, which I did not enjoy.

Now, I know bluegill are small fish, and you might encounter a few tiny, bendy bones when chewing. However, the first piece of bluegill I bit into had a lot of stiff, sharp bones. I had to spit it out into my hand like a 3-year-old, grossing out everyone at my table. I complained to the waitress and she was apologetic but did not offer to bring me any new pieces of fish, to exchange out my meal or to knock money off my bill. Hey, I almost punctured my trachea on your fish – you might want to smooth that over with a bit more grace. Aside from the one piece with bones, the rest were safe to eat, although rather bland. Tartar sauce helped. I chewed carefully, on alert for more murder-bones.

Wells Street is a large restaurant/pub and the noise level inside was more conducive to rowdy fun than last week at Nashotah Clubhouse. Additionally, many of the patrons were younger people, and as the night wore on and our after-dinner drinks continued, Wells Street became more of a 23-year-old bar hangout than a restaurant (which is okay with me – HEY, BOYS!). I give Wells Street a 6 out of 10.

Beth Blanck: Well, because there has been some "controversy" among a few followers that I have yet to truly review a traditional fish fry.  I decided to have the fried cod this week.  It was $10.95, which was consistent price-wise among all the other fish frys we have encountered and like the prices, the fish itself was like a lot of the meals I have encountered.  Not bad, not good.

The breading was light and the fish was flaky and cooked to perfection, however, where we lacked was in flavor, while everything seemed to be done right, there was just something "missing" from the dinner itself.  The fish was average, but my potato pancake was awful...it was thick and overdone on the edges and the flavor was just "off" -- even after smothering with ketchup, I still found myself reaching over to Kendra's plate to steal a few of her chive fries, and that's not supposed to happen.

Our server was gracious and our drinks were fabulous, but like I stated before, our meal was...eh, not anything to get excited over.  I give the Wells Street Tavern a 6 out of 10 this week.

I've been a little disappointed in our fish frys since the Phoenix, so much so, we've decided to take a week break to celebrate my 38th birthday.  Ann and I will be back with the blog on February 8th (after the Super Bowl) with the latest and greatest update on our Fish Fry Excursion.  I may just jot a few notes next week, but you never know!

Also on a closing note, I want to thank Trish Washburn and her staff at the Soleil Yoga Center in Oconomowoc.  Our yoga jam on Friday night was invigorating, enlightening, mind-opening and just plain fun. It was a challenging workout of the mind, spirit and body.  If you live in the Lake Country Area, I would ask you check out the center at yogatrish.com -- you will NOT be disappointed. 

Have a great week everyone, enjoy life, smile, laugh and eat well!  :-)