Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Illinois Bureau: A well-oiled machine on the east side

Abby and Pat Durst of the IBFFI (Illinois Bureau of Fish Fry Investigators) have managed to notch another tally on the Knights of Columbus circuit. This week we were able to sample the Bethalto K of C fare. A little bit of a change from last week as we chose to carry out rather than dine in.

Wait time: 7 - Although our arrival was early in the evening (5pm) there was a healthy line forming already. Surprisingly the time to wait, order and carry out only reached 15 minutes. The system there seems to be pretty well-oiled. I think dine in might have added another 5-10 minutes.

Menu: 9 - There is a reasonably large selection for dining at the Bethalto K of C. Fish choices included both baked and fried cod, whitefish, whole catfish, shrimp and buffalo. Sides were hush puppies, slaw, fries and potato salad. Dine in dinner included spaghetti, and all diners had the option for fresh Italian bread, grazi! Deserts were present this time and were homemade varieties of pies and cakes! Beer seems to be less readily available than at other venues.

Price: 10 - Carry out was priced by the Lb.($7) or 1/2 Lb($4) of fish. Shrimp were $3 for a basket of 6. Deserts and sides were $1 apiece. Less than $20 to eat for 2 and still have leftovers. Here is the stat of the week, the Bethalto K of C offers an $8 all you can eat fish for dine in!!! That includes fish, spaghetti, 2 sides, bread, 1 desert, drink (water, tea, punch)! I got full just typing that in!

Taste: 7 - We sampled the shrimp, fried cod and buffalo, and found the fish to be pretty tasty, not to0 greasy. The slaw was ok at best, but the hush puppies were a nice touch. The bread was really good! I didn't get sauces to go, so that sort of hurt the taste rating, a little tartar goes a long way! The deserts were fine, great German chocolate cake and custard pie hit the spot, but sometimes you just crave a cupcake with sprinkles on top!

Overall Rating: 8.25 out of 10 fish patties

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