If you live in Pittsburgh or anywhere to the right of us, I imagine you are feeling about the same way I am right now about snow. Done with it. But there we were again yesterday, snow flying on and off all day, just disruptive enough to slow everyone down and make me question if I should be out and about. It was managable most of the day, but just as we were on our way to our second weekly fish fry–Sts. Simon and Jude on Greentree Road–the squalls picked back up and started covering the roads. A pox on you, Mother Nature!
On the way to the church hall we decided that instead of sticking around for dinner, I’d run in and get food to go. While we’d lose the fish fry ambiance, we’d pick up a good hour of family time at home and avoid any additional weather-related traffic. Not a bad tradeoff on another cold and less than ideal driving day here in the ‘burgh.
Entering the building, the first thing I noticed was the tell-tale scent of hot oil, a pleasant welcome after last week’s no-fry let-down. Next to catch the eye: a plethora of banners hanging from the walls announcing various championships won by the school’s athletic teams, interspersed with hand-lettered school pride signs. It’s an open, pleasant space for a fish fry; half the gym is open space where kids can run around while waiting for their dinners. The other half holds the long tables and chairs, inviting you to sit next to somebody you probably don’t know.
I ordered three fried fish sandwiches–one each for the grown-ups, and one for the kids to split. On the side, two orders of mac & cheese, two orders of halushki. Total cost: just under $25. On the way out the door I grabbed a couple packets of tartar, cocktail, and (WOOHOO!) hot sauce. I WOOHOO! because nothing compliments a fried fish sandwich better than these little packets of thin, vinegar-y, off-brand hot sauce. There’s a time and place for Frank’s, Tabasco, and Sriracha. Fish fries are not those times and places.
So how was it? Solid. The fish itself, unlike the Sts. Simon & Jude athletic teams, will not be winning any trophies. It is sizeable, doubling up the length of the bun, but the size and shape of it point towards frozen, not hand-breaded in the back. That’s not a problem, though, because the star here is the bun. Soft and chewy, soaked with hot sauce, it took what could have been a very average piece of fish and raised it to delicious.
The mac & cheese was creamy and mild. The halushki had flavor, perhaps an odd compliment. However, having sampled many a tasteless bowl of cabbage and noodles, it’s high praise. The onions had been carmelized enough to tint the noodles and cabbage a sweet light brown, and the cabbage was soft and melting. Just enough butter and salt to pull it all together.
As I noticed last week at St. Thomas More, the gym was crawling with friendly parishoners eager to help. The tween-aged food runners are always fun to watch; a little wary of calling too much attention to themselves as they call out order numbers, but still beaming pride in their church (or as the case may be with Sts. Simon and Jude, their school).
Sts. Simon and Jude puts on what you’d expect from a Pittsburgh fish fry…tasty and unpretentious food served in a welcoming, lively environment. This is the time of year for this comforting food. If it is snowing next Friday–and the way things are going these days you can be pretty sure it will be–pick up a couple sandwiches and an order of halushki from Sts. Simon and Jude. And remember to grab some packets of hot sauce on the way out.
we went to st. joan of arc and as usual it was very good. mac and cheese was very tasty. i only had a taste of someone else’s because i was still stuffed from my gigantic fish sandwich for lunch from the north braddock fire hall. only had shrimp for dinner, which also was very tasty.