Lake Michigan yellow perch fillets, cornmeal-dredged, deep-fried, served with tartar, lemon and rye: a Friday-fish-fry standard at South Side taverns and German halls.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Lake Michigan yellow perch was the cheap workingman's fish in Chicago through the 19th and 20th centuries: pulled from the lake by Polish and Croatian commercial fishermen, fried at Friday-night fish fries in Bridgeport, Pullman and Roseland taverns. Commercial perch fishing in Lake Michigan collapsed in the late 1990s under invasive-mussel pressure on the food chain; the fillets on Chicago menus today are mostly Canadian-caught from Lake Erie and the Saskatchewan lakes. Calumet Fisheries on 95th Street, smoking chubs since 1948, is the smokehouse reference; Edgebrook's Superdawg and South Side taverns still serve Friday perch with rye, tartar, lemon and a beer.
Common allergens: Fish, Gluten
Tip from the editors. Don't dredge until the oil is at temperature. A wet dredge sitting on the fish goes gummy.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Calumet Fisheries in Chicago is the East Side smokehouse on the 95th Street bridge since 1948, with smoked chub, fried perch and shrimp wrapped in butcher paper.
Signature: Smoked chub, Fried lake perch
Order: Smoked chub by the piece and a fried perch fillet plate.
Tip: Cash only, no seating. Walk to the bridge and eat the chub on the railing watching the boats; that is the meal.
More cities are in research. Want lake perch fry covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.