New England fish and chips is beer-battered or breadcrumbed haddock or cod, deep-fried until crisp, served with thick-cut fries and tartar sauce; in United States we have verified places to eat it in Boston and Santa Monica.
New England fish and chips · Boston
New England fish and chips is beer-battered or breadcrumbed haddock or cod, deep-fried until crisp, served with thick-cut fries and tartar sauce. The Friday-night Catholic-Irish staple in Boston since the 1880s.
Cod was the foundation of Boston's pre-revolution economy: the dried-salt cod trade with the Caribbean financed the city's merchant class through the 1700s. The Sacred Cod, a five-foot pine carving, has hung in the Massachusetts State House since 1784 to memorialise the fish. Boston's Irish-Catholic immigrant wave after the 1840s built Friday-night fish-and-chips into the standard family meal, supported by the church's no-meat-Friday rule. The dish reaches the table breaded or beer-battered; haddock has replaced cod as the kitchen-side default since cod stocks collapsed in the 1990s. Union Oyster House, Legal Sea Foods and South End Buttery keep the classic plate on the menu year round.
Where to eat in Boston:
- Union Oyster House
- Legal Sea Foods Long Wharf
- South End Buttery
- James Hook & Co
Where to eat New England fish and chips in Boston: the editor picks
Fish and chips · Santa Monica
Beer-battered fish with thick chips and malt vinegar, kept honest in Santa Monica by the British pub that has fried them for the expat crowd since 1974.
Ye Olde King's Head opened a block from the Santa Monica Pier in the mid-1970s and built its name on fish and chips, becoming the anchor of the city's British expat community, complete with afternoon tea and a gift shop bakery. The pub's fryer remains the standard the boardwalk stands get measured against.
Where to eat in Santa Monica:
- Ye Olde King's Head
Where to eat Fish and chips in Santa Monica: the editor picks