Stop what you’re doing. Get to Oakland. Eat fish.
(Okay, okay. Read this post first, THEN stop what you’re doing, and follow the above directions, because today is your last chance this Lenten season to eat at St. Regis.)
St. Regis is a bilingual church in Oakland, on Parkview Avenue, back in the SOUTH South Oakland part (if you lived in the Dirty South during school, this is the realm of the M parking zone… far away from our familiar parking zone D).
And for the past three years, St. Regis has been a regular stop on our Fish Fry adventures. (If you get the Pittsburgh Weekly Yelp in your inbox, you’ll have seen my photo of last year’s St. Regis sandwich.)
But this year, they’re only offering their delicious fish fry on two days. One was March 1 (the day we went), and the second is today, hence the urgency in my ‘get out and get your fish’ comments at the start of this post.
I suggest splitting the $8 fish dinner with a buddy, because it’s gigantic. In addition to the menu featured here on the door, they’ve got a bake sale rocking in the back of the cafeteria, and they also bring in Latino specialities from time to time (I’ve seen empanadas and tamales here before, but they also have chips and salsa that you can add on to your dinner for $2).
Here’s what the $8 fish dinner will get you. Look at that massive, meaty fish! It doesn’t even try to fit on that dang bun, it’s just like, ‘Hey world, I’m too big for this bun, and I don’t care. Check me out.’
And don’t worry, we know you wanted a closer look at that mac n’ cheese. Here it is. So creamy and cheesey and filling.
So that’s what $8 will get you. But for just an extra dollar…
You get these fries also. As in, that ginormous plate of fries.
We were STARVING, so we added the dollar fries (take that, fast food chains with dollar fry menus, ha!) and got down to business. Except that… Well… Michael got down to a business a lot faster and sneakier than I did.
I just barely snuck in a few bites of the fries and mac n’ cheese before turning my head for just one moment… and they were gone.
To add insult to injury, as I was lamenting the fries I never got to eat, that turd snatched up the end of the vanilla cake too.
There was almost a brawl in the church basement cafeteria. I can’t lie. My fish fry side dishes are very important to me.
So, when I say ‘bring a buddy’ to help you tackle all the food St. Regis has to offer, I should specify, ‘bring a buddy who WON’T bogart all your side dishes.’
Or, you could each order your own meal, and bring some of it home for leftovers. That would work, too. But hurry it up, St. Regis’ final fish fry of the 2013 Lenten season is today from 11am until 6pm. (Think of me while you enjoy your fries.)