Lake House Inn - Newville - Fridy Night Fish Fry
This entry was posted on 6/22/2007 4:52 PM and is filed under Supper Clubs - Wisconsin-esque,Taverns - Wisconsin-esque,Friday Night Fish Fry.
The Lake House Inn. Hidden a ways back off the Newville exit on the I-90 side of Lake Koshkonong sits The Lake House Inn. I actually grew up east of here a few miles - but I have to admit I never realized it existed until I got my driver license and started cruising around. Those of you who have grown up in one of Wisconsin's thousand of lake communities have got to appreciate this place. The front of the menu will give you a run down of the many things the Inn has been used for since the Civil War. The other night Heide and I used it for Friday night fish fry.
It is so popular on Friday night that I wouldn't attempt it without reservations, especially after 6 p.m., unless you are just into hanging around for an hour and drinking in the bar. That is one of the first impressions I remember around 35 years ago when I first walked in the door - the huge old wooden bar. The dining room isn't one of the biggest I've ever been in but that does make it intimate especially with the great stone fire place on one end usually sporting a flame in the winter months.
They have lots of food offerings but this writing will just target the fish fry. The all-you-can-eat fried fish is $8.75. The fried fish is excellent and when you put your fork in, it just flakes apart. Yet, it still has a crispy quality. This is a big deal to us fish aficionados. Another little bonus is if you want more, boom - it is right there. Some places you seem to wait for ever for your extra all-you-can-eat piece of fish. Heide usually gets the baked fish. She always raves over the Lake House Inn's version of baked. The baked is not all you can eat, but Heide tells me the one order is plenty.
Coleslaw is also intricate to our fish fry experience and they always have a good crisp bowl. I like it because it has just the right moistness and is very smooth and cool to the taste, but still good and crunchy. It is also not too tart or green like some places present. It really amounts to what your taste preference is, but I've always liked the Lake House Inn's coleslaw. You also get a nice basket of bread accompanied by a half a stick of fresh cool butter. You get a choice of baked potato, fries, hash browns, or au gratins. I always error on the side of the au gratins. If you are a soup enthusiast, you should not be disappointed as you can get a great cup of French onion for a couple bucks extra. Often they have cream of broccoli.
One little item, but also critical addition to a good fish fry is the tarter sauce. The Lake House Inn's tarter sauce is smooth and creamy and not too tart and is not full of chunks of vegetables as some places like to make it. A good presentation of tarter sauce and coleslaw can make or break a fish fry - it's the small details I think in a meal like this that add up to a bigger nice experience. They even make sure the lemon slice is fresh. Getting a soggy lemon slice is always annoying.
The staff is friendly and I have noticed many of them continue to work there year after year. That is a good indicator in the restaurant world. The Lake House Inn is cool with Cool Dadio.
Take I-90 south about 25 minutes from the east side of Madison or 10 minutes north of Janesville and take the 163 exit (Newville). Go into Newville past the McDonald's (by the I-90 intersection) on Hwy 59 and take a left on Mallwood Drive. Shortly, take another left on to Hillside Road. After a quarter mile, take a right on Maple Beach Road. Go for a mile and look for the Inn to the left. They serve fish from about 4-10:00 p.m. on Fridays. Phone: (608) 884 - 4544. There is also an eight hundred listing: 1-800-545 - 7479.
- a potion of this Fish Fry piece was written by Bob Keith and originally published in the Clarion, the Madison Area Technical College's newspaper, February 25, 2000; it was updated on July 22, 2006. It was updated again on June 22, 2007-
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Specialist Bert E. Hoyer, 23, an Army Reservist. Specialist Hoyer died Wednesday, March 10, 2004 in an explosion when his convoy was ambushed in a roadside bombing in Baqubah, north of Baghdad. He was the 11th soldier from Wisconsin and the fourth person from the 652nd Engineer Company to die in Iraq. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Hoyer was a 1999 graduate of Ellsworth High School. He enlisted in the Army Reserves while he was a student at Vermilion Community College in Ely, Minnesota. He was studying wildlife management and had one semester left. Hoyer had shipped out to Iraq in April 2003. According to the Journal Sentinel, Bert enjoyed writing back to sixth-graders who had been writing to soldiers in Iraq. The 652nd is described as a bridge and road engineering unit that had built bridges in Baghdad and across the Tigris River. Another Wisconsin soldier previously killed in Iraq from the 652nd was Sargent 1st Class Dan Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic. Two soldiers from the Michigan detachment of the 652nd have also been killed in Iraq. Specialist Hoyer is survived by his parents, and a younger brother and sister.
3,545 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
26,129 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
76 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
106 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
