St. Louis, MOFish Fry

St. Cecilia's Original Mexican Fish Fry began in 2008 to honor the Dutchtown parish's Spanish-speaking parishioners, and it has run every Friday in Lent, except Good Friday, since the following year. A dinner is two entrées and two sides, so pair jack salmon or cod with the chile rellenos and the deep-fried cheese quesadillas; bean tostadas are on the menu too. The lines are long, volunteers sell tamales and margaritas to the people waiting, and there is live music and dancing.

St. Ferdinand's fry dates to 1953, when a monthly parish gathering grew into a fundraiser, and it now runs year-round in Florissant. It is a straightforward fry by design: fried or baked cod, Cajun catfish and shrimp, with spaghetti in a homemade sauce and green beans on the side, eaten with a draft Busch at long cafeteria tables in the gym under a basketball net. More than 40 volunteers spend three days each week preparing it, and parishioners bake the desserts.

Epiphany of Our Lord's Friday fry in Lent is built around catfish rather than cod: cornmeal-crusted, crispy and well seasoned, and best with the parish's mac and cheese, a side worth the trip on its own. Cod, pollock and battered shrimp are on the menu too, with vinegary coleslaw and a bread selection, and dine-in plates come on real tableware. The dining room sits next to the church's bowling alley, and carryout is available.

Holy Trinity's fry goes by Fish Fest and runs every Friday during Lent. The menu is wide: spicy fried catfish, fish tacos, baked cod with Creole sauce, shrimp po'boys and classic fried cod, with vegetables among the sides. Order the spicy catfish. The bar sets this fry apart, with beer and wine, a fully stocked bar for cocktails and Serbian beer, and dine-in guests eat off real flatware and china.

St. Mary Magdalen's Brentwood fish fry is known as God's Cod, after its namesake platter, and it runs every Friday during Lent except Good Friday. Order the God's Cod Platter with a side of seafood gumbo; baked salmon with dill sauce and fish tacos round out the menu. The parish runs a longstanding drive-thru, one of the first in the area, beside dine-in and carryout, and the line moves fast even when the church is packed.