Fish FryDay

Lenten suppers serving, building community

Robert Bartlett sat with clients enjoying lunch in Thomas, about an hour’s drive from home, when a table topic forced him into a grin.

“‘Oh, the Catholic church in Elk City is fixin’ to start their fish fry. You ever go?’” Katie Bartlett, Robert’s wife said in recounting her husband’s story. “‘We go every week, every year.’”

“He goes, ‘Yeah, my wife works it.’”

Katie Barlett runs it – with the help of an army of volunteers – in what may stand as the most popular fish fry in Oklahoma, held every Friday of Lent at Saint Matthew Catholic Church in Elk City.

The all-you-can-eat feast, featuring fish, fries, hushpuppies, coleslaw, beans and an array of made-from-scratch desserts, along with lemonade and tea, draws an average of more than 400 weekly, including parishioners, folks from the community and neighboring towns, as well as parishioners from other parishes in the archdiocese.

Yes, it’s that good.

And word of the Elk City fish fry continues to spread for this fundraiser for the parish youth.

The entire dinner lasts two hours, from 5 to 7 p.m., and often people line up around 4:15 p.m. to be among the first fed. The parish hall seats only 200, yet somehow everyone gets a plate.

Last year, one Oklahoma City-area parish loaded up a large van and made the 1 1/2-hour trek. A few weeks ago, on March 22, the church sold 514 meals, breaking the previous record of 486.

“It was chaos. And it was awesome,” said Ashley Luttmer, who heads the parish’s Women’s Guild, which prepares most of the homemade desserts.

“We ran out of our coleslaw and we ran out of beans and had to tell people, ‘Hey, we only have fish and fries and hushpuppies.’ And they were like, ‘That’s what we’re here for! So we kept them happy.”

Food, and more
They come for the fish – and sides – and often they come back, not always just for the food.

Saint Matthew doesn’t just house a feast on these Fridays, it houses a festival of faith on display. The joy and fun and fellowship that is so abundant has a way of catching the attention of visitors. Some sense something special taking place and want to know more.

Father Danny Grover, the pastor at Saint Matthew, contributes to the curiosities with his warm and welcoming nature.

“Father Danny’s been great,” Katie Bartlett said. “He’s really the face for the community. We’ve even had people start coming to church after having conversations with him at fish fry. They show interest because of how vibrant a Friday fish fry and community atmosphere is there.”

Fish Fry. Fundraiser. Evangelizing experience.

“We offer the Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. in English and 7:45 p.m. in Spanish in the church,” Father Grover said. “An announcement is made and many avail themselves of this prayer experience. I have had multiple people engage in life topics, seek to go to confession, and I’ve even have helped a couple complete paperwork for having a previous marriage annulled, all initiated by them just coming for a Friday meal and seeing me there present to talk with, and to help the kids in service the local community.”

Josh Werth ran the fish fry before handing over those duties to Bartlett, although he’s still involved, doing what he calls PR.

“My favorite part is getting to talk with all the people who come through the doors,” Werth said. “We’ve got people who will not miss, who have been coming for years. And you get to know them all.

“We’ve had people come into the church who you met at the fish fry. That was their first step inside the church. They saw the community.”

For the kids
More than a decade ago, there was a call for ideas on a fundraiser to support the youth of the parish.

The fish fry was borne.

“That kind of kicked it off,” said Werth, who soon took it over. “It started off kinda small and ragtag, but it grew and grew.”

Today, it’s a major operation.

Work starts on Tuesday and carries into Friday. Volunteers hold a variety of roles, from ordering the food to cutting fish for 400-plus to preparing and cooking the sides to pouring lemonade and tea to slicing the desserts.

All for the kids. And thanks to the kids.

One of the attractions of fish fry Fridays is seeing the parish youth involved. 

“There’s a lot of adult work that goes into it, but Friday nights, the entire serving line is kids,” Bartlett said. “They’re serving up the food, they’re cutting the desserts and serving them to everyone coming through the line. They’re making the drinks for everyone.

“And then you have what we call runners, kids out running refills of fish and fries and hushpuppies. They’re picking up the trash. They’re doing all the work. And I think people really enjoy seeing kids working.”

“You know, it’s like a restaurant,” said Gonzo Gallegos, another adult volunteer. “If they give you good service, you always come back.”

The all-you-can eat fish-and-more feast costs $15, with all proceeds going to toward youth projects. Families don’t pay for religious education, thanks to the fish fry, which also pays for books. It pays the majority of the costs to travel to National Catholic Youth Conference. And there’s money to help reduce the cost of the parish’s own camp.

The secret sauce
So, what’s so special about this fish fry? There must be something to keep bringing people back, week after week, year after year, in good weather and bad.

Werth overhauled the recipes when he took over, although he downplays any impact that had, to which Bartlett scoffs.

“Honestly, I think a lot of it has to do with how good the food is,” she said. “And he’s the one who came up with the recipes we use. The tartar sauce. The seasoning for the fish. The beans. The coleslaw we purchase, but we do add seasoning to our coleslaw.”

The fish, which received Werth’s full attention, is, of course, the main attraction.

“I put the batter together,” Bartlett said, “it’s a dry seasoning recipe with yellow and white cornmeal mixture. But it’s such a good recipe. People just rave about it.”

And the desserts, led by the Women’s Guild, close the show, featuring a variety of made-from-scratch finales, even sugar-free options.

“I always bring a strawberry cake,” Luttmer said. “I don’t know why, but it’s just been what I’ve brought every year.”

The early birds might even get the chef’s favorite, a sopapilla cheesecake made by one of the guys, Dennis McRee, which sometimes doesn’t make it to the serving line because the working crew can’t resist diving in.

“It really gets demolished before we even get started,” Luttmer said, “just from all us workers wanting our piece of that.”

Other parishes have called for tips on how to start their own Lenten fish fry. Werth even went to Clinton to try and help.

But few are willing to work so hard.

“I say all the time, it’s six weeks, but really for me it’s around 12 weeks of preparation and ordering and cleaning up and putting up the fryers,” Bartlett said. “It’s the hardest period of the year for me.

“But it’s the most fruitful time of the year. It’s worth the sore feet.”

John Helsley is editor of the Sooner Catholic.

Photo: (Above) St. Matthew Catholic Church in Elk City hosts an annual Fish Fry on Friday’s during Lent. Photos provided.