Knights of Columbus Lenten Fish Fry

We read in the bulletin for Sacred Heart Church that the Knights of Columbus (K of C) had a fish fry on Fridays during Lent.  We decided to give it a try because our meal schedule often required us to eat out at least once per week.  We had eaten at Farmer Boys in Irwindale using coupons for their fish platter early in Lent and the fish sandwich and clam chowder bowl late in Lent.  This year Lent went from Wednesday, February 25 to Saturday, April 11.

On the evening of Friday, March 20 we tried the K of C Lenten Fish Fry for the first time.  We drove south on Citrus Avenue, turned right on Cypress, and left on Vincent.  The Knights of Columbus Hall is just south of the train tracks on the west side of Vincent.  The exact address is 4315 N. Vincent Avenue and it’s either just inside or outside the western border of the city of Covina with unincorporated county land.  It’s a bright tan building with white trim.  It looks like part of it may have two stories and possibly be residential.  The parking lot is just to the north of the building and there’s a narrow entrance right before the building.  The lot is surrounded by a concrete fence with metal bars mounted on top.  It seems like a large lot but the spaces are small and there isn’t much room to drive around them.  Still, the door is on the north side of the hall so we didn’t have to walk very far.

We arrived sometime between 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm and entered into what seemed like a long hallway going deep into the building.  Just to the left was the door to the room where they were having the fish fry.  The other halls looked like they led to a room with a kitchen and other rooms.  We entered the large room to the left.  Just inside on our left was a large white board with the menu.  It listed the fish dinner, shrimp dinner and fish & shrimp dinner, all for $7 each and a salmon and baked potato dinner for $9.  You can also get clam chowder and a few other things.  Just past the menu board was a table where a couple of people took our order.  They took cash, checks, even credit cards though that required a staffer to take the card, leave the room, and return with the card and receipt to sign.  I noticed later that my credit card was charged to “Father Maguire, Inc.”  After completing the transaction the staff at the table gave us a receipt to give to the servers.

The room was very large with long tables extending from the end with the entrance to the opposite end where there was an elevated stage.  The walls and high ceilings were painted white and metal chandeliers hung from the ceiling.  Behind the cashiers were more tables where they served the food.  Everything was ready-made.  First they served the fried fish and/or shrimp, then the fries, corn, cups of coleslaw, cups of tartar sauce and cocktail sauce, and even some white bread and butter (margarine).  Those last 3-4 items were optional and the last items we picked up were the plastic utensils wrapped in a napkin.  On the opposite side of the entrance from the cashiers was a table with various desserts: pieces of cake, pie, and cookies.  At the opposite wall was a bar for ordering drinks such as beer.  They sometimes had a pitcher of water and cups.  Other times we got water from the bar.  The place reminded me a little of Granada Pavilion in Granada Hills, only set up as dining hall rather than a dance floor.

After getting our food we found places to sit among the long tables.  There were many people there: businesspeople in suits, families, couples, and individuals.  Many parties seemed to know each other.  We didn’t recognize anyone from church except this little blond girl and her dad who we often see at the 5:30 pm Sunday mass that we usually attend.  She was probably around 2-3 and she liked to shake people’s hands as they passed her pew on their way to communion.  She was always very restless and at dinner she would quickly wander far away up on stage or over to the dessert table and her dad would have to chase her down.  We had arrived just ahead of a long line of people.  Many got their dinner in to-go containers.

Our meals were good.  On that first time we got the fish dinners.  They each came with two long wedge-shaped pieces of breaded fried white fish along with the fries, corn, coleslaw, and tartar sauce.  The fish was fairly crispy, not as crispy as the fish from H. Salt, but then K of C didn’t have the 15-minute wait and cash-only policy of H. Salt.  The fries and tartar sauce went well with the fish.  Everything tasted good and it was a lot of food.  I can’t believe people can have bread and/or clam chowder with their meals as the servers suggested.

We liked the dinner so much that we returned the next Friday, March 27.  This time we tried the shrimp meal that was also breaded and fried and had the same accompaniments as the fish.  It was also a lot of food.  The shrimp tasted good with cocktail sauce.  There seemed to be more people there that time.  Many of the Knights of Columbus wore blue and yellow K of C shirts.  The restless little girl was there again with her dad.  We didn’t go to K of C on the Friday after that, April 3, and there was no fish fry on the next Friday after that, April 10, because it was Good Friday.  On Easter Sunday, April 12, we attended Mass in Cavanagh Hall at Sacred Heart where they had it in addition to in the church.  We look forward to going to the K of C Lenten Fish Fry during next year’s Lent, if they have it, and we hope they do.  Who knew we could have such great meals on Fridays during Lent?