Covid Chronicles. Chapter 105: Friday Fish Fry To Go

 

Read chapter 104 here

Photo by Retiring Guy

Thursday, January 28. 2021.     

As we’ve done on occasion during the pandemic, we ordered 3 fish dinners from the Laurel Tavern in Madison a week ago Friday. Deep-fried walleye, hash browns with cheese and onions, clam chowder, roll and butter. Of course, we’d prefer to enjoy our favorite fish fry in the bar’s dining room, but we’re not ready to take that step yet. 

The Laurel, our favorite post- Badger football game hangout, is a 20-minute drive from our house. But it’s definitely worth going out of our way. We have a number of local options, but nobody does walleye better. 

On this most recent visit, I was surprised to see more cars in the parking lot than has been usual since last March. As I exited the car, though, I noticed the driver’s seat in the car to my left was occupied, the engine running. 

Maybe he arrived early and is just waiting to go in when it’s his pick-up time, I thought. 

Photo by Retiring Guy

Inside the back entrance and through a ‘overflow’ room with a pool table and a few video games, a u-shaped bar stretches along the right to the front of the building. Most of the 20 or so bar stools were unoccupied, and only 3 small parties were seated, according to Covid guidelines, in the semi-enclosed dining area. A year ago at this time, the Laurel was so packed on our Friday evening visits that we literally had to squeeze our way forward to get our name on the list. (No reservations accepted.) 

Once I reached the divided portion of the bar, I had to wait to be acknowledged. Even though the number of people seated inside the Laurel was small, the half dozen or so employees had no time to stand around. A steady stream of customers made brief appearances to pick up their orders. Enough so that the kitchen staff was running a little behind schedule. 

“It’ll be a few minutes,” an older woman reported after checking on the status of my order. “Can I get you a drink?” she added. 

In the past, I would have declined the offer and patiently waited for my order while leaning against the wall, keeping my mask on and staying a safe distance from the bar.      

All of a sudden, an old-fashioned, the Wisconsin Friday fish fry drink of choice, seemed like the right thing to do. 

Photo by Retiring Guy

  

I sat down at the bar and, once my drink was served, slipped off my mask and put it in a jacket pocket. Taking a sip, I experienced conflicting feelings of contentment and concern, remembering the during the weeks before the pandemic hit when JoAnna and I enjoyed a drink with Ron and Margaret while waiting for table to open up, but then questioning the wisdom of my decision at a time when threat of a more contagious virus is in the news. (And now this.) 

Green Bay Press Gazette

Obviously, nothing happened. Almost two weeks later, I have no symptoms – and had no expectation of coming down with any. As a result, I’m tempted to suggest to JoAnna that we enjoy our favorite fish fry in person, freshly served from the kitchen as opposed to letting it sit in the car in a to-go-container for 20 minutes. The upside is that we’d practically have the dining area to ourselves. The downside is that there’s a public health reason why so many people are sacrificing this Wisconsin Friday night transition. 

Then I tried out this line of thinking on myself. 

The woman who fixed my drink must be a member of the family who owns this longstanding local establishment. (It’s been a Monroe Street fixture since the early 1950s, if not earlier.) She’s always behind the bar during our visits and seems to be the one directing traffic, so to speak. And, as far as I know, the Laurel had never had to close due to a Covid case along the staff. I see the same faces on every visit. 

I’m working overtime to justify this in-person dining visit, aren’t I? 

At this point, though, it’s best that I take a cautious approach and wait until I get vaccinated before deciding to pop our Covid bubble. Plus JoAnna is not likely to receive a vaccination until weeks after I do. I’m still waiting to hear back from UW-Health about the status of my ‘vaccination interest form’. From the various news articles I’ve read, it’s likely I’ll have to wait until March. Right now there’s not enough vaccines to meet demand. 

During her annual physical last week, Dr. Schmidt told JoAnna that UW-Health is vaccinating about 400 to 800 people a day – 28,000 to 56,000 a week in a county with a population of 550,000. Hope it’s at the higher end and increasing week by week.