Recently it was time for the Fat Mat and family to revisit a family favorite. A couple of times recently, in fact.
The other day, my eldest daughter had a craving for French fries. Not just any fries, mind you, but seasoned fries—a particular brand of seasoned fries. Certain fries that required a trek from St. C. across the border toward Wheeling’s Centre Market.
That’s because, in her estimation and I’m not one to argue this opinion, there are no better seasoned fries than those found at Coleman’s Fish Market.
Yes, one of the two must-stop places for former residents returning to visit along with DiCarlo’s pizza, it’s not the fish she craved, but the fries.
In fairness, she wanted a fish sandwich too. But it was more the icing on the cake than the pièce de resistance.
But I was the one who ventured into Coleman’s to obtain her craving, stopping on the way home after an in-person meeting interrupted my usual blissful remote work.
And after smelling those smells for the first time since Lent, I immediately had a craving myself for that delectable goodness that is a Coleman’s fish “sammich”—and, of course, some seasoned fries.
As a Wheeling native, no, that wasn’t the first time I planned to have Coleman’s since Lent. Because of the popularity of the sandwiches, there are numerous places to obtain a Coleman’s sandwich, from gas station food counters and restaurants and diners across the valley. When Friday hits, people know what sells.
And they taste amazing, no matter where you get it. But, there’s nothing quite like the original. Nothing like hopping in a lengthy line, placing your order, then smelling all the incredible smells and taking in the experience, waiting for your number to be called.
So back we went, back to Centre Market to an afternoon feast.
Menu? Not necessary. Everyone knew what they wanted. It’s the same time and time again. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
Three bread separate, two seasoned fries, one jo-jo.
I admit, I’m not much of a seafood person in general and neither is my eldest. The girlfriend, however, does enjoy salmon and I have purchased and subsequently went home and cooked the salmon sold at the counter.
But today’s trip was all about fried goodness.
The Food
You could get the fish with no bread, or with bread, but why deny yourself what always seems like extra fish? Bread separates. It’s been my order for all the decades I’ve been coming to Coleman’s and both my parents before me. Why break tradition?
There’s enough fish to have two sandwiches with each order, and that’s exactly what I did. The eldest doesn’t eat hers with bread normally, so more for me. Just fish and a wee bit of ketchup. And yes, I’m weird, I squish the sandwich down as flat as I can. For some reason, to me at least, it tastes better that way. It’s not for everyone.
We pour the fries in a big communal pile in the middle of the table with enough ketchup to go around. The GF enjoys the jo-jos as well, so let her attend to those while we all feasted upon the seasoned fries.
K is right. There are none better.
The sad part is there are so many things on the menu that are probably incredible to try. But I likely never will, the reasoning is two-fold. One, as I’ve stated before, I’m not really big on seafood. I like Coleman’s, properly-seasoned fried catfish, and fried perch. It’s got to be breaded and it’s got to be fried. I don’t like crab, nor any other type of shellfish. I’m more of a turf and turf guy.
But I’ll always make room for Coleman’s. I honestly believe though, that even if I had a more varied palette for seafood, I still wouldn’t stray from my usual order. It’s that tasty and, at least to this eater, that’s what all those great memories of Coleman’s recalls—a fish “sammich” and seasoned fries. You just can’t beat it.
Also, forgive the borrowed photos from Coleman’s Facebook page. We were kind of hurrying to eat and forgot to take photos until it was too late.
