With Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday behind us, the season of Lent is underway.
Catholics traditionally abstain from meat on Fridays until Easter, and that means more demand for seafood. Our Food Guy visited a seafood specialist in Portage Park this week, approaching 80 years in business.
Back in 1946, a couple of Scandinavian immigrants moved to the Northwest Side from Door County, Wisconsin. They brought with them an expertise in sourcing, smoking and frying fish. The business is still in the same family, now on its fourth generation.
Don’t call the fire department, it’s just another day at the city’s oldest operating fish smokehouse. Hagen’s has been a fixture in Portage Park since it opened its doors in 1946.
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“My great grandpa and his wife, and his brother and his wife; and they both came down from Door County,” said Eric Johnson, the fourth-generation owner at Hagen’s. “We smoke we fry and we’ve also got a fresh department.”
Lots of fresh seafood salads too, but it’s the smoking and frying that tend to take up most of the menu. The smoker is old school; no shortcuts here.
“Instead of just using pellets or sawdust – essentially just a cinder block room in the back with a big metal box I build a fire in, and hand the fish up over it. We’ve got salmon, whitefish, mackerel that go in a couple times every week,” he said.
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Plus sturgeon and salmon steaks. Salmon fillets are seasoned a couple of ways – barbecued, garlic-pepper and candied.
“We brine it overnight in brown sugar, maple syrup and saltwater; we’ll take it out of the fire then glaze it with the honey," Johnson said.
The fried fish is also plentiful.
A sandwich or a shrimp po’boy, but mostly just fried and served in a simple paper boat. Two of the most popular: plump shrimp and Alaskan haddock. The process is mechanized, but still quite simple.
Haddock for instance is submerged fully into the seasoned batter; it then emerges and is covered in fine breading, the excess shaken off, then dropped into a bucket, where it’s transferred to the fryers and cooked until crisp and golden brown. Johnson says beginning this week, the fryers are working overtime.
“Lent is one of the busiest seasons of the year for us, aside from Christmas/holiday season. Every Friday, this whole store is packed full of people looking to get fried fish,” he said.
Like pizza, fried fish is best warm, so either be prepared to heat them up at home or better yet, eat them in the car. On the other hand, smoked fish – especially the candied salmon – is great anytime.
Here's where you can go:
5635 W. Montrose Ave.
773-283-1944
