Our next fish fry adventure comes from a recommendation one of our Facebook fans sent to us (PS – we LOVE when people make recommendations of things we should try!). On one of Michael’s solo fish fry treks, he headed out to Carnegie to Our Lady of Victory Maronite Church to pick up some fish and Lebanese snacks.
Oh yes, that’s right: Our Lady of Victory has Lebanese side dishes in addition to their standard fish fry fare. I’m all about the unique offerings at different fish frys, so I was totally into this idea as soon as we heard it.
(Oh, for those of you who are religious trivia buffs like myself, the Maronite Church is of Syrian and Lebanese origin. It’s one of the Eastern Catholic Churches, like my family’s church, St. Vladimir’s, which is a Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We Eastern Catholic Churches are the ones with the way-cooler Jesus imagery and the three-bar crosses, in case you were wondering lol.)
I was stuck at work, so Michael was in charge of picking up some food and delivering it to me. He snuck in a few photos in the kitchen at Our Lady of Victory, all of which made me wish I’d been able to come along (although our plate probably would have wound up a lot larger if I’d been there).
In lieu of French fries with this fish dinner, we got mac n’ cheese and makhlouta alongside our sandwich. While mac n’ cheese is a pretty standard fish fry side dish, I’ve never had makhlouta before. It was so filling – there are lentils and different kinds of beans and rice and bulgur (which is a type of wheat). I think makhlouta is technically classified as a soup, but this recipe was so thick and meaty you could have had it as the full meal!
The mac n’ cheese was extra creamy, and the fish was just the right serving for a single dinner. And the bun was great – I swear, there muse be some secret fish fry bun shop that all the churches go to, where they get these flawless, hearty buns for their fish sandwiches.
Michael was a little grumpy after sitting on the Parkway West for so long to pick up fish dinner (the only downfall is that OLOV is only open from 4-7:30pm, so you’ll be hitting it right at rush hour), but I definitely appreciated getting to taste a different ethnic food alongside my old standard fish sandwich. Thanks to our Facebook friend who mentioned Our Lady of Victory to us, it was a great, out-of-the-ordinary fish fry!
Hooray! I am so glad you all got to try it. I am also glad you enjoyed it!