OAK CREEK- If you’re heading to Oak Creek for your Friday night fish fry you’d better be hungry.
Less than a mile East of I-94 off Ryan Road lies Erv’s Mug; a staple in Oak Creek since 1979 for both its food and it’s hospitality.
“We get two to three generations of families coming in, we get employees who’ve left for other careers come back and dine with us,” Owner Danielle Baerwald told me on a sunny, and very busy Wednesday afternoon.
Baerwald took over day-to-day operations after her father, the original Erv, retired in 2004.
Erv’s mug serves several types of fish including the traditional beer-battered cod filets, a center cut loin for their baked cod, as well as walleye, yellow fin tuna, and shrimp.
Baerwald says its their beer batter that sets Erv’s apart from the competition, but it’s not the only thing.
“We make it fresh every week so it has that fully tempura-style fry on it,” she says. “Our perch is floured and deep fried so it’s more of a breading and we have the cod, as well, which is no breading at all, so we try to accommodate everybody’s taste.”
While it’s on the menu all week long, Baerwald says Fridays, especially during lent, are by far their busiest day of the week.
“During the non-lent Fridays it accounts for 50% of our sales in a week and during the seven weeks of lent it’s about 75% of our sales in one day.”
A typical fish fry plate at Erv’s consists of 3 pieces of fish as well as a side, like a baked potato, french fries, potato pancake, or even a cup of clam chowder.
You can view a menu here.
