Lent has officially begun, and that means fish fry season is underway in St. Louis. This year, St. Louis local (and founding member of The Urge) Karl Grable has created a free, crowd-sourced database with over 60 fish fry locations. FishFrySTL.com seeks to provide real-time updates about fish fry menus, wait times and hours so visitors have all the information before they go.
FishFrySTL can be viewed as a pinned map or as a list of 66 (and growing) fish fry locations in St. Louis and the surrounding area. Viewers can filter the list by region, who accepts credit cards and more. Each location also has a “report” feature, which allows fish fry visitors to update the listing with information about low stock and long wait times. Viewers can check all this information before visiting the fish fry of their choice.
“Honestly, the idea came from a personal place,” Grable said of his creation of the crowd-sourced map. “My partner’s parents are in their 80s and they’re big fish fry fans, but they kept running into the same problems – they’d drive somewhere and the hours were wrong, or they’d arrive to find a long line, or the place was cash-only and they didn’t have cash.” FishFrySTL allows customers to enjoy their visits instead of worrying about where to go next. “It’s simple on purpose – just a couple taps –but it means people can check before they leave the house instead of finding out the hard way.”
Grable has spent the last several weeks doing his own research – combing parish websites, looking through social media and checking community bulletin boards – to find information for the real-time guide. Whenever possible, Grable has confirmed information directly with the hosting organizations; other organizations have submitted their information directly through the FishFrySTL site. “The community has really become the best quality control, which honestly wasn’t something I expected when I started,” Grable said.
Grable himself doesn’t even eat fish; he’s a vegetarian. However, the site he has created is a free, no ad community project that helps both customers and also organizations who often rely on word of mouth. Check out FishFrySTL.com to find a location or add another one.