My family used to be big on Friday night fish fry dinner at the local Knights of Columbus.  No matter where we were Friday or what time we got off work we would all meet up in the basement  of the smokey crowded bar and unwind over plates of cod cuts up, crinkle fries, coleslaw, and cold beer. Some Fridays we would all stay late and drink more than our fair share of Budlight, Crown and Sprites, and Jack and Cokes.  Other nights we would just eat and jet out early, all of us having something else on the agenda.  I loved these family bonding times and would skip any major event to make sure that I was in attendance but, as with anything, things started to change.  First Mandy started having babies.  Noone wants to have a tiny baby in a smoke filled bar with loud people coming up and breathing their fish breath all over your childs face.  Then the management changed and they switched french fry brands which threw my brother in law into a fit of rage.  He vowed to never eat there again until they brought back his beloved crinkle cuts.  Then Beth and I moved to St. Louis. One by one we slowly all just stopped showing up.  Suddenly, Friday Family Fish Fry was a thing of the past.

I don't know why we decided to shake things up this Friday but we did.  Maybe all of us just had a craving for some good greasy food.  Maybe the gorgeous weather we have had for the last few days lured everyone out of their air conditioned shells.  Maybe we all just needed a good dose of family time. No matter what the reason, this Friday, my entire family headed across the river to meet me and Beth for dinner at our favorite place, Pat's Bar and Grill.  

We have been trying for months to get my family to come and break bread with us at this local watering hole but it took something much greater than our rave reviews to lure them across the river.  It took my older sister reading an article in Dining on a Dime that boasted Pat's as serving the best fried chicken livers in St. Louis.  My family looooves fried chicken livers.  I could barely stand to watch people eat them until recently when I tried Beths one night.  People say they are an acquired taste and I guess after months of taking tiny nibbles off Beths livers I reached my goal.  I acquired a taste for one more fattening fried food.

Beth and I arrived at Pat's earlier than my family in hopes of grabbing a large enough table to seat everyone.  Unfortunately though, everyone else in St Louis must have read the famous chicken liver review too because Pat's wasn't just more busy than normal, it was jam packed.  People hovered like vultures over full tables of diners waiting for someone to give up a seat.  The bar was lined with hungry patrons trying to stifle their hunger with alcohol.  We knew that there was noway my family was going to want to have to fight the crowd for a table, especially with my two young neices in tote, so we met them outside and broke the bad news: We would not be dining on chicken livers that night.  I could see the disappointment in all of their faces.  Now we had to try and decide, at 7:30 on a Friday night, where we could go and eat. We racked our brains trying to think of someplace that we could get a table for ten and not have to wait for hours on end. 

Our first choice was another Irish bar down the road from Pat's called Seamus McDaniels.  While it is nowhere near as fun as our little bar they did have family dining available and one really hot bartender who I have a secret crush on. I was all for it...let's go.  Does my hair look ok?

My sister went in and came out moments later shaking her head.  There was a longer wait than she wanted and the girls were getting hungry and cranky.  If we were going to stay in our neighborhood and had any hopes of eating that night this left us one option: We piled in our cars and headed for Olympia, the only greek restaurant in a predominantly Irish part of town. It sticks out like a sore thumb with it's white washed walls and big blue umbrellas...everything about it makes you want to stand up and scream, "OPA!"

I think by the time we were all seated we were so hungry we didn't really care what you would have put it front of us we would have devoured it.  Everyone was stressed about having to hop from place to place and all we wanted to do was sit down and stuff ourselves silly.  Over plates piled high with spanikopita, hummus, pita bread, mousaka, kalamata olives, gyros and chicken fingers for Jordyn, we did just that.  Rounds of greek beer, pinot grigio, and bloody mary's couldn't come fast enough.  My family was having Fish Fry Friday miles away from the Knights of Columbus and still loving it.  As I sat watching them all eat, drink and laugh with eachother I realized how much I missed our Friday nights and how good it was for all of us to get together like this.  My family members are my favorite people in the world.  They have seen me at my best and at my worst and still claim me as one of their own. Come hell or highwater we are there for eachother and while we have our disagreements like any other family, we are a tight-knit unit.  You can tell by sitting with us for just fifteen minutes that our bond is unshakable, we are good to eachother, and that if you can switch your dinner plans from fried chicken livers to greek cuisine in a matter of minutes, we will be good to you too.