Apple Granny now Michael Jordan of WNY fish fry competition

Lewiston restaurant nets 6^th title

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

Just like Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls of the late-1990s, Apple Granny is starting a second “-peat.”

The Lewiston restaurant was named WNY’s Best Fish Fry by Tribune/Sentinel • Dispatch readers, winning its second consecutive title. Apple Granny four-peated as champion from 2018-21.

“It speaks volumes to the product we put out; it speaks to the fact that we have good employees that make the same product week after week after week – that makes it consistently good,” co-owner Michael Burke said. “We buy a good product from the fish market. …

“And we make it better,” co-owner Enrico Frosolone added.

Niagara Frontier Publications’ print and digital audience agreed.

Among myriad voter comments:

√ Robert A. said, “Very complete fish fry close to home!”

√ Susan G. said, “Moist, flavorful and delicious! Great fish fry!”

√ Raymond J. said, “Melts in your mouth, it is very huge and priced just right!”

√ Florence L. said, “Large, hot and so good!” and “Always good.”

√ Laura L. said, “It's everything a good fish fry should be. Crispy and delicious. And served by the best staff.”

√ Kerry O. said, “The breaded fish is the best! It’s very flaky, good flavor and not greasy! Just how I love my fish fry! Yum!”

√ Tanya R. said, “The fish just melts in your mouth. You can tell the product is fresh. Absolutely the best!”

Apple Granny’s award-winning haddock is served Fridays and as the occasional Saturday special.

“It's the largest one you can buy,” Burke said. “They call it a ‘9 to 11.’ So, on the top end, it's an 11-ounce piece of fish. We do some trimming of it. You're going to get a good size, three-quarter-pound fish. You shouldn't go away hungry.”

Burke explained Western New York has two different types of fish fry. At Apple Granny, “it's traditionally served the way we do it in the Northtowns.

“Now, in the Southtowns, you get a piece of bread, or rye bread with it, or you get pasta salad, or some type of macaroni salad.

“We don't do that around here. You go anywhere for a fish fry in Niagara County, you're going to encounter what we serve, which is tartar, lemon, made in house, beer-battered fish fry, a potato – usually french fries – and coleslaw, which we also make here. We shred all the cabbage, shred all the carrots. Make it fresh. It'll get made Thursday for Friday. That's how it's served here.

“It's a little bit different when you go into Southtowns. You can tell when a Southtowns customer comes in; they'll say, ‘Where's your macaroni salad? Where's your German potato salad?’ It's just not done that way.”

“But once they’ve had the (Apple Granny) fish, they're pretty satisfied,” Frosolone said.

Apple Granny Restaurant owners Michael Burke (left) and Enrico Frosolone with server Patty Cummings. The Lewiston restaurant was named WNY's Best Fish Fry for a record sixth time.

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He noted the key to success starts long before the customer receives a fish fry.

“Preparation is paramount, because the prep that goes into that fish – 300, 400 pounds of fish that comes in every week fresh – is, bar none, the best,” Frosolone said. “Everything is treated like gold. This fish is treated like gold when it comes in. Every piece is hand-trimmed and rinsed and massaged and put in the cooler for Friday, fresh fish day.”

Burke said, “When that fish comes in, the owners are handling it – either Rico's prepping it on Thursday, or I'm prepping it. One of us is always involved in making sure that fish is done correctly.”

The task is that important.

“We've been very successful with that,” Frosolone said.

“And there's no chance that that's going to change,” Burke said. “We are always here to do the fish.”

He added, “We've got a lot of longtime employees that know what they're doing, and they're skilled enough to know that every piece needs to be candled; every piece has got to be cold water rinsed. It doesn't come out of a box and go right into the fryer. We don't do it like that. It's all prepped and set up so that, on Friday, we're rolling. We open the doors on Friday and we start selling fish.”

“That's what people want,” Frosolone said.

In addition to a Friday fish fry, “There's always fish available on the menu,” Burke said. “We do a breaded fish dinner every day of the week, including Fridays. The breaded fish is just a little bit different of a breading. It's more like a chicken finger breading, than the beer-batter breading. And then we have baked fish every day; and our chef's way, which is they create something that could be either stuffed or topped, and then that fish is on the special board.

“A lot of fish out of this restaurant.”

Frosolone said, “We have busloads of people from Ohio. We have busloads of people from Pennsylvania, from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina. When they come here in the summertime – busloads – they are floored with the fish fry. That makes us so happy – because they come back again – because they were here last year – and they're like, ‘You know, we had to come back again, because this is the best fish fry we've ever had.” From Minnesota, even; we've had people from Minnesota – and Minnesota’s got a lot of waterways. There are a lot of fish there. So, it's kind of a big compliment coming from Minnesota.

“But not just the fish fry: There's great pride taken in every aspect of this restaurant.”

“It's still a scratch-kitchen restaurant,” Burke said. “We make our own sauces. We make our own soups. All the soups are made every day here. There's nothing coming in in a can. The beer batter is made in house. Our breading is made in house. So, there's still that sit-down restaurant vibe that you're going to get when you come to Apples.”

“It's a home-cooked meal,” Frosolone said.

Apple Granny Restaurant is located at 433 Center St., Lewiston; and online at http://applegranny.com/. Call 716-754-2028.