St. Matthias' Kicks Off Lent Fish Fry

Fish Fry season in St. Louis has officially started, and to kick things off, Mehlville-Oakville Patch spent some time at the St. Matthias Fish Fry.

St. Matthias is famous in the neighborhood for serving fresh cod sliced thickly, battered and deep-fried in a makeshift kitchen set up in front of the church. Customers can smell the fish frying long before they make their way across the church parking lot.

Find fish frys on our interactive map or add your own on Patch's Fish Fry Round-Up.

Founded as a Boy Scouts fundraiser 18 years ago, the church fish fry helped local boy scouts by a trailer for camping and go on five adventure camping trips. Today, Girl Scouts troop 4277 is raining money for a trip to Michigan this summer by selling dessert.

"We don't have the variety other groups do, but what we do, we do great," said Paul George, whose job was to thickly slice the fresh cod before it's battered and fried.