Fish Fridays at Hunner's

Fish sandwich season is big at Hunner's

Sturgeon restaurant serves more than 1,200 cod meals during Lent

By Andrea Iglar

Hunner’s Pizza & Restaurant sold a whopping 1,230 fish sandwiches and dinners during Lent last year.

And the family-owned restaurant in South Fayette Township was off to a good start this season.

“We’re so busy right now,” owner Shelly Freshwater said in early March. “All of the employees know not to take Friday off.”

Angie Hans, a cook and server at Hunner's Restaurant in the Sturgeon neighborhood of South Fayette, serves a fish sandwich with macaroni and cheese and coleslaw to customer Mark DeMeno on March 3.

Photo by Andrea Iglar

Hunner’s holds fish fries every Friday year-round, but sales spike during the observance of Lent, when many people traditionally refrain from eating red meat and poultry on Fridays between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

Hunner’s normally sells about 45 pieces of cod each Friday. On the first Friday of Lent this year, fish sales quadrupled to 187 pieces. Plus, Friday coleslaw sales doubled from 20 pounds to 40 pounds.

Freshwater has served fish every Friday for 15 years, since she took ownership of the small restaurant, located along the Panhandle Trail in the Sturgeon neighborhood.

On Friday mornings during Lent, Freshwater and an assistant spend 2 ½ hours battering and then breading up to 200 pieces of fish. The two-step method helps prevent the coating from falling off the fish.

Hunner’s offers fried fish or baked fish, with the option of Cellone’s Italian bread or kaiser roll. Side dishes are French fries, pierogies, or macaroni and cheese. Homemade coleslaw and homemade tartar or cocktail sauce are included. Dine-in and takeout are available.

A fish sandwich with pierogies and homemade coleslaw are served at Hunner's Restaurant. Homemade tartar and cocktail sauces are included.

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In 2021, listeners of the Bubba Show on Star 100.7-FM voted Hunner’s the best fish sandwich, and the restaurant sold 296 dishes in five hours. That’s a fish a minute.

Hunner's cooks high-quality cod that weighs about 12 to 14 ounces per piece, Freshwater said.

“I really like our fish, and it’s a big-size fish, so two people usually can split a sandwich, or you have leftovers,” she said.

Fish Fridays are tons of work for a little establishment. High demand during a short period requires Freshwater to staff a half-dozen more employees than usual.

But Fish Fridays are rewarding, too.

“During Lent, with all the profit I make, I usually remodel something in my restaurant or buy a piece of equipment,” Freshwater said.

And after Easter, she closes the restaurant and gives employees a vacation.

Best of all, the end of Fish Fridays, she said, means summer is coming.

Hunner's Pizza & Restaurant, 811 Station Street, South Fayette: 724-926-9636; facebook.com/hunnerspizza

Places to eat in South Fayette

More than 30 places to eat are located in South Fayette Township. Many local restaurants serve fish sandwiches and dinners on Fridays, particularly during the Lenten season. Other eateries offer alternative seafood, vegetarian and vegan options.

For example, Friday lunch specials at Portman's Farm Market, on Washington Pike, are fish sandwiches, lobster bisque, and macaroni and cheese.

Steve and Benny's Chicken Shack, inside Recon Brewing at Hastings, offers a Lenten menu of fish sandwiches, fish fingers and grilled shrimp salad.

Empanada Company serves tuna, vegan sweet corn, and vegan potato-pea empanadas.

Check out a list of South Fayette restaurants at southfayettepa.com/eat.

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