Sunday, February 26, 2006

Spaghetti and fish sticks

Have y'all ever noticed that spaghetti and fish sticks (or fish cakes) is almost always one of the specials at a diner? Because that just occurred to me and Mr. S recently. It's seriously on the specials board nearly every time. I'm going to start tracking it, I think.

Also: Is this something anyone actually makes in real life, like as a dish, at home? Have any of you had that for a family dinner? It strikes me as such a portmanteau leftoversy thing to serve, something you'd only have at a place where you're...already known. Is that just me?

8 comments:

Joe R. said...

You know, now that I think of it, I think I probably did have this as a kid. Like, canned Franco-American spaghetti and fish sticks. Later replaced by Mac and Cheese and fish sticks. It's important the two never touch on your plate, but yeah, I've probably had that meal on a Friday night in my youth. And, yeah, it's really gross to think about.

Amy said...

Man, I really hate that Boston has one diner. I do love a good New York/New Jersey diner...

I do not believe I have ever had fishsticks and spaghetti together. I am of the mind that fishsticks should be dipped in ketchup, and the tomato sauce and ketchup combination is a bit too much for me to handle.

Joe R. said...

"Usually during Lent. I guess it is kind of weird, but I would never pair fish sticks with actual spaghetti, only fake spaghetti."

Yeah, that's it exactly. I wonder if this was a strictly Lent thing? Like maybe back in the '50s and '60s when the Catholic Church was telling you what movies you could see, they were also printing up pamphlets on menu suggestions for Fridays during Lent?

Kona said...

The first time I ever ran into this was when I was working at a diner in the city. I...didn't understand it. Now granted, I'm a vegetarian, but I really don't think that's why that shit didn't make sense to me.

molly said...

my mom used to always make mac and cheese (out of the box!) with fish sticks. i thought that was just a normal chicago suburb meal!

BrooklynDriver said...

I've been eating in diners in Bkly, Qns and Man for 14 years and have never seen this--and i don't know that i'd want to eat i a place that proudly listed it on the specials board...

Louis said...

My mom actually had that served to her for lunch in middle and high school when she was growing up in Brooklyn. We have it at home every so often, actually buying the canned spaghetti and fish sticks intentionally to eat togethers. Its some pretty good stuff.

Jessa Marie said...

As a child, when we were skint, I did eat fish sticks/fish cakes with angel hair pasta. We'd put chicken broth and spinach in the pasta to stretch out the meal. It's actually pretty tasty, but I probably wouldn't trust a diner version.