The Best/Craziest Beer-Battered Foods in the U.S.

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Right where Philadelphia’s Port Richmond neighborhood bleeds into Fishtown is where you’ll discover Memphis Taproom. Grab a seat at one of the picnic tables in the brick-walled garden of this craft-beer hangout and sidle up to the truck parked there for one of the adventurous hot dog creations. But first things first: an order of the kosher dill pickle spears, enshrouded in beer batter and eager to be plunked into the accompanying horseradish-buttermilk dip.

Hefty, ground-in-house burgers are the main draw at Los Angeles-based mini chain Stout Burgers & Beers. Washing one down with a microbrew is another must at this upscale pub, but there’s no better companion than a mess of the malty, bronzed, beer-spiked onion rings. 

At retro Mama’s Café, a gluttonous comfort-food-meets-Tex-Mex staple in San Antonio, the only greens you’ll be eating are beer-battered slices of zucchini. Dip them into marinara while waiting for the meatloaf and fajitas to make their way to the table. 

In Boston’s hip restaurant-cluttered South End, J.J. Foley’s Café stands out for its friendly neighborhood vibe and spot-on fish n’ chips. Grab a seat at the ambient old bar in this circa-1909 family-owned pub and savor your beer-battered haddock and house-cut fries with coleslaw and tartar sauce. 

Sticking around for brick-pressed chicken or trout schnitzel at one of the three outposts of casual New York restaurant The Smith is a good thing. So is sating the slightest of hunger cravings at the bar by dunking beer-battered string beans—yes, it still qualifies as a vegetable—into ranch dressing. 

What started out as a food truck has now morphed into an airy-industrial Costa Mesa restaurant. Seabirds Kitchen is vegan, but you’d never know it with satisfying grub like the beer-battered avocado taco packed with cabbage, red onion and lime.

Throughout the country’s Fox and Hound Bar & Grill locations, watching UFC is a popular pastime, as is ordering the Drunken Chicken Tenders—complete with a mound of fries and BBQ sauce, honey mustard or ranch.

Pigs and brews unite in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood at Paddy Long’s Beer and Bacon Pub. In addition to those $4-beer of the month specials to look forward to, there are strips of cracked pepper and Applewood-smoked bacon smothered in a blanket of beer batter. 

On Sunday afternoons, Williamsburg, Brooklyn hangout Extra Fancy hosts a weekly fish fry. Yankee-style beer-battered Pollock is the main attraction, but the fries and seasonal sides like garlicky green beans and mac and cheese aren’t too shabby either. 

Wisconsin’s famous Gibbsville cheese curds are a highlight at Horse & Plow, at the American Club Resort in Kohler, Wisconsin. Here, the local specialty is amplified with a beer batter coating and a wallop of country buttermilk ranch dressing.