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Fish Fry: Churches Offer Special Meals in Observance of Lent

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Brenda Moore, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

Mar. 14--In the bustling kitchen of Madonna del Sasso Parish in Salinas on a recent Friday night, John Spadaro sat in the middle of the action, directing traffic.

Seven calamari steaks for table 12, he said. Yes, we can handle a takeout order for 30 next week. Where's the child's ticket for table 8?

Some 21 miles away, at San Carlos Cathedral in Monterey, Ed Leonard was playing a similar role, orchestrating the delivery of salad, garlic bread, pasta and fish to a roomful of hungry diners.

They were marking the first Friday of Lent (March 3) and the first in a series of six weekly dinners at each church that have become a mouthwatering ritual for hundreds in Monterey County. If you haven't had a chance to go, there's still time, with the dinners being served on Fridays through April 7.

Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter, is supposed to be a period of penance and sacrifice. Christians observe Lent in various ways, but fasting or giving up certain foods is common. Taking time for fellowship and reflection are also common practices, and many Lent observances combine all those elements.

Salinas First United Methodist Church, for example, is holding a series of Lenten luncheons with guest speakers on Wednesdays, featuring a sandwich bar this Wednesday and April 5, a salad bar on March 22 and a soup bar on March 29.

The Lutheran Church of Our Saviour in Salinas is holding a series of Lenten worship services on Wednesday evenings through April 5, with a light supper served before each.

First Presbyterian Church of Monterey is holding a series of Wednesday night workshops that explore journaling as a Christian discipline, with each of the meetings starting with dinner.

Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Corral de Tierra holds dinners on Wednesdays, followed by programs.

Under Catholic doctrine, church members refrain from eating meat on Fridays, and more than a half-dozen parishes around the county are offering Lenten meals in keeping with that practice. At some, soup is offered. In Greenfield, Mexican food is on the menu, with meals ranging from enchiladas to flautas.

And then there are the gatherings at Madonna del Sasso and San Carlos Cathedral, where diners gladly give up meat in favor of these festive, bargain-priced fish fries.

In Salinas, former restaurateur John Spadaro joined forces with two parishes, Madonna del Sasso and Sacred Heart. Mary Jo Castello, business manager at Madonna del Sasso, said Spadaro pitched the idea to the parish's former priest, then sold her on it over lunch one day.

"He has the biggest heart," Castello said of Spadaro, who formerly owned Spado's restaurant in Salinas and now has a catering company. The dinners started seven years ago with Madonna del Sasso and, in 2001, Sacred Heart, joined the effort.

"When we started, we were happy serving 300 people," Castello said. "Our highest last year was 700. It's a wonderful opportunity to share a good meal and good fellowship. And it's the best deal in town."

For $11 ($5 for children), the meal starts with steamed artichokes served with a tangy sauce. Then there's clam chowder, garlic bread, a green salad, pasta and, of course, the fish. Like at San Carlos, the pasta and fish change from week to week. The first week, the fish was calamari steak. Last week, crab was on the menu.

"Crab?" asked Linda Low, a Salinas resident who was enjoying the calamari at the first dinner, on March 3. "Most definitely we'll be here next week."

Told that scampi would be on a future menu, Low and a tablemate responded in unison: "Oooooooooooo."

Dinner is served family style at tables for eight. Sometimes a single party fills a table, sometimes strangers are seated together. But by the end of the night, they have passed along a fair amount of personal information along with the bowls of salad, pasta and bread. Castello said some people who met at the dinners have made it an annual tradition to sit together in subsequent years.

On a typical Friday night the dining room is buzzing with conversation from 35 tables and live music. Mike Marotta's Band played the opening night, everything from the "chicken dance" song to "La Bamba."

After dinner, diners wander over to a dessert table for sweets, including cannoli made by Pauline Patania, who coordinates Sacred Heart's part in the dinners.

"I do it every year for the family," Patania said of her cannoli making, "and Johnny wanted to try it for the dinners."

She tried to talk him out of it, thinking there would be little interest, but he insisted and he was right: The pastries are a hot seller.

"I have a great volunteer staff that's been with me seven years," Spadaro said. "We have a dining room staff around 30. There are kids who go to Madonna or Sacred Heart and they work for school credits. It's (usually) hard to find volunteers, but they can't wait for this to happen."

The full tables indicate diners feel the same way.

"I think it's a combination of the food's great and it's for a good cause, to raise money for both parishes," Spadaro said. "It's just a fun event."

Monterey's gathering also is hugely popular and it is the oldest in the area. Ed Leonard, who runs the kitchen operations, said his father started it in 1983 with the Knights of Columbus. Shortly afterward, the Italian Catholic Federation took it over and has been dishing up the fish ever since, raising money for San Carlos.

On the first Friday of this Lent season, there was a record-setting crowd of 670. Turning over that many meals was no problem, said Leonard, who was a fisherman and owned restaurants for years before concentrating on a catering company that bears his name.

The Monterey branch of the Italian Catholic Federation, with about 600 members, is the largest in the United States, so there's a legion of volunteers to solicit food donations, prepare meals, seat diners, bus tables and keep things moving, Leonard said.

Dinner is served from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Diners are seated at rows of tables, banquet style. They're each served a plate with green salad, pasta and fish, the pasta and fish varying from week to week. The first Friday of this Lent season, the pasta had an oil and garlic sauce and the fish was wild rock cod fresh from Canada. There also are baskets of garlic bread and cake, and soft drinks and wine are available.

Preparation starts a couple of days before the dinners, with a small group of volunteers making the pasta sauce, garlic bread spread, tartar or cocktail sauce, and maybe salad dressing. On Fridays, a large crew comes in hours before the dinner starts to take care of everything that couldn't be done earlier, including preparing the fish.

Many of the volunteers are fishermen or from fishing families, so they take special pride in the meal, said Leonard.

"We know our fish," he said, "and we're confident when we give you a piece of fillet it tastes good."

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If you go -- What: Lent dinners benefiting San Carlos Cathedral -- When: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Fridays through April 7. Doors open at 4:45 p.m., takeout available at 5 p.m. -- Where: San Carlos Cathedral, 550 Church St., Monterey -- Cost: $10 adults, $5 children 6-10 years old, children under 6 free -- Information: 373-2628

Brenda Moore may be reached at bmoore@montereyherald.com or 646-4462.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

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Source: The Monterey County Herald (Monterey, Calif.)

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