Illinois-made Gefilte Fish outside of Chicago?

Howdy
Does anyone know if there are places around Illinois that make homemade Gefilte Fish outside of the Chicago area? Any other cities in southern or central IL?

rlguffman wrote:Howdy
Does anyone know if there are places around Illinois that make homemade Gefilte Fish outside of the Chicago area? Any other cities in southern or central IL?

Maybe St. Louis? I know it’s not in Illinois, but it’s just across the river.

Jewish-style delis are a scarcity* in Southern/Central IL, and I can't imagine another type of restaurant that would have gefilte fish on its radar. Definitely in St. Louis:

http://www.protzelsdeli.com/holiday-menu.html

*I've never encountered anything in that part of the state and googling "Springfield, IL" with a "search nearby" for Jewish delis brings up Carmel, Indiana and St. Louis as the nearest ones (south of Metro Chicago).

Maybe in Champaign Urbana? You could try contacting Chabad at UIUC, perhaps.

HI,

I was at Manny's few years ago, when the owners talked about their in-house made Gefilte fish. They had visiting deli owners from New York who did not make their own Gefilte fish. They were quite impressed Manny's did.

If this applies to other delis, you may want to inquire if they make it in-house or is it a third party vendor.

I don't know quite where you hang your hat. If it is near Springfield, I would call Carter's Fish Market to speculatively inquire if they make some. If they don't, they could still prep fish for you to make it yourself.

Carter's Fish Market has a shack in front, which fries fish to order. This might be seasonal, noting my visits have always been in summer. They also have a retail fish market immediately behind.

Address: 1900 S Grand Ave E, Springfield, IL 62703
Phone: (217) 525-2571

I would suggest you call a local synagogue to learn what the locals do. There are at least two synagogues in Springfield, IL.

Good luck!

Regards,
Cathy2

Thanks all! I actually hang my hat in Evanston (a wealth of jewish fish options), but I'm a radio producer working on a gefilte fish segment for Illinois Public Media. I'm trying to make it less Chicago-centric, and was hoping to find some options for the tribespeople outside of metro-Chicago. I've called folks in DeKalb, Peoria and Champaign and zilch. But I'll give that lead a shot.

And you might like to know that Dirk's makes it from Asian Carp!