Morty's Pub

Eating like a local:
Regional food specialties
-Fresh Whitefish in a Wisconsin tavern up north

I got to spend a week way up north in and around Bayfield, Wisconsin over the summer. It was my second trip to the little quiet town of Bayfield which is on Lake Superior is the gateway to the Apostle Islands and has been named the best small town in America by numerous publications. Like they say on the website "How far away is Bayfield? Just far enough" Its actually about eight hours from Chicago but your taken to a place with pristine beauty and a total stress free environment. Its a very popular spring/summer/fall getaway destination and a place I love going to so I can sit back, relax and catch a contact. Your going to have to wait for my full on report sometime this spring. I'm so backed up in posts and thought it should wait since winter is almost here. But the busiest weekend in Bayfield I learned on my visit was the annual Applefest when the small town becomes a huge party with every hotel room within a 30 mile radius reserved for the weekend of fun. So if your heading up there this year or in the future I got a bar for you that's a great little place to eat and drink in the heart of the town.


Morty's Pub in Bayfield, WI

We stopped in here on my visit over summer one night for some food and drink and ended up having a great night and it was one of our favorite easy going meals of the trip. The menu here for drinks was nice and they had a pretty damn good mojito and some nice WI micros on tap. We ended up drinking both of those and started with an order of fried pickles off the appetizer section of the menu. The entree part and the rest of the menu for that matter isn't all that big but it doesn't matter because its the Lake Superior whitefish your going to want to get. Its a popular eat in these parts and they do it up in a variety of styles at Morty's.


View from my seat at the bar


Really nice mojitos, great on the hot summer day we were drinking them


Fried pickle spears

As you can read in the shot of the pub from the outside up above, Lake Superior whitefish is their specialty and its delivered fresh every morning from local fishers. This is about as fresh as you can get since the lake and the dock for the fishing boats is about a block away from the pub. They do an excellent fried version of whitefish which is what we had on our visit. Everything was fresh battered by hand including the fried pickles we had as an app. The fish didn't disappoint and it never has when I've been up there. The fries were well done and the slaw was a perfect accompaniment and was also homemade and really fresh. The skin on the fish was my favorite part due to its expert frying it was really crispy and crunchy. If you ever find yourself in Bayfield you'll know every restaurant and bar after a couple visits and Morty's is a great stop for lunch or dinner with some drinks and friendly chat with locals. Looking forward to my return visit.


Fresh fried Lake Superior whitefish

Morty's Pub
108 Rittenhouse Avenue
Bayfield, WI 54814
(715) 779-3996