No Meat On Fridays? No Problem

When I was growing up in a devout Catholic household in Mineola, my family did not eat meat on Fridays. Not just during the Lenten season, but every Friday of the year.

The choices often came down to eating fish at home (usually Mrs. Paul’s Fish Sticks) or ordering pizza from the now-defunct Vita’s on Jericho Turnpike.

Today, fewer Catholics by percentage abstain from meat on all Fridays compared with the previous generation. Still, for many Christians, Lent signals Fridays full of fish and pasta dishes.

Fortunately, if you live in Mineola, there are many restaurants that offer non-meat appetizers and entrees on Fridays; too many to count, really.

Fifteen years ago, most of the action seemed to center around  in Garden City Park or  in New Hyde Park, which were/are crazy busy on Fridays during Lent (and still are). The difference now is diners have more choices than ever before.

Perhaps because non-meat meals are so abundant, few area restaurants actually promote Lenten specials. One which does is LL Dent, located on Old Country Road in Carle Place. It is offering meatless, Southern-style dishes. These include Southern-fried catfish, barbecued salmon, stewed tilapia and “BBQ chicken-less chicken,” with two sides, among them collard greens, macaroni and cheese, potato salad and cole slaw.

LaBottega in Floral Park advertises on its website that it has “Many Different Dishes to Accommodate This Year’s Lent Season.”  They are primarily pasta dishes.

Pasta dishes are the dominant theme at pastaVino. For Good Friday through Easter this year, pastaVino is promoting a three-course menu special for $29.95 per person. Until then, you can feast on a dozen pasta dishes, among them linguini, rigatoni, penne ala vodka, pumpkin ravioli and grandmas lasagna.

Similarly,  has a vast assortment of pasta and salads. 

You don’t have to go Italian to avoid meat on Fridays in Lent. At in Mineola there’s the old Fish & Chips standby for $16.95. At , 10 pasta and seafood dishes adorn the menu, in addition to several salads designed to keep you nourished while you fulfill your Lenten sacrifice.

For those into Thai food, Lemon Leaf Thai offers several seafood and vegetable entrees. The tasty Pahd Ruom (mixed vegetable) features the house special stir-fried mixed vegetables and tofu with basil and chili paste. For seafood lovers, the snapper, salmon and garlic shrimp (the latter with shitake mushrooms, scallions and bamboo shoots) are a favorite any day of the year.

Where were these places when I was growing up?