ST. LOUIS — Lent is upon us, and restaurants across the area are hosting fish fry Fridays and more for those who abstain from eating meat leading up to the Easter holiday.
5 On Your Side has a list of the fish fries in the region. Tap here for the St. Louis-area 2023 Fish Fry map.
One fish dish is making a splash for a good cause.
Mission Taco Joint chef Jason Tilford and "Tiny Chef" Melanie Meyer collaborated to create a taco just for the occasion. This one has added meaning for Melanie, a Korean adoptee, who over the summer was featured in the New York Times for her kimchi carbonara recipe.
Missouri-raised Meyer runs a pop-up restaurant inside the Silver Ballroom on Morgan Ford Road and discovered her culture through cooking. She recently went back to Korea to spend time with her birth family after reuniting with them fairly recently and chronicles her experiences on Instagram.
Melanie has grown to be a popular chef for her traditional, modern and fusion Korean dishes, so it was a perfect fit for her to collaborate with Mission Taco Joint for the opportunity to create a Lenten taco.
"I'm so honored to be a tiny part of it," wrote Meyer.
Mission Taco Joint does a special Lent taco every year, and this year they asked Tiny Chef to collaborate.
The $4 taco will also benefit charity. Meyer wanted to donate a portion of her proceeds to the Very Asian Foundation.
Here are the juicy details: This year the Mission Taco Joint Lent taco is called the Pixie and the Squid taco, made with fried calamari. Meyer's pixie sauce is made with a sweet and savory orange plum sauce. She also adds her homemade vegan kimchi, which is Korean pickled vegetables. The tacos are topped off with lettuce, soy aioli, and cilantro inside a homemade Mission taco flour tortilla.
Mission Taco Joint also has shrimp and Baja tacos available year-round.
Editor's note: Today in St. Louis anchor Michelle Li is the founder of the Very Asian Foundation. The nonprofit’s mission is to advocate for representation and inclusion of Asian stories in media and celebrate Asian communities.
