The Drama Of Ecology and Weird Fish

I was sitting in Taylor's, eating fish and chips at half the amount and twice the price of the SF Fish Company, which stops serving hot food at three.  Overly steaky fish with a thin, bitter batter not easily disguised by liberal applications of the tartar sauce, decent if nondescript fries.   On the far wall are two sets of containers, which because I am a city resident I recognize as our municipal recycling and composting buckets.  But I don't need to be that astute, because on my tray is a nice little paper liner explaining that all the plates and scraps should be composted, and all the bottles and cans should be recycled.  Then the woman in front of me gets up and dumps her entire tray into the trash.  Jesus, how much easier can they make it for you? 

Fortunately my fish and chips week, if not my environmental indignation, was salvaged by a lunch trip to Mission staple Weird Fish.  Weird Fish is owned by the same people who run Boogaloo's; instead of a highly vegan-friendly theme diner experience it's a highly vegan-friendly theme chipper experience.  Yes, a chipper that serves two variations of vegan fish (seitan and soy), as well as a gluten-free batter option,  and, most exciting, either pescatarian or vegan buffalo wings.  Of course any proximity to the Noble Catfish blows any thoughts of the fair-weather veganism right out of my mind.  The catfish po' boy needed to be delicious to overcome the pucker from the house-made ginger lemonade, which just became drinkable after the second packet of sugar and is only recommended for real ginger fans.  Then the catfish po' boy needed to last longer.  Purists may quibble that the bun wasn't that robust, but for flavorful fried fish in a crisp batter I'll settle for any kind of bread.  It was also served with cocktail sauce, which wasn't as annoying as I feared, but I added tartar sauce anyway because breading without mayonnaise is an affront to humanity.  Prices are what one would expect for the city (ten dollars for a sandwich or a two-piece fish basket).  Service is prompt and friendly.  Interior is small and can apparently get crowded and noisy, but midweek lunch was just nicely full.