This cheerful caesura can fry the hell out of fish. Perhaps not the most stunning proclamation considering the eatery’s name, but with the menu ever-expanding to include that which is not fried fish, we must warn you away from those other choices. Don’t order the pulled-pork sandwich unless you like the idea of eating soggy, only vaguely porky, salt-and-vinegar potato chips. If you want Field Roast, head to Po Dog.

But halibut, cod, catfish, calamari, and anything on the daily specials board are all fresh and flavorful here. Coatings vary from beer batter to Panko bread crumbs to cornmeal, but Pike Street gets the ratios right each time—there’s enough breading for a satisfying crunch, but not so much redundant batter and half-fried detritus that you’re full before you hit the fish. The choice between a sandwich or a pile of crispy hand-cut fries is a tough one: rolls are from Macrina Bakery and are good vessels for the fish, tangy slaw, and aïoli. If you can handle even more fried stuff, the tempura-like fried vegetables are excellent.

It’s clean and kind of cute inside, but it is also very small, sometimes a little warm, and often full of fryer fumes. (Some of us love that, though.) Also, if you belly up to the counter, you have watch hipster waifs smoke cigarettes while pretending to ignore the tour buses parked in front of Neumo’s.