Fish

(415)331-FISH
350 Harbor Dr.
Sausalito, CA

Price: $$-$$$$
Rating: 8.5 (Rating & price key)
Last visit: 10/21/06

Cash only (but they have an ATM inside)!

Very good, sustainable and mostly local seafood with a great view. Located well off of the beaten touristy drag of Sausalito, Fish is a casual waterfront restaurant at the Sausalito Harbor, but not an inexpensive one.

You order at the counter and take a number for the table. There are perhaps a half dozen tables inside, but the prime seats are the 2 dozen or so outside tables, right on the shoreline. Fish may actually be the restaurant that disproves the adage about the quality of the food being inversely proportional to the niceness of the view.

The menu consists of daily specials on a chalkboard and a fixed menu. They had a little brochure explaining why local salmon is so darned expensive (nearly $30/pound at Fish's market counter) as well as a stack of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch list. This list is a nice wallet-sized foldout listing which seafood is most sustainably harvested and least contaminated. So far, Fish and Passionfish in Pacific Grove are the only two seafood restaurants I've been to that provide this list.

After some contemplation, Sarah decided on the fish & chips ($18, ouch), and me on a half dozen oysters ($12) and a seafood cocktail ($14). We each also had an Anchor Steam ($5/ea). My oysters were very fresh and meaty, slid right off of their shell, and had no trace of sliminess, yummm!

Sarah's fish & chips was excellent, a match for Barb's Fishtrap in Princeton-by-the-Sea, although a few dollar more expensive. Tender, flaky and moist, with a lovely crisp and flavorful crust and good-quality fries to match, this is what fish and chips ought to be. My seafood cocktail was wonderful too. Served in a parfait glass, it was a layered affair, heavy with Dungeoness crabmeat and bay shrimp, topped with fresh avocadoes, drizzled with lime-infused cream and housemade cocktail sauce. I don't know that I've ever had a seafood cocktail this good and Sarah was of the same mind.

All told, price aside, Fish is a fantastic place. It's expensive by any regard, but the fact that they emphasize sustainability and local'ness takes a lot of the sting out. Still, their special of striped bass was $29, which, especially for lunch, is awfully pricey! We will be very happy to return here anytime we're hungry, and have been to an ATM recently, in Sausalito.