OK so I read about this place a few times and I kept thinking it was Downtown but it's on Fourth St and has nothing to do with the Pike complex by the Aquarium. It's a dive bar on 4th near Orange that is owned by a guy who was in Social Distortion.
They have live performers every night and on Sundays they let the patrons bring their iPods in and control the music. That was enough to get me and GalvanIZed over there to check it out. We had heard about the fish and chips and had to see if they were as good as everyone keeps saying.
First off, they couldn't hook up the iPod because someone stole the cord, so that put a damper on the cool idea that got us there. We checked out the jukebox and were pleased to find "Hell Comes to Your House", some Dead Kennedys and other classic punk CD's. We setttled on some Flipper, Naked Raygun, Buzzcocks etc to set the mood and ordered some of the legendary Fish and chips.
We decided to split an order and that was a wise choice becasue no way would we have finished two of these. The fish were long pieces that were breaded with a nice light batter and super tender in the center. It reminded me of the way they cook it in the UK, in fact I wouldn't doubt if he picked up the recipe while touring over there and decided we needed it in Long Beach.
The french fries were cut into chips and cooked real well so that some of the thinner pieces turn into almost potato chips. It comes with tartar sauce and I think malt vineger but the tartar sauce was perfect for me and Gal. Each piece of fish was about a 10 inches long and real crunchy. It tasted like sole, super light and flaky. They pick up the fresh fish daily and it really makes a differencein the taste compared the frozen fish usually used in fish and chips.
Anyways, the atmosphere is real casual and the patrons seemed to be a lot of locals with very little attitude. Sometimes going to a new bar is like entering someones secret surf spot but this place was real friendly. The service was excellent with the waiter being there every few minutes to make sure everything was ok and to get more drinks. Gal decided to add a shot of rum to her coke and the shot glas was generously filled with plenty enough booze to make her drink a strong one.
Overall it was a pleasant experience and I'm eager to try it again since it's real close and the vibe is just right for Long Beach. Next time I'm bringing my camera so I can tease you with how good food looks.
Oh yeah, I'm also bringing a mini-to-RCA cord to plug in the iPod.
Mike Zampelli aka Rinkrat
The Pike Bar in Long Beach 
Dr. Naysay
