The day after the San Antonio Marathon, recovery was my number one priority, so what better way to recover than hit up an untested food cart? Colin smartly stayed in Austin an extra day to recover too, so he joined me as we picked up Ev from work for lunch downtown. After hyping up Chi’Lantro BBQ (a lot), they graced us with an atypical Monday lunch opening. Of course I’m always down for a Korean-Mexican fusion, but this time I wanted to go with something I can’t regularly get. And what might that be? A fried catfish po’ boy of course!

The folks down at Turf N Surf Po’ Boy do things a little differently. First off, there ain’t nobody making anything even close to what they have cooking in the faux-dilapidated trailer. On the outside it looks like it’s weathered its fair share of nasty storms. With chipped paint patched with graffiti, a surf board with a smile, and even tables hanging off the front of the trailer, it’s hard to miss and even harder not to walk the other way. But on the inside there’s no question it’s cooking up a storm of its own.

The menu is, how should I put it… diverse. First, it is “organized” by meat, though I use the term “organized” loosely, since it looks more like a first grader wrote it on a piece of cardboard. Besides “farm fed” (fish), “foul play po’ boy” (chicken), and “patty po’ boy” (ground meat) categories, there are burgers, breakfast, baskets, salads, sides, and desserts. On top of that, any po’ boy can be made into a taco. What?!

I had to go with one of their features and something I knew I couldn’t find anywhere else in Austin. Obviously that meant no tacos, burritos, bananas, BBQ, milk shakes, or chicken. From their po’ boy selection I had to go catfish, and even as I asked if I should get it grilled, blackened, or fried, I knew in my heart that

fried was the only way to go. Colin and Ev took their Chi’Lantro to-go, I grabbed my fried catfish po’ boy and we found somewhere nice to sit and enjoy.

When I opened the container the first thing I thought was “what’s this salad?” They lay the bread down open, top it with catfish, and then pile on the mixed greens, slaw, tomato, and pickle, with tartar sauce on the side. After wrapping my head (and hands) around how to tackle the saladwich, it actually held together pretty well. The fish was fried to order in a crunchy, cornmeal coating, the greens were fresh, the tomato was cool, the slaw was sweet, and the pickle was tangy. Pardon the use of my poetic license, but each bite was as harmonious as the sound of bullfrogs singing down on the bayou*. Seriously though, this was one killer sandwich. I can’t wait to go back and grab another one of these bad po’ boys.

*Poetic License: REVOKED