Hype R Link

It took me a long time to board the Donald Link train, mainly because I’m automatically skeptical of anything that smacks of groupthink, and Donald Link has been a media darling since he arrived on the scene. I finally warmed to Cochon a long time after its arrival,  I love the food but not the scene at Butcher, and I am ho-hum about La Boulangerie, but absolutely gaga about Chemin à la Mer. The balcony alone makes me swoon but the food is definitely up to its environs. Pêche though, has always made me wonder. It has been many years since I had a meal at Pêche, and I was good with that. That was, until a caller to the radio show regaled us with the pleasures of a dinner at Pêche. Since I personally know this caller and he was one of the original Eat Clubbers, his opinion has gravitas, to ironically use the ultimate groupthink word. He crushed on Pêche so hard I had to return to see what I was missing.

The first thing that struck me was the place itself. It really is exceptional, taking advantage of the age of the building, featuring the gigantic wooden beams in so many of those old warehouses. Here they are definitely a design feature. I was also quite surprised by the clientele at Pêche. I’ve thought of it all along as the ultimate hipster place that happens to care about food. What I saw instead (and this may be due to the time I was there-Sunday afternoon,) was a very mixed crowd of stylish people of all ages. The bling alone on the women’s fingers was dazzling. The young people were not at all hipsters, and the very young couple that was seated next to me as I left couldn't have been more than twentyish, dressed for a date and a nice meal. Such things give me hope, for the culture in general and our culinary culture in particular.The only hipsters in the place were the wait staff, and they weren’t too obvious.

They worked very hard to keep pace. On this Sunday afternoon at 2ish, the place was packed. Service wasn’t fast but it was appropriate for the crowd. I went to try the crawfish capellini that the caller was so smitten with. It was an app, but I got several more things, mostly small plates.

Shrimp toast has always puzzled me, since the first time I had the best version I’ve ever had. It was when Tom and I were barely a couple, at the old Peking in New Orleans East. The restaurant died even before Katrina, and the owner went into another business. Tom took that hard, because The Peking was premier Chinese food. The shrimp toast have never been equaled, in my experience. I ordered some Shrimp Toast to see if Pêche could break my losing streak on this dish. And I got Crawfish Croquettes because they sounded good. “Fish Sticks” was another thing that intrigued me. I knew for certain that they wouldn’t be anything like my childhood memory, but I was curious to see how this would present, circa 2026. I also got an order of Brabant Potatoes.

It was very hard to catch a server’s attention, and I immediately worried that all four courses might come out at the same time. I realized someone had the sense to course it out, though I think it was the kitchen serving it up when it was ready. The first two dishes came at once. The Crawfish Croquettes and the Shrimp Toast arrived together.

I started in on the Shrimp Toast first, because I was just so curious. They looked appealing on sight, completely covered with sesame seeds. I am crazy about sesame seeds, though I hate the flavor of the oil. Oddly, these came with a single slice of pickle on each piece.

I removed this pickle to save in case I needed it for the fish later. The texture of the pureed shrimp was mildly unpleasant. I understand it’s a puree, but there was a softness to this that was too pronounced for my taste. The bread was toasted enough that it almost compensated for this texture problem. I liked the dipping sauce, which was the proper amount of Asian.

The Crawfish Croquettes were a misnomer, as I understand the word croquette. I have always known this as a lumpy tall pillow of fill-in-the-blank. The new-fangled way of doing these seems to resemble a boudin ball, or medium-sized fried things. These came as a foursome of plump and crispy balls, sitting in a bowl with a hefty dose of aioli and house pickled things. There was more sauce underneath. Other than the shape, there were no real surprises here. The crawfish pieces were larger than I expected, but that wasn’t necessarily a negative. The spice level of these was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. And I loved the aioli and all the pickles. The creaminess of the sauce offset the spice level and the different flavors of the pickles were a great contrast of textures and flavors. This was very good.

Ah, the “Fish Sticks.”I asked what the fish was before ordering, and when I was told catfish, I asked if it was wild. When I was assured it was wild I ordered it. What came to the table was exactly what was described. They were small sticks of fish, in a Tempura batter. They came with a white barbecue sauce, which I was highly suspicious of until I tried it. My lack of enthusiasm generally about Tempura battered anything took a back seat here. I liked these little strips of fish a lot, and the sauce was even better than the tartar sauce that my tartar sauce fixation requires. As it turned out I didn’t need to save the pickles, so I could focus on their flavor. They were fine housemade pickles, but not the best I've had. I still remain committed to a preference for simple bottled commercial dill pickle slices, but housemade pickles have come a long way. These were fine.

I ate some of the Brabant Potatoes with the fish because it seemed like a good idea, though I didn’t need these at all. They were quite large pieces of fried potatoes, and were very nice. I took most of them home.

By the time I was done with all this, I looked at the plate of capellini that I had come to try and almost couldn’t do it. I did try it, though, and discovered that the crawfish in chili butter was really piquant, and the dish was loaded with crawfish tails. The pasta appeared housemade, which was a plus. I would place this dish third in my list of rankings. I always think that a dish of pasta required Parmesan cheese, but that would seem silly here. It did have ribbons of fresh basil throughout, for those like me, stuck in Italian mode when I see pasta. I was impressed with the level of crawfish flavor intensity here.

Since the tables on either side of me were close enough to reach for something off a neighboring plate, I asked one of them how they liked the hanger steak. I watched him eat it and was impressed with how tender the steak appeared. It was so beautiful I contemplated adding another $37 to my order and bringing it home. The steak was served with salsa verde and Brabant Potatoes. He seemed reluctant to answer and finally surprised me by shrugging that it was okay, but he didn’t love it. After he left, the couple on the other side waited interminably for the waiter so I took the opportunity to inquire about the whole fish they ordered.  They left some of everything they ordered, so when the guy said it was good it seemed like he was doing as expected. (That’s why I stay away from places so revered in social media.)

I left Pêche for another bunch of years with a much more favorable opinion than I had the last time. But I much prefer the everything at Chemin à la Mer.