An Uptown Seafood Upstart

After reviewing the menus for this year’s COOLinary, I got very excited. So excited, I was determined to veer off the regular path (the traditional one, so central to this brand.) But it wouldn’t be too far off, which will surprise no one.

Pigeon &Whale is a place I have heard much about, but it always struck me as too hip for my sensibilities. I’m so glad I checked their menu because it had fish and chips, one of my obsessions. Fish & Chips as everyone knows, is a UK dish featuring fish from the North Atlantic, so when I see it offered here with gulf fish, I wonder. Since I am definitely not a fan of redfish, I inquired first about it. When I was told flounder I decided to rush over and do the COOLinary at Pigeon & Whale.

Since this is a hipper place than I find comfortable, the rest of the menu gave me pause. But I did find one app and one for dessert (ice cream)in my comfort zone.

Inside, the place was nothing like I expected. It was handsome with a nautical theme (like the interior of a mid-century paneled submarine. It was packed even at my arrival time of  8:30. It appears to be a comfortable neighborhood hangout with a comfortable buzz. I would hang out here too, if Freret and Napoleon were in my neighborhood.

My waiter was terrific, acting like an engaged sherpa, encouraging my choices and gently steering me away from one I considered.. The seafood dumplings in the first course were chosen my usual way in places like this: process of elimination. They were shrimp and redfish, which seemed fine to me. For the entree course I chose the Fish & Chips and was about to order the housemade ice cream until the waiter told me what it was : vanilla bean and sweet corn.

I went with another dessert with a silly name that suggested its nature by one word of five. It was called “When Life Gives You Lemons…” See this is my problem with today’s restaurants. Cute, but what does that mean? I’ll leave it as a cliffhanger, but I was thrilled. Life did not give me a lemon of a dessert, I’ll tell you that.

I was puzzled and disappointed in the first course choice of the seafood dumplings, a choice my sherpa supported. For a regular diner that might have been fine, but I am a picky diva, and they had to disappoint. I knew it as a visual. For starters, they were enormous, And deep-fried, with the stuffing falling out of the fried pasta that had come undone. I suspected that this malfunction was unimportant to the dish. What was important was the incorporation of Gochujang (the hip Korean chili paste) into the cream sauce. I’m happy to say I lost my Gochujang virginity that night and we can move on. The stuffings of these dumplings which had fallen out somehow, were an uncomfortable tight wad of seafood. These dish needs reworking.

The rest of the meal more than made up for this initial fail. When the Fish & Chips were delivered to the table I realized immediately that we were not in pre-Katrina New Orleans (though the Gochujang could have told me that.)

It was a really appealing plate with a large piece of Tempura-battered fried Flounder as the headliner, with a nice pile of housecut chips, an interesting (good) little vinaigrette -style slaw, and tartar sauce made with cornichons. Malt vinegar was served on a different plate…with ketchup in a little metal ramekin.

I wasn’t especially hungry, which made me sad, because I wanted to dive into this plate. The Flounder of The Old West End was so far from this 2026 plate of seafood it might as well not have been fundamentally the same thing: fried fish and fries with coleslaw.

The fish was wonderful. Hot, crispy, meaty and as greaseless as Tempura can ever be, I so enjoyed it. The slaw was different from the usual version, and I appreciated that too. It was not overwhelmingly Asian like something that looks like this in a place like this would want to be.

Cornichons are a favorite food item of mine. The flavor of these tiny pickles are slightly different from regular pickles and crunchier because of their size and density. They make a great tartar sauce.

Housecut fries have been something I have lately been thinking about a lot. It’s been a long conversation on The Food Show. The conversation has been about the necessity of dropping the potato stick in oil more than once. Places that don’t do them shy away from it with the complexity of the process sighted as the reason. But there are different kinds of housecut fries, and the ones that are not dropped twice seem to be darker and less crispy. I like these just as well as the whiter stiffer fries. The ones on this plate are of the darker variety.

I don’t believe I could have been any happier with this plate, smiling as I ate it, and forcing myself to quit halfway through. I consoled myself with the lure that I could have this again the next day. I did, and loved it as much.

The silly dessert “When Life Gives You Lemons” was a work of art. When it was placed before me, I didn’t know what to do with it. I felt the lemon was so convincing I thought I’d get squirted with juice. The waiter coached me to just crack it lightly, and the white chocolate crust would crack. 

It did, revealing a fluffy lemon cheesecake. I was so dazzled by this that it reminded me of the old Disney movies when the magic arrives with a twinkle. I gasped. Seriously.

Underneath was a little mound of Graham Cracker dust. The greens sprouting from the top of the lemon were mint, as I expected. This deconstructed cheesecake was fantastic.

I sat outside until 9:45, delighted to have experienced this place and wondering why it took me so long.