Address: 800 Magazine Street
Website: http://www.pecherestaurant.com/
Type of Meal: Dinner
Earlier in May 2014, Pêche
Seafood Grill was presented with the James Beard Award for best new restaurant.
It’s quite the accolade beating out three establishments in New York City and
one in San Francisco for the title. Good news seems to travel fast as Pêche was
definitely the busiest and buzziest restaurants we visited on the trip. Locals
and tourists alike eagerly awaited for their tables with over a dozen
individuals with no reservations sitting at the bar.
The dining room has a noticeably casual
vibe with minimalistic wood tables and fisherman themed walls. Seafood is what Pêche
is known for but does have skirt steak and chicken available for those who
prefer ‘turf’ to ‘surf’. Being a seafood lover, I of course stuck to the surf based
dishes which all sounded delicious and enticing.
Despite having gumbo twice during
the week-long trip already, I gave it one last chance at Pêche to see if there’d
be an improvement over the previous ones which I tried and found subpar. The
verdict is I do enjoy seafood gumbo ($9) … but only to a point. Indeed the rich
thick flavourful soup filled with seafood and spices is wonderful, but the pieces
of oyster, shrimp and crawfish themselves are not the best after being stewed
for hours - they develop a mushy powdery texture. It may help if chefs try
using dried oysters and shrimp (often found in Asian cuisine) to develop their
soup base first and then add fresh shellfish just before it's served. I'd
imagine the soup would still have that wonderful essence but leave the fresh
seafood cooked well. Nonetheless, the gumbo at Pêche was by far the best of the
three I’ve tried so if you’re going to have it anywhere it should be here.
A dish that’s a phenomenal value was
the gulf shrimp from the raw bar ($12). We were surprised how many came with it
(believe there was a dozen) and each were such a large size. Simply boiled and
served cold with horseradish laced cocktail sauce it's nothing extraordinary
but for the price a great dish to share amongst the table.
One of the special dishes for the
night was the chili tuna crudo ($10). The tender fish was cut into thick
squares and served sashimi style. To
jazz it up, it was topped with chili oil, a lovely chili salt (which I wish
there was more of) and diced crunchy jalapeño. All this may sound dominating but
it was actually well balanced and didn’t overpower the tuna at all. Pods of edamame added crunch and freshness to everything. Overall, it
was a decent dish.
The best dishes were the hot
ones. The first, crawfish and jalapeño capellini ($14), contained many
pieces of sweet crawfish cooked in a simple garlic butter sauce with a bit of jalapeño
for heat. I easily could have eaten a whole bowl of this myself! Admittedly, the
pasta could have been more al dante but even when soft was still
delicious.
Another good dish was the
smothered catfish ($16). Two thick fillets were breaded and pan fried than
smothered with a gumbo like gravy and served with rice. Despite being smothered
in sauce the dish wasn't too salty and had just the right amount of flavour.
You do want to eat this quickly as once the catfish sits in it too long the
crust gets mushy, but really this is a matter of taste.
All in all, Pêche was the best
meal of the trip and didn't disappoint. Our neighbouring table ordered a whole
grilled fish which looked and smelled amazing. Alas, not for us as it was a fairly large portion and
with only two of us and one visit we wanted to try more items. But worth a try on a return visit. The seafood was fresh and the
staff laid back and attentive. A definite stop for those who are living or
visiting the city.
Overall mark - 8.5 out of 10
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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
