Peche is a large place that’s about  a 15 minute cab ride from the French Quarter. Seating is available in 3 booths, bar counter stools and a number of well spaced tables throughout.  Windows to the street form one wall of the place and add nice natural light during the day.  Tables are of bare wood and matching unfinished beams line the ceiling while soft  rock music plays in the background.  Lots of seafood art adorns the walls and the street wall is of the natural brick. Service is exceptionally friendly and helpful.  Our waiter provided many details about how the various dishes are prepared and was nicely opinionated about how we might configure our order.  Freshness of ingredients is stressed.  

 

We started by splitting an order of Crab Claws with pickled chilies.  The sauce reminded me of nuoc mam – a little sweet and herby – made with oil, sugar, chilies, parsley, green onion, basil and red onion.  It was served cool and had a wonderful amount of spiciness.  A very tasty dish.

 

Spicy Ground Shrimp and noodles was made with house made fettucini-like noodles, which were perfectly cooked.  The ground shrimp turn out to have a texture similar to  ground beef and also had a good amount of spiciness.  Served warm it was very tasty with the sauce adhering nicely to the noodle.  It was a perfect balance of flavors.

 

Grilled cobia with eggplant, chilies and fried peanuts was a special that day.  The creole pepper sauce blended wonderfully with the eggplant, rice and peanuts – which also brought a fun crunch to the dish.  It was a dirty rice with eggplant substituted for sausage with the sauce giving the spice.  The cobia was such a meaty flavorful fish that is was a perfect mix.

 

Baked Drum was served with a saffron and roasted tomato sauce and topped with well cooked creamy peas.  The large flake fish was nicely complimented by the fairly mild sauce.  For a starch a baguette had been toasted with butter.  With its wonderfully crispy crust it added a perfect chew and texture to the dish.

 

As a side we added Fried brussels sprouts with chili vinegar which were well browned and served with red onion and parsley.  The chili vinegar was on the bottom of the bowl and contributed a tart flavor to the otherwise sweet sprout.  It was nice but out of season and not nearly as good as the either fish plate.

 

We tried two desserts that both had intense and lovely flavors.  The Peach Galette with served with horchata sherbet and sweet tea caramel.  This was a puff pastry that was incredibly buttery and filled with wonderful peaches and then topped with fruity sherbet that melted into the pastry.  It was outstanding.

 

The Magic Cake includes flan, flourless chocolate cake and a dark chocolate shell.  It is magic as the cake, that is ganache like and flan which was very custardy, invert while cooking.  The chef adapted this version from a Central American recipe.  The chocolate cake and custard are then encased in a chocolate shell with crisp rice and plated on a caramel sauce.  It was rich and also amazing.