Discreet Diner: Melange Café

February's arrival awakened the Discreet Diner's Louisiana cravings (Fat Tuesday and all). What better way to satiate that appetite than to visit Melange Café, a South Jersey classic.

Chef Joe Brown has been serving up distinctive Italian and Louisiana cuisine since 1995 at the boxy mustard-colored cafe on Chapel Avenue in Cherry Hill. He learned his trade from his Tennessee-born mother, France, in her Willingboro kitchen and from the Restaurant School in Philadelphia. In recent years, the menu, which changes slightly every six months, is leaning more toward Southern cooking. The result continues to please.

We stopped in for lunch on a rainy Friday and, as is not uncommon, were seated by Chef Brown himself. The dining room is cozy, with tables in close quarters, so it can get noisy when crowded. Dinner reservations are recommended, as there is little waiting space.

True to my craving, we started with the Louisiana Barbecue Shrimp with Cheese Biscuits ($12) - three plump shelled shrimp swimming, as Brown puts it, in "aggressively seasoned" butter sauce accompanied by two homemade biscuits perfect for sopping up the excess sauce. The shells give the dish its extra-rich flavor but make it messy to eat. Be prepared to get sticky, New Orleans-style.

I struggled to choose among many tempting entrees: crab cakes, blackened chicken or fish, red beans and rice. How to pick just one?

I finally settled on one of Brown's signature dishes, crabmeat cheesecake with pecan crust, an entrée at lunch ($12) and an appetizer at dinner. It's a triangle of pecan-crusted creole cream cheese filled with lump crabmeat served with a wild mushroom and onion reduction sauce. While sinfully rich, the portion was reasonable, so not to overwhelm.

In contrast, the mixed grilled jambalaya ($15) piled a half-breast of chicken, a large shrimp and an ample andouille sausage over a bed of spicy rice. My dining partner made an impressive dent, but eventually surrendered and requested a take-home box.

Pressed for a lunch recommendation, Brown says he'd suggest crawfish étouffée ($14) or shrimp and grits ($14) simply because few South Jersey menus offer those dishes. Too true!

Keeping to my theme, I finished with the Louisiana bread pudding in creamy bourbon sauce ($8), another specialty from Brown's mother's kitchen. She used danish, doughnuts or whatever was around, but he soaks the restaurant's leftover bread overnight. The key is the long marinating.

My partner went Southern as well, with pecan pie ($9), a pile of sugared nut sinfulness under a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream.

For Southern comfort - or spices "to make your nose run" - stop by Melange.

1601 Chapel Ave., Cherry Hill.

Phone

: 856-663-7339.

Hours

: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday; 4-11 p.m. Saturday; 2-10 p.m. Sunday. Closed Mondays.

Reservations

: Yes.

Handicapped accessible

: Yes.

Parking lot

: Yes.

Children's menu

: No.

Cocktails

: BYOB.

On the Web

:

» READ MORE: www.melangecafe.com

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