The tacos are, with firm intent, meant to evoke stoner food — crispy tortilla shell, fried shrimp, American cheese, arbol chile — and succeed on that count, and more. The shrimp are toothsome and tender, the sauce clearly made with care, and the whole melds into a series of bites that would satisfy your soul no matter the time of day.

Eat these crispy shrimp tacos no matter your state. (Photo by The Brockhaus)

We’re at La Lucha, and the lighting in the main dining room is just right; one can read the menu with comfort, and the mood is slightly romantic, slightly homey. The chef de cuisine stands at the rear of the room, at the pass, handling tickets and dishes and keeping the kitchen straight.

Tables at the periphery of the dining room are set with white clothes, while those at the center, where we sit, boast uncovered studded metal tops. I like the juxtaposition; it’s as if you are in a place that can deftly handle casual and elegant at the same time, with no jarring clumsiness.

A Muscadet made with care. (Photo by the Brockhaus)

Our Muscadet (2017 Domaine Pierre Luneau-Pepin “La Grange”) costs $40, and we order it to pair with half a dozen wood-smoked jalapeño oysters from the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a good choice. Both are good choices. Large oysters from that gulf are not my preferred oysters, but I do appreciate them grilled over a fire and heat produced by burning wood. These at La Lucha are buttery and spicy and rich, and the crisp Muscadet, it is slightly effervescent and briny and cleanses the palate with grace.

The oysters, on the half shell, are plump, and they nestle in hot butter; we ask for more bread with which to sop that butter, because it is good, and warms us.

Do not waste any of the juices in this dish. (Photo by The Brockhaus)

La Crawfish bread is next, followed by those tacos. It is not late, but the room is inviting, and the bread, a pressed Po’ boy stuffed with crawfish and cheese, is crisp and moist, and when we eat some of it with the parsley salad on the plate the acidity of that salad makes the deepness of the Po’ boy soar.

Eat warm, because the acid and the crisp bread and the cheese and crawfish wow you. (Photo by The Brockhaus)

We forgo the fried chicken, but promise ourselves to return on another rainy night. La Lucha is a lot more than promising.