Southern comfort

Despite living in Atlanta for nice years now, I haven't been to many places that serve traditional Southern food. I've been to Murphy's numerous times, but only for brunch and lunch. I've also been to Wisteria once. I think that's pretty much my whole experience with nice southern food... Now I can add the Parish to the list. I went there recently for brunch with Miss Chriss. This time Ems and I got the chance to try the dinner as well.

The menu at Parish does have Southern classics like fried chicken with collard greens, but also Cajun-influenced dishes featuring seafood. The appetizer list included a really interesting item: mushroom cheesecake with pecan crust. Ems and I were very excited to try this, but they were out of it. I think this is such a creative idea! I might need to go back just to try this savory cheesecake.

We were so disappointed with the unavailability of the mushroom cheesecake that we couldn't find any other appetizer to pique our interest. So, we simply ordered entrees. I got the cornmeal crusted catfish. The crust was perfectly crispy. The fish itself was very juicy and delicious. Plus, the piece of fish I got was HUGE! The dish came with a side of cole slaw and a side of baked beans. I loved the cole slaw because it was vinegar based AND it contained carrots. The beans were supposedly baked for 12 hours, and maybe that's their secret because they were sooooo incredible. They were sweet and sticky and rich, and almost like dessert. The menu mentioned that the dish also came with gribiche. I actually had no idea what this meant. Well, it's simply tartar sauce. I don't like it when places try to be pretentious by using unknown words for common ingredients, but I'm willing to overlook it here.

Ems ordered the spring pea ravioli. I was a little nervous about this dish, but it tasted really really good. The ravioli stuffing contained mostly mashed peas and a little bit of cheese, so the pea flavor was very intense inside the ravioli. The cream-based sauce was also much lighter than I expected it to be. It was interesting to taste something that had rich ingredients but tasted light. I really liked the flavor.

I have now been to the Parish twice, and it's becoming one of my favorite places. I like the food there, but also the little things. For example, the menus were printed on what looked like brown paper bags. We also got complementary bread and butter before dinner. The bread was served in yet another brown bad. The decor is also attractive - rustic but sophisticated. And finally, there is a market downstairs that serves a variety of Cajun items and pastries. Unfortunately, we went there too late to enjoy fresh pastries, but I'd love to try them some other time.