IP restaurant week pt 4: Parish

Parish is one of those restaurants that elevates comfort food to make it fancy without sacrificing the taste. Ever since Ems and I went there a long time ago, I had wanted to go back to try that mushroom cheesecake. Unlike the spring edition of Inman Park restaurant week, the menu at Parish looked amazing this time. Well, the cheesecake wasn't on the restaurant week menu, but I still wanted to try everything!

All three appetizers sounded interesting: parsnip soup, chicken hearts, and octopus and sausage. I was even considering getting two appetizers instead of an appetizer and an entree. Snooki got the parsnip soup, which was creamy and delicious. I finally decided to get the sauteed chicken hearts because I know that it's very easy to overcook octopus and make it chewy. My biggest surprise about the meal was the portion size! It was bigger than many entrees and included three huge half-slices of brioche bread. Well, at least the bread was toasted, coated in a creamy sauce, and tasted well. However, I couldn't eat more than a couple of bites knowing that I had two more meals coming up. The hearts themselves were perfect. I even liked how they were cut in bite-size pieces. Plus, they were sauteed in butter, and you can't go wrong with that ;) Unfortunately, the carrot puree was a huge disappointment. The texture was somehow gritty and it didn't even taste like carrots...

I wish I could try all entrees as well: fried chicken, fried mussels, and Israeli couscous. I settled on the mussels. Honestly, I've had much better mussels before, even at gastro pubs. The ones at Parish were sauteed in a butter sauce, but the butter just didn't seem to go well with the mussels. I wish they were cooked in a wine sauce with some fresh herbs and citrus. On the bright side, the fries were really great :) I probably ate more fries than mussels. Anyway, the entree made me wish I had finished all of my chicken hearts and skipped the second course.

At least the dinner ended well. I ordered the banana bread pudding for dessert, and Snooki got the chocolate tart. Both of them came with ice cream on the side. The crust on the tart was a little hard, but it was still delicious. And my banana bread pudding was AMAZING. The banana flavor was very prominent, the pudding was soft without being soggy, and the caramel sauce on the bottom of the plate went great with it. Plus, it was a pretty big potion, too :) Just what I needed after the light entree.

I thought Parish was supposed to serve a mixture of Southern, Louisiana-style food with emphasis on seafood. However, this meal didn't really fit into any of these categories well. There was a lot of seafood, but it didn't seem to be the strength of the restaurant. The chef is definitely creative, but it's hard to attract customers if you can't even describe what kind of food you serve. But if you're looking for a charming place with a unique menu, it's definitely worth a try.