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.

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.