DTLA: The Parish is Now Open

I had been anticipating the opening of the Parish for months. I would drive by it almost every day and checked the progress. And then one day it opened. I was out of town when that happened and after some time (as in a couple of weeks) had passed, I made a dash for it.

My friend had gone to a preview and already knew what drink she wanted, the Black Bee (bourbon, lemon, honey, stout beer). She really must have liked it as she had two of them. I tried the Historic Core (rye, applejack, sweet vermouth, Green Chartreuse, bitters) which was exactly what I wanted. It was like a swift whiskey flavored kiss.

I had heard that the poutines were great but I was torn between the crispy pork shoulder or the fried oysters poutine. We ended up getting both. I was expecting a bit more sauce so the pork shoulder  was not my favorite. It was dried out, not crispy. On the other hand, I was glad there wasn’t much sauce or cheese if you will on the fried oysters poutine. Fried oysters! I could just go for a plate of those.

More fried oysters, please.

I’m hoping the Parish opens soon for lunch. It would be so easy to pop over there for a bit of bone marrow. I had this at a private lunch tasting event but they offer the bone marrow at dinner. No bone luges then, sadly.

For my next drink, I decided to get the Queen Anne’s Revenge (high proof demerara rum, Campari, sweet vermouth). The high proof rum was immediately apparent. I had learned about the value of high proof spirits at Tales of the Cocktail and I’m all for this trend. It really does a cocktail justice.

 

The clams were a wonderful sharing dish. And it was a treasure hunt of the best sort to find tidbits of salami. There is sherry in this dish so it’s slightly sweet. I admit to occasionally spiking my chowder with sherry so it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar.

 

I can never get enough veggies and the butter lettuce salad was perfect. Great, slightly tangy dressing, crisp radish and fresh lettuce.

 

I do like beets but I wasn’t sure what to make of the beet salad. There were a lot of micro herbs and sauce which I felt overpowered the beets a bit.

 

My friend had told me the batter for the fish (for the fish and chips) was the same for the fried chicken. I knew we couldn’t try both that night so we ended up getting just the fish and chips. They were fine but I wish I had gotten the fried chicken.

 

Luckily they served fried chicken at the private luncheon. Wow, this was some juicy bird! Too bad I only got two wings because a complete stranger from another table came over and swiped a thigh from us! My dining companion and I were in complete shock. But I suppose that’s a testament to how good this fried chicken is.

 

The corn on the cob with honeycomb butter is something I’d order over and over again. When you have great ingredients, it’s easy to make food taste good.

 

For my last cocktail, I had the Shish Mahal (Old Tom gin, Amaro Nonino, celery bitters). I love celery bitters so I was excited by the description of this drink. It was very boozy and just the way I like my cocktails. Nutty, sweet and spirituous.

 

My friend had the Nightshift (bourbon, Czech Fernet, espresso, pu-erh tea, chocolate syrup, milk). It sounded like a boozy milkshake and the perfect dessert. I thought it was very interesting to combine bourbon with coffee, tea and chocolate milk. So mad scientist genius.

 

I’ll have to go back to try the different desserts. We were too full the first night I was in. And then we went to have a second dinner!

Luckily, I did get to try the fabulous shortbread during the private luncheon. Yes, definitely dessert next time. And more cocktails. And oysters. And fried chicken. And and and…yes, I’ll be back.

The Parish

840 S Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90015 — (213) 225-2400

© The Minty 2012