Wow.  This week is turning into confession central on my Atlanta restaurant idiosyncrasies.  As with the Prime Meridian, I have now eaten at the Peasant Bistro in Atlanta at least 7 times in the last two years.  Now 7 times in 2 years may not sound like a huge number on its own, but when you consider that in the last two years I have only spent a total of 12 nights in Atlanta, all-of-a-sudden 7 nights eating at the Peasant Bistro is rather a lot.  I kinda like the Peasant Bistro :-)  In my little world, any restaurant that uses Valrhona chocolate in its kitchen must know a thing or two about great food.  The Peasant has gobs of Valrhona on hand, which as far as I am concerned qualifies it for the “must eat here” list.

Pam is the hub at the Peasant, and a very fine hub she is too.  One night this last week I brought 64 (give or take a few) other people with me to eat dinner at the Peasant.  Pam had it down.  Served up hors d’œuvres (which I actually missed because I was too busy hugging everyone in sight & talking way too much) & then a glorious 3 course meal.

I can’t possibly remember everything about this weeks 3 trips to the Peasant.  They’ve all sort of merged into a long blur of awesomeness.  So here is a selection of fantastic food cooked up by Pam’s crew that my mouth has swooned over.

Have you ever seen a fresher looking lettuce on a restaurant plate?  The crunch was audible & the tomato relish was lovely.  I have never considered a wedge of lettuce a real salad, but I ate this one twice this week  & loved it both times.

“What’s a torchon?”  I hear you cry.  Torchon is french for dish towel, so let’s just go with “foie gras pâté” & call it good.  It’s really a style of cooking but let’s not worry about that & let me just tell you how good it was to eat.  The brioche was dreamy.  The fig relish divine.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love eating foie gras?  If it’s on the menu, I’ll be eating it.  Every time. 

Another fresher-than-it-was-in-the-garden lettuce.  I didn’t eat this one, but it’s owner said it was very delicious.  It was also huge.  Almost a meal in itself.  Another salad that I did eat this week was the Roasted Beets with goat cheese, pine nuts & orange vinaigrette.  I also ate the Seckel Pear salad which had hazelnuts, honey, baby lettuces & Gorgonzola vinaigrette.  They were impossibly good.  I highly recommend that at some point in your life, if you find yourself in Atlanta, that you go & eat one or both of them.

 Another plate of food that I merely looked at & lusted after.  And then photographed.  Rumor has it that it was very yummy.  I believe it.  It looked fantastic.

Ah!  Duck.  Pretty much like foie gras, if it’s on the menu it’ll be on my plate & I’ll be devouring it.  I love duck.  I could have done with some more cabbage & mushrooms on the plate, but the duck was utterly luscious.

 Lamb.  I love lamb, but I didn’t eat this particular plate of it, although my mouth wishes that I had.  Artichokes are a {very} strange vegetable to me so would never be my first choice but the Lamb with Artichoke muncher exclaimed loudly about how good this meal was & how much they liked artichoke, so it’s all good.

Ok, so this is where it all went a little bit sideways for me.  The filet:  it wasn’t good.  It was dry & tough.  I expected meat that was like eating a slab of butter.  Sadly not this time.  I didn’t think it was possible to have a bad piece of food at the Peasant.  I hate that I am wrong about that :-(

The asparagus was perfectly cooked & the potatoes were ridiculously yummy, arriving in their own little casserole dish covered in ooey-gooey-melty cheese & registering at least 500 degrees on a thermometer. 

I am at a loss for words.  Twice this week I ate a dessert called the “Candy Bar”.  What totally eludes me is that neither time did I photograph it, & it was, without question, one of the best desserts I have had in America.  Made with Valrhona chocolate it was staggeringly intense.  Incredible flavor.  Incredible smooth texture.  The second time I shared it, but of course secretly wished I’d had one all to myself.  I cannot believe I didn’t make an image of it.  What on earth was I thinking?  Well, clearly I wasn’t thinking at all.

The mousse however didn’t hit the spot like the “Candy Bar” did.  It was very smooth & very light but despite being made with Valrhona, it just didn’t have that intense chocolatey flavor that I was so excited to have swirling around my mouth.

I don’t know when (or even if) I’ll be back in Atlanta again.  If I am, I guarantee that at least one dinner will be had at the Peasant Bistro.

I ♥ the Peasant Bistro!