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.
The Wedge
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.
Torchon of Foie Gras
“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.
The best looking Caeser Salad ever
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.
Seared Salmon on Coconut Jasmine Rice
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.
Duck Breast with Braised Napa Cabbage & Shitake Mushrooms
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 with Artichoke
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.
Manhattan Filet with Ridiculously Yummy Potatoes
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.
Valrhona Chocolate Mousse
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!
