Day two of Matt’s visit saw us making big plans. First we’d get some culture by going to the New Museum. After burning serious calories appreciating contemporary art, we’d go have lunch at Peels where our friend Shuna is the pastry chef extraordinaire. So did we succeed in our grand plan? Well 50% percent of it. But for that 50% we gave 110%. You see, the musem was closed (that’s a proper excuse), so along with our friend Alex and later Shefali, who came after work, we devoted the entire afternoon to a four hour lunch. Basically, we showed up, Shuna recommended some things we should order and we ordered all of them. Here’s what it looked like.
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Starters: Parker House rolls, andouille sausage corn dogs(!), shrimp grits
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Buttery shrimp grits with housemade tasso bacon, because there wasn’t enough fat.
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Spicy andouille with pillowy corn batter. These might be the gold standard for corn dogs.
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Alex and Matt get down to business with the starters.
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Matt savours the last of his little corn dog.
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The after of the shrimp grits. They were kind of good.
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Shuna described it as everything you like baked in a little cast iron pot. Eggs, grits, collards and chedder. That’s a pretty likeable combo.
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Fried chicken sandwich: Although the dark meat chicken was excellently fried, I found the honey mustard sauce a bit too cloyingly sweet. The fries were delicious.
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Blackberry Eaton Mess Fool: I guess it’s some sort of plumby English name. Refeshing and light, but also rich. Shuna recommended getting only a half to save room for other desserts but we forgot.
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A beautiful lemon lemon meringe tart. The lemon curd was ridiculously good.
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Spicy coconut sorbet. Shuna’s masterpiece and my favorite. So light refreshing and complex. Southeast Asian curries were a big influence but it was amazing to taste flavors familiar in a savory setting recast in a sweet context.
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Shuna told us she loved taking the torch to the meringue. It showed
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I don’t remember what this was called, but Shuna insisted that we really needed to finish our meal with some chocolate. So that’s chocolate cake with meringue, malted icecream and a homemade graham cracker.
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Shefali and Matt post dessert
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Shuna joined us througout the meal and thanks to her, it was one of the best four hour lunches I’ve eaten in a very long while.
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Alex post dessert.
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the end of the meal.