Daily highlight #27: good snacking - Restaurant: Parish

I still haven't actually dined here, meaning I have yet to go through the ritual of a proper meal involving at least an entree and a dessert. Instead, I shared a snack over a glass of wine and loved it.
The space put me in a good mood as soon as I walked in. The walls, which are artfully textured to reflex age, also managed to appear clean and interesting. There was a breeze coming in through the large windows. I sat facing the back (above) where the view of trees and bushes almost fooled me into believing that I am somewhere very distant from the condo-lined stretch of N. Highland. The crowd inside seemed happy too. It's hard not to smile when your table is decorated with a singular green apple (one thing though, I would recommend losing the supermarket apple sticker).

Before our snack came, we received a brown paper bag enclosing a warm ciabatta from the market downstairs. As previously mentioned, the bakery is superb here. We loved tearing into the bag and the bread to spread it with the slab of very spreadable butter.

Then we had the snack, a bowl of BBQ shrimps that our very young server highly recommended (top). The first good sign was that the shrimps were all served with heads on. We dug in right away and found the plump bodies cooked perfectly. The sauce was divine, a bit sweeter than I expected, but grew additive as I ate on. What sealed the deal for me was when I started to suck out the brain bits from the detached head (sounds nasty, but oh so good). The buttery sauce mixed perfectly with the already rich umami matters in the head and took the whole experience up another notch. I am coming back for this again.

Parish
240 N. Highland Ave. NE
Atlanta, GA