On a recent Monday night, I met my friend Alexis for dinner at Tipsy Parson, a delightful new little place in Chelsea. Alexis' family is from North Carolina and when we decided to meet for dinner, I hoped she'd be interested in trying this purveyor of southern cuisine. Turns out she'd already been there for brunch and was game to try their dinner menu.
I fell in love with southern food during a long weekend with my sister at Blackberry Farm, an incredibly small and special inn nestled deep in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. The nightly room rate included all meals at their acclaimed restaurant and I ate grits, biscuits, barbeque and pimento cheese at every opportunity.
The menu at Tipsy Parson has both a "snacks" and a "starters" section. While there were many tempting options in the "starters" section, including crab and artichoke dip and something called "the fry up" - tempting - we started by ordering a few items from the "snacks" portion of their menu: deviled eggs, pimento cheese with herb crackers, and cheese straws.
Have you tried pimento cheese? It's a silly mix of mayo, cheddar cheese, and pimento - rich, sweet, a little tangy, and delightful on a cracker. It's technically featured as part of a spread trio on the Tipsy Parson menu, but the chef was willing to give us just the cheese and leave the deviled tasso ham and black-eyed pea salad out. I ended up buying more of it at a deli in Islamorada because I was so completely charmed by the pimento cheese at Tipsy Parson.
The deviled eggs were also glorious. The egg white halves were filled with a smooth, tarragon-infused egg yolk mixture. I had no idea a hard boiled egg could be so good. The cheese straws -- buttery long, thin cheese shortbreads, were served in a julep cup. And I loved them.
For my entree I had seared scallops with brown butter, toasted walnuts, and sauteed mushrooms. They were great, though not particularly southern. Same story with Alexis' artic char with spring vegetables and parmesan broth. Which is why we ordered a side of macaroni and cheese to share. It was a little dry and had too much thyme, but can macaroni and cheese really be bad?
This dinner transported right back to the dining room at Blackberry Farm. Belly-filling goodness indeed.
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Details:
Tipsy Parson
156 Ninth Avenue (between 19th and 20th Streets)
New York, New York
(212) 620-4545
Dinner for two: $150
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