Given that you probably (and hopefully) won’t be preparing any large holiday meals for friends, but instead enjoying the company of your immediate family bubble, you’ve got a hefty pocketful of Holiday dinner choices out there this year.
Here is one you’ve likely not thought about yet.
The Henry Parsons Project is a pop-up takeout delivery eaterie (for now) featuring some seriously serious Cajun cooking. See, as fun and delicious as they might be, you simply cannot have tamales every Christmas, friends.
This is definitely not tamales.
As Kari and Kevin Irvin describe their efforts on the website, “Henry Parsons Project is our food: comforting, eclectic, and inspired by our experiences and the community that surrounds us. It’s a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. We are continually thinking about, tasting, and honing new ideas and concepts. Expect seasonal changes, experimentation with ingredients, and menu changes based on our whims and moods.”
We can only add, “Yum.”
Given the vagaries of restaurant staffing and scheduling, they were unable to have one of their Le Réveillon holiday meals prepared in time for publication, so we opted for a generous sampling of their current menu picked up for home from their Arroyo Parkway location. Just reading about it will make you see stars.
Consider the following: a pair of Crawfish and Crab Étouffée Hand Pies; condo-sized Buttermilk Biscuits, with house-made jam and butter; and a small pond of NOLA Gumbo that was unspeakably good. Add to our groaning table, some Chicken and Pork Andouille Gumbo with Rice, a box Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings, replete with Spicy Pomegranate Dipping Sauce
To begin the affair, there was also a Forager’s Salad, featuring Spice-Rubbed Grilled Persimmons, Radicchio, Frisée, Roasted Fennel, Pomegranate Seeds, Amaranth with Pomegranate Molasses-Tahini Vinaigrette. Apparently, there is forging and there is foraging.
But let’s get back on track here: How about some Harissa Rubbed Roasted Chicken with Warm Grain Salad?
Each entree provided could have provided a healthy meal by itself. There were several entrees, dear hungry ones:
There was their Farmers Market Burger, a hefty bit of business, which featured Grass-fed Beef, Smoked Cheddar, Bib Lettuce, Heirloom Tomato, Porter Dijon Aioli, and Potato Chips..
After a while, things got to be like going to a concert where there are several headliners on the same bill, some of whom you love, some you’ve never even seen or heard of, and all of them magnificent. Thus we introduce to the Parson stage, their House-made Linguine, featuring Sun-dried tomatoes, brussels sprouts, garlic confit, and Parmesan cheese.
There are two more menu superstars here—either one of whom is officially going to make you return to Parsons again and again because you can. The first one is the Parsons Project Shrimp & Grits, featuring mushrooms and Lardons. For the uninitiated, lardons are kinda like fatty bacon bouillon cubes, used in a wide variety of cuisines to flavor savory foods and salads. The effect is so savory it’s almost dizzying.
You can add to all that deliciousness the Pork Belly Street Crepe, one of two they offer. Just reading that will make you drool, so read a little bit more. It’s Pork Belly, Egg, Arugula, Broad Bean Chili Sauce, Potato Chips. Addicting.
In fact, the Shrimp & Grits and the Street Crepes are the two ways we heard about this place, as a reader waxed eloquent and crazy about both. Our mission was clear and aptly fulfilled.
And not just potato chips, but House-made Potato Chips with ‘Top o’the Tater’ Dip. Any potato chip devotee worth their salt (sorry) will make a beeline for these crispy but not too crispy slices of fried tuber.
You can now begin to order the Lé Reveillon dinner, which can only be picked up Thursday, December 24, and could easily sell out. Meanwhile, the banquet that we picked up is available online Thursday through Sundays.
Le Réveillon Holiday Menu from the Harry Parson Project, 541 South Arroyo Parkway. Pasadena, California 91105.
Preorder available. Next pickup Thursday 12/24 12:00 pm.
