french | toast

I just had a superb dinner at Perennial on Clark.

We had been planning to go to Shanghai Terrace, but they’re closed on Sundays. Jenny’s only rule was that we go somewhere I hadn’t eaten before. Perennial fit that requirement, and I’m so glad we went!

I began with a sweet corn soup with spoon bread and corn relish. It was AMAZING–very sweet and very, well, corny. The creamy soup was poured over a corn relish that had great texture. It tasted like pure corn–not surprising, given the relationship the restaurant has with the Green City Market, conveniently located across the street from the restaurant. It was quite possibly the best soup I’ve ever had.

Jenny had a salad of tomato and watermelon with basil. The salad had been marinating for a while, and the flavors had blended perfectly. I’ve never had basil with watermelon before; I’ll be trying to replicate that combination pronto.

For the main course, I ordered the chicken and dumplings in a roasted chicken veloute. The chicken had been cooked sous vide before being grilled and it was remarkably tender. The veloute was really rich, and the biscuits had soaked it up. Delicious.

Jenny had the pork belly with grilled peaches, thyme doughnuts, kale and a gastrique. The pork belly was crispy on the outside and just melted away when you bit into it. Absolutely delicious, and I’m not usually a pork person. (Ditto for the kale.)

For dessert, we shared a fudge brownie topped with a quenelle of malt ice cream. Both were excellent, of course, but we got it for one simple reason printed on the menu: “fried ganache.” Yes, you read that right. A ball of ganache, battered and deep-fried, sitting on some malt powder. When we broke into it, the liquid ganache spilled out. Mmmmm.

All in all, a fabulous dinner. I’ll be going back.