In case you missed my earlier post on Nong’s Khao Man Gai, I’m working with Feast Portland, Portland’s food and wine festival, to do a sneak preview of some of the chefs and restaurants who’ll be attending some of the Feast’s famed events like the Sandwich Invitational, Night Market, High Comfort and Brunch Village.

Today’s sneak preview is of The Parish, whose chef Ethan Powell will be cooking at Feast’s Tillamook Brunch Village. After gaining success with his North Portland oyster bar, EAT, Ethan opened up The Parish to bring New Orleans cuisine to Portland’s ritzy Pearl District. The Parish occupies a beautiful space in the heart of the neighborhood, complete with a full bar and large windows that flood the place with beautiful, natural light:

Despite having a large space, The Parish keeps its setting intimate by adding personal touches to each table like outfitting them with their own collection of vinegar and chile sauces. The booths along the wall also receive their own vintage table light:

The Parish has a great happy hour and dinner menu (their oysters and fried chicken is just to die for), but really, I’m most excited about their lunch menu. As somebody who’s worked in the Pearl District for the last 3 years, I can attest that our lunch options tend to be far and few between. But the Parish has an extensive lunch menu filled with Cajun and Creole classics like po’boy sandwiches, jambalayas and gumbos.

And so last week, I dragged my coworkers here for lunch. Between the four of us, we had quite the assortment of po’boy sandwiches and deep fried seafood:

Pictured above is the Fishwich (a crispy catfish fillet topped with white cheddar, pickles and house mad tartar sauce) and a shrimp po’boy (a spongy submarine sandwich filled with deep-fried shrimp, shredded cabbage, tomatoes and pickles), both with healthy servings of fries, both delicious.

And have you guys ever had deep-fried okra? Normally I’m not a fan of okra since it tends to get mushy real fast, but deep-frying it turns it into quite a wonder. Think of it like a tater tot, but with a teeny, tiny bit more nutritional value. The Parish’s fried okra comes in this adorable little setup:

And for those of you who are not a fan of deep-fried things (though honestly, if you’re not a fan of deep-fried things, I don’t know how we can be friends), you also have a couple of options. There’s the debris po’boy:

Which consists of slow-cooked, marinated and shredded beef accompanied by aioli, tomatoes, pickles and cabbage.

You can also order gumbo, which is a classic Creole stew usually made with okra and some sort of shellfish. The Parish makes their gumbo with crab, shrimp, and oysters:

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