Since I spend a good bit of time traveling and exploring restaurants outside of Atlanta, on occasion I’m going to add a review from a road trip. Today's installment comes from my most frequent travel spot, New York City. My circle of "foodie friends" in New York is pretty wide, so lately I’ve come across some wonderful new spots in the Big Apple. One of my recent favorites, Saxon + Parole, is in the part of lower Manhattan known as "NoHo" (North Houston) on Bowrey (near Bleecker).

I happened to be there during Fashion Week and "Fashion's Night Out," so stores were open late, the weather was perfect, and the locals were out in force. The experience was classic New York - fun, a tad too crowded, very tasty.

In terms of food, Saxon + Parole bills itself as a place for “grilled meats & aquatic delights,” and delight it does. We started our evening with a “ Portobello mushroom pot” which is served with a whiskey jelly (Y-U-M - and I don't even like whiskey!). They serve the course with grilled sourdough, and if this was the only thing I ate for dinner, I would have been perfectly happy. Perfection tastes like this dish.

Also on the appetizer list was the grilled scallops with a roasted cauliflower (4 syllables) puree and raisin relish. Seriously Delicious!

I'm not entirely sure what happened next because I didn't order the beets (shocking!) and instead leaned into a more seasonal dish of heirloom tomatoes, burrata (Italian for cheese so good you might moan!), fried capers (yes please!) and basil. So amazing. For entrees, we couldn’t resist the striped bass with a Parmesan crust and watercress salad. Solid fish dish, but in hindsight, we should have skipped the entrees and had an all-appetizer meal.Of course, a side of cauliflower with Gruyere cheese was pretty spectacular too. (Now that I think about it, cauliflower is a gateway drug for all kinds of cheese... an intervention might be in order!)

For dessert we tried the passion fruit tart with blueberries and lemon thyme ice cream. The dish wasn't at all what I expected, but we loved itBut our second favorite dish of the evening ALSO came in a pot (imagine that!). The "special" dessert was called "Popcorn trifle" and was a layer of vanilla custard, chiffon cake, topped with popcorn seasoned with a malt vinegar gelee. (I had to look up "gelee," and although the definition should have read "don't worry about it, eat and enjoy!" instead the dictionary says gelee is French for jelly! Goodness - just say so!) All I can say is WOW!

The next time you’re in New York, you couldn’t do much better than spending an evening at Saxon + Parole. Maybe it's time for a visit?

On the road: New York's Saxon + Parole