God is Gouda

I'd been wanting to try Inside Park, the restaurant at St. Barts Church on 50th and Park. (In part because I'd already planned the name of this blog post!) On Thursday, Neil's aunt Jackie was in town, so we went there for lunch.

Here are some pics I pulled from Yelp so you could get a sense of the venue. Unfortunately, the terrace was closed...I assume they must stop serving there after Labor Day.

We shared the oyster and laughing bird shrimp po'boy with caraway slaw and spicy tomato aioli on stirato. We also split the endive salad with watermelon and smoked ricotta salata.

The setting is very cool...very similar to Bonterra, a Charlotte restaurant in an old church.

To be honest, I thought the food was a bit disappointing, but it was so much fun to catch up with Jackie that the food was secondary. She is an amazing woman who has led schools in South America and Asia, and she just returned from a three-month trip to Africa. Over the years, I always enjoyed Neil's stories about his adventurous aunt, and I finally got to meet her for myself when she was running a school in Peru in 2004. I find her absolutely fascinating and such an inspiration in the art of unconventional living!