Beasley’s Chicken and Honey
Crispy Cheese Grit Fries with Chow Chow and Malt Aoili
Fried Chicken and Waffles with Honey
Chicken Pot Pie with Milk Gravy and Cornmeal Crust
Ashe County Cheddar Pimento Mac & Cheese Custard
Buttermilk Biscuits with Butter and Honey
Shaker Lemon Pie
Red Velvet Cake
Spiced Apple Biscuit Bread Pudding
Chocolate Chess Pie
With inclement weather shutting down much of Raleigh as early as 4:00pm and dinner at Stanbury cast aside before we even arrived by a sign in the window citing employee safety as a reason to keep doors closed it was with a quick re-route that part of Tuesday’s lunch plans became Monday’s first dinner and with the sort of snow that makes a native Ohioan chuckle despite slowing North Carolina traffic to a grind our arrival at Beasley’s Chicken and Honey was greeted by a near empty dining room and service that can only be described as fawning given the fact that for more than half of our meal we were the only persons in house.
Owned and operated by Ashley Christensen, a self-trained and Beard Awarded chef largely responsible for much of Downtown Raleigh’s recent culinary renaissance since opening Poole’s Diner in 2007, Beasley’s Chicken and Honey is the sort of place where upscale décor meets Deep South service to compliment the fare and with the entire menu published on three different chalk-boards our biggest difficulty was deciding where to draw the line, particularly with plans for Poole’s scheduled for later that same night.
Happy to over-order, but using our hirsuit server as a sounding board to be sure we weren’t biting off far more than we could chew, it was with the statement of ‘it’s a lot, but not a ton’ that an appetizer, two entrees, and two sides were ordered…though the later addition of all four desserts did indeed elicit a “really?” despite the total bill tallying a mere $65 for what was indeed a whole lot of food.
Expedited in service as a result of the empty room it was just moments after ordering that a Jenga-stack of ‘fries’ arrived and although both chow-chow and aioli were nicely prepared neither was especially necessary, the sharp cheddar notes and creamy grits beneath a golden shell damn near perfect on their own, a similar sentiment applicable to the follow-up sides of glistening biscuits lacquered in honey butter and a slab of steaming pimento cheese custard that may have benefited from a bit more browning, though both the spice and smooth texture were quite pleasant served just as it was.
Speaking to the entrees, it was admittedly tough to take a pass on the pork shoulder meatloaf, but opting to instead to focus on the restaurant’s eponymous item the reward was two superlative plates of chicken, the crisply fried brined bird atop a supple waffle only improved by locally sourced honey while the cornmeal crusted pot pie was absolutely brimming with pulled meat and fresh vegetables bathed in thick gravy, each bite compelling another until I was wiping the bowl clean with the last bits of biscuit while wondering how such a ‘simple’ dish managed to be so much better than versions served elsewhere North or South.
Having already mentioned how our dessert indecision led to a ‘one of each’ order, it was thankfully after a fifteen minute respite that our sweet quartet arrived and beginning with the piping hot bread pudding I immediately swooned, the buttermilk biscuit base proving a perfect backdrop to freshly stewed apples while whipped cream and cinnamon caramel sauce added restrained sweetness, a similar ‘not too sugary’ situation found in the cocoa-rich, cream cheese frosted Red Velvet Cake as well as the intensely rich slice of Chocolate Chess while the lemon-rind spiked Shaker pie was almost unimaginably creamy and defiantly sour, the latter two both plates best shared…though considering the quality of the all-butter crust one may not want to, no matter how full.
http://ac-restaurants.com/beasleys/
