There are some things on a menu that you don't really have a choice but to order. Jalapeño crab rangoons are one of those things. As soon as we saw them at Moonshine 152, it was an auto order, and they were exactly what you'd hope for: the perfect combination of a jalapeño popper and a crab rangoon. We started the night outside on the patio with those, a Downeast cider for me, my favorite, and a Battery Steele Golden Path Pilsner. Great weather, a view of the Pru in the distance, and crab rangoons on the table. Pretty hard to complain.
For dinner, I went with Leslie Knope's Fried Chicken and Waffle. Somehow, I had never actually had chicken and waffles before, and now I understand why it's such a lethal combination. The chicken had exactly the crispiness I was craving, and throwing the sweetness of the waffle, cinnamon honey butter, and sriracha-bourbon sauce into the mix completely sold me on the whole sweet and savory thing. I now also understand why Chick-fil-A looked at chicken and waffles and essentially decided to make a sandwich out of it. My friends went with the burger and birria gringo tacos, and both gave their respective orders top marks.
The best thing we ate, though, was the bananas n' cream gooey butter cake. Gooey butter cake always slaps, and Moonshine's version was top notch. Chef and owner Asia Mei even gave us a larger order, which leads to probably my favorite thing about Moonshine. Mei brought out all of our food herself and stopped to talk with us throughout the meal. That kind of thing is cool. There are plenty of places where you can get good food, but having the person behind the restaurant actually interacting with you and making you feel taken care of is the type of thing that separates a place.
Everyone else working there was just as friendly and attentive, and the whole night felt easy. Sitting outside with friends, looking out toward the Pru, drinking good beer and cider and eating food that was actually fun to order is exactly what I want out of a neighborhood restaurant.
Then I found out they do a burger of the month.
I love a monthly burger. Give me an excuse to come back every month and see what you've come up with, and there's a pretty good chance I'm going to take you up on it. Moonshine 152 took care of us from the moment we sat down until the oversized gooey butter cake hit the table. It's absolutely worth a visit, and if they keep rolling out a new burger every month, this definitely won't be my last one.