On one of her recent trips to New York, Hollaback Girl and I met for an early breakfast on a bitter cold Saturday morning. We met at a place in Chelsea called Cafeteria that I always wanted to try. It's an intriguing looking place and there always seems to be a line of brunch goers waiting for a table. In my book, that's always a sure sign of a good eating place.
Their menu certainly featured innovative items, but what caught my eye when we sat down was the table next to us. One of the diners was diving into a succulent chaffing dish filled with sunshine golden macaroni and cheese, the top gently browned and enticing. Further exploration revealed they served mac & cheese 24 hours a day and offered several variations: the basic version with cheddar and fontina, a souped up version with bacon and smoked Gouda and for three bucks more, you could have it with truffle oil. Freaking perfection!
Then Hollaback Girl noticed another variation--mac & cheese spring rolls. The waiter was immediately summoned. The amiable fellow described these to us: a spring roll wrapper is stuffed with mac & cheese, deep fried and served with a smoked Gouda dipping sauce. Good..LORD. We were tempted, but it was only 9 am, so we settled for eggs: an omelet for Hollaback Girl, green eggs and ham for me. It was delicious.
I do enjoy decadent foods, but macaroni and cheese is the stuff of special occasion. That's big sin. We're not talking about the standard blue boxed Kraft product we grew up with. The signature dish of the latchkey poster child has evolved, becoming as gourmet as a fine slab of fois gras. Having tried it studded with fine bits of black truffle, I could never go back to the orange powder packet that represented itself as sauce.
Jewels is a big fan of City Bakery's version of mac&cheese. It's rich, to be sure, but lacks that bite of a sharp cheddar that would make it sublime. I prefer Artisinal's crusty version, served in a small crock, bubbling like a cauldron.
On the lower East side, there is a reasonable place that sells just mac & cheese called S'Mac (which stands for Sarita's mac & cheese). They have a mac & cheese happy hour and serve 11 different versions of mac & cheese, from traditional to meat lovers to Cajun style. That's love.
I have tried the mac & cheese at Blue Smoke. While others have raved at it's ultracreamygoodness, I thought it was average. I grazed on their chipotle wings instead, which in fact are particularly excellent. I heard that Dumont in Williamburg (Brooklyn) serves a three cheese version that is dynamite (they credit the addition of lardons), And Maremma, a Tuscan style eatery on West 10th off Hudson apparently wins kudos for their version. It must be tried.
For me, mac & cheese doesn't encourage a cross borough pilgrimage that say, fried chicken would. But if you come across an intriguing variation, it may be well worth a flirtation.
Their menu certainly featured innovative items, but what caught my eye when we sat down was the table next to us. One of the diners was diving into a succulent chaffing dish filled with sunshine golden macaroni and cheese, the top gently browned and enticing. Further exploration revealed they served mac & cheese 24 hours a day and offered several variations: the basic version with cheddar and fontina, a souped up version with bacon and smoked Gouda and for three bucks more, you could have it with truffle oil. Freaking perfection!
Then Hollaback Girl noticed another variation--mac & cheese spring rolls. The waiter was immediately summoned. The amiable fellow described these to us: a spring roll wrapper is stuffed with mac & cheese, deep fried and served with a smoked Gouda dipping sauce. Good..LORD. We were tempted, but it was only 9 am, so we settled for eggs: an omelet for Hollaback Girl, green eggs and ham for me. It was delicious.
I do enjoy decadent foods, but macaroni and cheese is the stuff of special occasion. That's big sin. We're not talking about the standard blue boxed Kraft product we grew up with. The signature dish of the latchkey poster child has evolved, becoming as gourmet as a fine slab of fois gras. Having tried it studded with fine bits of black truffle, I could never go back to the orange powder packet that represented itself as sauce.
Jewels is a big fan of City Bakery's version of mac&cheese. It's rich, to be sure, but lacks that bite of a sharp cheddar that would make it sublime. I prefer Artisinal's crusty version, served in a small crock, bubbling like a cauldron.
On the lower East side, there is a reasonable place that sells just mac & cheese called S'Mac (which stands for Sarita's mac & cheese). They have a mac & cheese happy hour and serve 11 different versions of mac & cheese, from traditional to meat lovers to Cajun style. That's love.
I have tried the mac & cheese at Blue Smoke. While others have raved at it's ultracreamygoodness, I thought it was average. I grazed on their chipotle wings instead, which in fact are particularly excellent. I heard that Dumont in Williamburg (Brooklyn) serves a three cheese version that is dynamite (they credit the addition of lardons), And Maremma, a Tuscan style eatery on West 10th off Hudson apparently wins kudos for their version. It must be tried.
For me, mac & cheese doesn't encourage a cross borough pilgrimage that say, fried chicken would. But if you come across an intriguing variation, it may be well worth a flirtation.
1 comment:
I'm free. We'll make a day of it. Pretty sure we can hit them all. Let's go.
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