Columbus Monthly / December 2011 / In search of great comfort food

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In search of great comfort food

It’s the holidays: What better way to beat the stress and hassle than to settle down with a plate of what brings back soothing memories?

For a New England boy, such as one of us, there’s nothing like the aroma of beans baking all day, whether it’s the wet sort simmering in a pot with an onion and molasses, or the dry version cooked in a shallow pan with brown sugar and topped with slices of salt pork.

We understand, however, that many people not growing up in, say, Rhode Island, might find little comfort in baked beans. Their go-to comfort food may be fried chicken, for example. Which is why the seemingly simple topic of comfort is not so simple.

We think, however, that we all can agree on the fact that comfort food is not pretentious, although there are fancy versions offered here and there (see “Gourmet style”). And what qualifies a dish is part nostalgia: What were you fed at happy moments of your childhood?

This is where things get tricky. There are even gender differences when it comes to comfort food. Men find comfort in hearty meat dishes, which they choose when they’re feeling good. Women find comfort in chocolate when they’re feeling anxious. Youngsters find more comfort in snack foods than their elders. Seriously, these differences show up in scientific research.

So this topic is more fully subjective—a matter of incorrigible taste and preference—than is our usual job of reviewing restaurant food. Much depends on what our shared culture defines as comfort food. In our estimation, for many of us that would include apple pie, grilled cheese, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, pot roast, potato salad, tomato soup . . . we could go on. And so could you.

The question is: Where can I get some? Places with lots of comfort food on the menu include Der Dutchman, Cap City Fine Diner, Knead Urban Diner, Wildflower Cafe, Club 185, Tasi Cafe, Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails, Chef-O-Nette, Nancy’s Home Cooking and Kitchen Little in the North Market, among others (see “A tale of two restaurants”).

So here are some of our recommendations for finding good comfort food, including a few tips if you want to try cooking some of the dishes yourself.

But, first, another word about baked beans. If you’re doing the shallow pan variety, the secret is to catch them at the moment when all the liquid has been absorbed by the beans, but before they scorch. And if you’re looking to let someone else spend time in the kitchen, the best place in town to order them is at City Barbeque.

Apple pie

Good apple pie is tough to find. We generally have been disappointed with those at farmers’ markets, and store-bought ones are for the most part terrible—sickly sweet with mushy apples and doughy crusts. We do like the pies at Rife’s Market in Grandview, though. If you really expand the definition, the apple galette at Pistacia Vera is dreamy.

Setting aside a reasonable debate about the presence or absence of cinnamon, here’s our view of the ideal apple pie: a flaky, buttery crust (but not at all greasy), apples cooked through but still retaining shape and texture, and sweet, but still apple-tart. We’ve come to believe there’s a great one out there, and we intend to keep eating until we find it.

Fried chicken

So many questions surround the issue of how to make real fried chicken. Battered or simply flour coated? Soaked in buttermilk? Deep or pan fried? In oil, shortening or lard?

We reject the notion that KFC is real fried chicken (not that it can’t cause cravings). And, sadly, since the demise of Clark’s Dining Room near Newark, it’s harder to find great pan-fried chicken hereabouts. But we suggest trying the buttermilk fried chicken at Hubbard Grille. And La Plaza Tapatia offers a Mexican-style, which is pretty good.

If you’re frying your own, try a simple roll in flour and frying in half lard and half Crisco. But, as we all know, variations are endless and highly debated.

Grilled cheese

When we were kids, it was nothing more than white bread, butter and slices of Kraft American singles. Nothing wrong with that, except, well, you can do a bit better. All together now: Use good cheese! If you’re making your own, choose between (deliciously) frying it in butter or doing open-face under the broiler.

And now Columbus has the Cheesy Truck, which is devoted to grilled cheese in all its forms and glory (see thecheesytruck.com).

Macaroni and cheese

This is a stick-to-your-ribs favorite that comes in many versions. What all the good ones have in common is just the right amount of really fine cheese. Try the five-year-old Wisconsin cheddar from Curds & Whey in the North Market and swoon.

Lots of restaurants offer decent mac and cheese, including Betty’s, Milestone 229, Skillet, Tip Top, Bar Louie, Rusty Bucket and Kitchen Little.

Mashed potatoes

Now, who doesn’t like mashed potatoes? It’s the side dish that goes with everything, and it can be practically healthful (try using non-fat chicken broth in place of butter) to heart-stoppingly rich (which is our favorite way, of course). Since the advent of instant mashed 40 years or so ago, and now frozen or refrigerated pre-prepared, some people have never tasted the real thing. So we offer as a service this tip for indisputably the best mashed potato recipe: see pages 273-274 of Michael Field’s Cooking School.

Meanwhile, some places in town that reliably serve better-than-good mashed potatoes are Alana’s, Knead and Cap City.

Meatloaf

This is the very heart of comfort food. The best secret is to use about half ground beef for meaty flavor, a quarter pork for juiciness and a quarter veal for texture. Fillers, flavorings and toppings are up to you.

You’ll find variously good meatloaf at Betty’s, Club 185, Bob Evans, Mimi’s Cafe and Tip Top. It’s Meatloaf Monday at Linden Café, also at Wildflower Cafe. If you like bison, try Ted’s Montana Grill.

And especially well-regarded is Cap City’s highly presentable version.

Pot roast

For some reason, good pot roast is hard to find, except at French restaurants, where it tends to be called boeuf a la mode (but does not come with ice cream on top). We find chuck—perhaps boned and rolled—particularly good if you cook it long enough with lots of sliced onions and garlic; red wine is a matter of personal choice.

You can find pot roast at Mimi’s, Tip Top and on Thursdays at Wildflower Cafe. There’s also pot roast stroganoff at Bob Evans, and an Irish version with stout at Yard Club at O’Toole’s in Hilliard.

Potato salad

We greatly fear that if you want notable potato salad, you’ll have to make your own, using a very good quality of mayo and adding celery seed (the secret ingredient!).

Since there’s not all that much potato salad on restaurant menus, we collected a number of takeout versions. All were cooked a bit soft, none used particularly wonderful mayonnaise, none had much crunch and the variation was mostly in added ingredients.

Katzinger’s had almost no salt in either version we tried. The Whole Foods skin version had very little salt, too. (Of course, you could always add some, which is lots easier than taking it out.) Kroger’s offering had a faint off flavor. Giant Eagle had four varieties, each $1 more than the one before: Grandma’s (bland), Deviled Egg (orange), Loaded (bacon and cheese) and Sour Cream and Dill (almost flavorful). You’ll find German potato salad at Schmidt’s.

Tomato soup

The whole secret to good tomato soup is to use properly vine-ripened tomatoes. Which probably means you should make it in August or September from your own garden, or at least a farmers’ market, and then freeze it. Of course, it’s December now, so your best bet if you can’t go the homegrown route is to try our favorites at a handful of restaurants: Hubbard Grille’s offering, the creamy version at the Clarmont or one with Indian spices at Taj Mahal just north of the Ohio State University campus. 

We’re interested in knowing about your favorite comfort foods, and where we can get them. Tell us at cmfoodies@gmail.com, and we’ll share the good news.

John Champlin and John Marshall are restaurant reviewers for Columbus Monthly.

 

Gourmet style

Several restaurants around town have taken classic comfort food dishes and added an upscale twist. Here are some notable finds:

Mac & pork

Southern pimento cheese, cavatappi pasta, béchamel, four-year Pearl Valley cheddar, fresh ricotta, sweet pimentón peppers and cider-braised pulled smoked Tamworth pork shoulder with arugula.

Skillet, $13

Lobster mashed potatoes

Maine lobster and Yukon gold potatoes.

M, $14 (side dish)

Grilled four cheese sandwich

Swiss, cheddar, gorgonzola and Parmesan with pesto sauce and marinated tomato on ciabatta. Served with a cup of tomato bisque.

Spagio, $11 (available Tuesday through Friday till 3 pm)

Ohio beef pot roast

Served with a truffle potato purée and southern mole.  

Park Creek Kitchen,  $20

Pork and beans

Braised corona beans mixed with pickled jalapeño and served with pork shank and sautéed kale.

The Rossi Bar + Kitchen, $19

 

Asking around

Robert Warzycha

Head coach, Columbus Crew

What’s your favorite comfort food?

My favorite comfort foods are pierogies and bigos, a traditional Polish stew. Bigos, especially, is something that the more you cook or reheat it, the better it tastes. You can make pierogies with cheese, meat, cabbage and even blueberries, which make them sweet and very, very good.

Where do you go to satisfy your craving?

Hubert’s Polish Kitchen at the North Market. Hubert is a friend of mine. He makes them there and they are very good.

Nancy Kramer

Founder and chief culture officer, Resource Interactive

What’s your favorite comfort food?

Peanut butter and chocolate cookies smooshed together from Northstar. Not the entire cookie, though. They are huge!

Jean-Marie Zeitouni

Music director, Columbus Symphony

What is your favorite comfort food?

A dish I make at home called pâtï chinois (a French-Canadian version of shepherd’s pie).

Why do you love it?

It reminds me of home and family. Also, I’m from Canada, so it’s something warm in your belly on cold nights!

TaKeysha Sheppard Cheney

CEO and publisher, The Women’s Book

When you think of comfort food, what comes to mind?

I love most sweets, but my favorite is ice cream. I love the never-ending assortment of flavors and toppings that can turn a basic flavor like vanilla into the most decadent dessert you’ve ever had.

Where do you go to find it in Columbus?

To one of my favorite local, woman-owned businesses, of course: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. Besides the fact that I admire the awesome business brand Jeni has created, her salty caramel flavored ice cream has been imitated, but never duplicated. It’s perfection and I love it!