Mac & Cheese As A Cure For Cranky

Not much in the way of food-related posts lately, is there? I haven’t been doing my part because I’ve had so little to comment on—although I do make a concerted effort to try new things as often as it’s convenient, my selections rarely stray out of the realm of comfort food and onto higher, blogworthy planes.

Le Zie is a fucking boring restaurant. They do a handful of creative things, and they do them well, but their menu has been and always will be a hodgepodge of fancy-sounding entrees you could find anywhere. They’re overpriced, they’re slow, and when I get appetizers involving poached eggs, their idiot delivery men often manage to spill yolk in places that yolk should never be.

It’s gross outside. Gross weather means it’s time for the carb-rich, the fatty, the cheesy; it’s been ages since I tried their macaroni and cheese, and while it’s going to mean extra treadmill time tonight, I didn’t feel like I could last the day on salad.

Le Zie’s macaroni and cheese involves about forty different kinds of cheese, or so it seems, baked to crispness on the top, and motherfucking black truffles. Considering their standards, I’d imagine these aren’t top-of-the-line little shits, but they’re still sinfully good. Truffle slices up top; truffle oil within. I may die fat and alone, but for today I will eat a tasty (and surprisingly hearty) lunch, enjoying liquid cholesterol oozing from every noodle.

While sublime, it’s an ugly dish, hence the dearth of photographic documentation (my phone takes brokeass pictures; my real camera is at home). But this can’t change how it tastes—it’s like Gordon and Tony constantly repeat: Simple ingredients, creatively prepared, flawlessly executed; it’s the only real recipe for culinary success there is. If Le Zie could apply these standards to their dry-ass salmon and their oily monkfish, I’d eat there every day.

Black Truffle Mac & Cheese – try it. It’s damn good. And hey, maybe if enough people opt for the good stuff, they can phase out the crap. When was the last time you paid $16.95 for a few ounces of fish wrapped in bacon? Joe Buda did it the other day. It made him angry. You don’t want to see Joe Buda angry.