We all crave comfort foods now and then. Even chefs can’t resist the occasional tribute to meatloaf, grilled cheese, tuna salad and the like.
It’s difficult to blame them, mind you. The simple recipes are almost too accommodating, as if begging for refinement. Yet even dressed up, the flavors remain welcoming and familiar. And dishes that bring contentment commend just about any moment.
Oh, you probably wouldn’t celebrate an anniversary with mac and cheese. But steam rising from a pot pie is welcoming on a sullen winter evening in childhood and as decades advance. Pizza calls to you just a surely after a little league win as following a big night in the men’s bowling league.
But peril hunches in the kitchen, eager to pounce on the chef who strays too far from the comfort zone — who stretches meatloaf with quinoa, perhaps, or tops that lobster mac and cheese with fresh kale.
A few have even attempted to stack favorites one on top of another — grilled meatloaf mac and cheese sandwiches, say — in a culinary play at Zenga.
That’s why the Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich at Loch Lomond Roadhouse is so remarkable. Instead of piling on ostentatious ingredients until the structure topples, chef Mayme Dyslin decided on something rather simple.
In fact, her inspiration came from a hurried breakfast.
“I was having a bagel and I thought ‘hmm — that would make a good grilled cheese,’” Dyslin explained.
All she added to the fundamental recipe is a little spinach and a few slices of tomato. Yes, she opted for Texas toast. And she ditched bland American cheese for a combination of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan.
Still, it is just a childhood favorite in larger portion … well, until you begin to realize the achievement.
Dyslin turned the spinach on the grill with a little garlic. By muting the bitter screech of garlic and softening the bite of the greens, by taking that little extra step to find a compelling tone, the chef developed an almost herbal note. It ruffles over the mellow mozzarella and lends an earthy trait to the cheddar.
As you begin to anticipate that familiar barb from the famed orange cheese, stark talons of scorched parmesan clutch at your palate. The sensation is rustic, rich, bellicose and biting all at once.
Instead of dusting the parmesan inside the sandwich, Dyslin coats the bread in the sharp and earthy cheese before heading to the grill. The result is an intense rumble and a bittersweet flare.
“The zing — it’s awesome,” she observed.
Indeed. But all of this — the three cheeses, the buttered hunks of bread, the zing — feels so illusory.
That is ultimately what makes this grilled cheese sandwich so impressive. The grilled spinach and tomato — also grilled to bring out some of the juicy, fruity character — transform it into a surprisingly light dish.
The sandwich brims with the sweetness of summer. It promises heft and delivers deftness. Despite the richness, the fierceness, it is the gratifying subtleties that stand out.
Somehow, Dyslin has created a refreshing grilled cheese.
Of course, there is a downside. For now it is a white board special, offered only on occasion. But it has gained such a following, Dyslin expects to add the sandwich to the Loch Lomond Roadhouse’s summer menu.
And that is comforting.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
