Amen.

I add a dash of nutmeg and cayenne to the white sauce, but that's just a hint of flavor.

Your summary of mac and cheese is bang on. It's easy (and cheap!) enough to make it well at home, so why bother paying dining-out prices for it?

Getting that crust takes more time than most resturants want to spend. Pot pie and lasagne are also usually disapointing when not made at home. Prep a bunch of ramikins and heat them for ten minutes when the order comes up. If we are lucky, it gsts a little time under the salamander. Feel the love.
Mac and cheese must do wonders for the food costs. And folks love it. I wish my mom made mac and cheese just once when I was a kid.
Nothing says "ball caps welcome" like macky on the menu.

Mac and cheese is a deadly delicious food! I stole my mother-in-law's recipe, which calls for a crock pot. Talk about crust! It is, probably to John's disappointment, made with American cheese, some ham, evaporated milk, butter, paprika, and some dried onion flakes. Simple enough, cheap, and makes lots.
Yay for dedicating a blog entry to our beloved mac and chee'!

I, myself, find that cheddar cheese does not melt as well as an American kind. I prefer to use Velveeta and I make my white sauce w/half & half. I always add more Velveeta than called for and if you are going to Mac & Cheese with all those fat grams, might as well use the half & half. It seems to come out richer. Oh, my arteries !

I wish I could ask my mother for her recipe, but alas that's no longer possible. The only special ingredient I remember was the Pyrex dish which promoted all that great crust on the sides and bottom. I'm not really sure if she used Cheddar, Velveeta or American cheese. I think it might have been Cheddar.

Gretchen, you're mother-in-law's version sounds great. Why not share the recipe with us?

I like a combination of jack cheese (for meltiness) and cheddar (for sharpness). Occasionally I'll add muenster if I'm feeling frisky.

Anything fancier than that is a waste of expensive cheese, IMO.

If you turn the heat off your bechamel and let the cheese melt on its own, it melts beautifully.

The mac and cheese that is on the menu at 555 is really just Mac in cheese in name only. In reality it is an incredible pasta dish and I recommend it highly. As for the Mac and cheese at Cailo's - box made kraft is better - might as well make it at home.

John's recipe sounds fantastic and I think in terms of comfort food the simpler the better --- but VELVEETA really? It's not even cheese - it's processed cheese food product. Mac and processed cheese food product just doesn't have the same ring.

my partner made foie gras terrine one year for family Christmas. to our horror, the next day, my ex-brother in law (a chef) made foie gras lobster mac and cheese with the left overs. what a jerk. he may as well have dusted it with bee pollen and drizzled a yuzu tobaco extract over it.
remind me not to forget the ball cap when i eat at his resturant.

The CRUST! Thank you, John!!

Get a few pounds of cheese-ends, the stuff delis throw away, and chop it up. Mix with very al dente macaroni. flood with whole milk and whatever spices are on sale at Walmart. Crush a big bag of potato chips over the top and bake until it dripples over the edge.

Don't ask about my baked bean recipe. I'm sure that's next for fancy restaurants and they ain't getting THAT one!

I think the answer, John, to your headline question is that a lot of us care about mac and cheese.

But that doesn't mean we care to eat it while dining out, so point taken anyway.

Can any restauranteurs fill us in on whether it's a well received menu addition?

To me it seems like a dumbed-down item for less adventurous diners. I agree with John that it doesn't seem like mac and cheese should keep company with more creative and specialized dishes. (Though I've not tried the 555 version.)

I've not tried any of the versions of macaroni and cheese offered at various Portland restaurants so I have no opinion about any of them. As I said, "Who cares?"

John, I thought I remembered from an old post that you tried the truffled version at 555. No?

I've not tried any of the versions of macaroni and cheese offered at various Portland restaurants so I have no opinion about any of them. As I said, "Who cares?"
Posted by John Golden
January 14, 2006 07:08 AM

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Now that's the attitude you want in a critic!

I love macaroni and cheese. I make it with three cheeses, very, very sharp cheddar, mozzerella & any other kind I feel like using. Then I melt butter and add it to Ritz Crackers which I crush, and add this to the top of the macaroni & Cheese.The more cheese, the better...Yummy

Here's another question: who has the best meatloaf? Now that's a topic up for discussion. Can you find grat meatloaf at any of our area restaurants or is it best left to the devices of the home chef?

Ahh, meatloaf. One simple thing that I still haven't figured out how to do correctly.
My MIL's mac and cheese recipe (as a warning, I am very much a "dash of this, dash of that" kind of gal):
Put almost 2 cans of evaporated milk, a couple Tbs. of butter, some paprika, and some dried onion flakes into a crock pot on high. While that warms, break up 1 1/4 pounds of deli American into pieces (I prefer white American). Throw that into the pot. When it's melted, add a box of macaroni cooked al dente and 1/4 pound of cheap-o deli ham cut into bits, and mix it all up. Cook on high for several hours, then switch to low. If you don't have all day, 3 hours on high is enough. Great crust!

And by the way, I've always thought that that mac and chee' recipe would be great with some drained diced tomatoes thrown in, but I've never tried it because my husband would have a heart attack if I mutilated his mom's recipe.

I think the reason why so many home spun dishes are making it onto menus these days is because going out to eat is not always an "event" like perhaps it used to be. The general population does not cook any more, for many reasons: no time, no knowlege, plenty of cash so why bother. So I think we are seeing meatloaf and mac 'n cheese because the public wants it. I know many people who eat out (or order in) 5 nights a week. They don't want to eat "fancy" food all the time, nor do they want chinese take out for every low-brow dining experience.
It sounds like most of us posting here do cook and when we go out it is to try new things or to have dishes that we could make but don't always want to put the effort into. But I look at what my colleagues take out of the office refrigerator for lunch and know exactly why mac 'n cheese is back.

Grittys Meatloaf is Good!

Mac and cheese is that. Does it really matter what kind of cheese? In my family we use what we have. We don't go out and buy some aged cheddar, some "local" farm cheese either. Usually, we mix in some jack or cheddar or both with some gryere (Sp?)or Swiss maybe even with some parmesan, nutmeg and cayenne. Always pyrex, always bubbling hot and crispy top. Why all the fuss otherwise. Like mom's sauce or her meatloaf, no one makes it as good as she does. As for 555, theirs is a far cry from mac and cheese and in name only (they do play on names with most of their menu). I had it for the first time a few weeks ago. Mom's idea of mac and cheese was furthest from my mind and palate.

My son and i have been making this mac and cheese together since he was 4, he is 14 now and his participation changes with the years.
saute 1tbs fine onion in 3tbs. butter add 3tbs flour cook until light brown add 2.5 c milk and cook until thickened turn heat low add 1.5 c tilamook cheeder stir until melted add white pepper and cooked macaroni, remove from heat add .25c parmageno put in butter dish ( we use a glazed gratine) cover with bread crumbs and bake until bubly (350 for 30) nice crust top and bottom. We travel a lot and mac and cheese is always a choice for my son but we have never had better.

I personally can't relate to New England style homemade mac and cheese. I unfortunately grew up on the "specialty" from Kraft.

A few posts ago you promised to lay into some restaurants that deserved it. I have a few suggestions for restarants that could use a few pointers and these either deserve to have their business tarnished or cater to tourists to such a degree that a bad review would not hurt them.

My first suggestion would be the The Harasseeket in Freeport. This place was good for a very short period of time in the early nineties. Since then the food has been terrible, the service is overly formal and intrusive when you don't want it to be and hard to find when you need them. Their tableside preperations are cheesy and outlandish and the prices overboard. I have eaten their twice on an invite and find it obnoxious each time I go there.

My second suggestion would be Dimillo's. Cheesy and touristy with a boring menu. I don't expect this place to turn into a culinary fiind but it could actually be kitschy hangout.

There is nothing wrong with calling these places what they are - which is a waste of time - when there are much better places to eat. Hopefully by pointing out their faults they will correct them.

I was always told to ask questions of those whose opinions I agreed with.
I find myself agreeing with the majority of posts on this blog (varied as they may seem between you, to an outsider, they are ALL quite influential and knowledgeable), therefore I'll pose a question and simply wait to see if it elicits any responses:

I've been asked to arrange a 'night out' this coming Sunday for a visitor from Colorado and an executive I work for. He is at a loss for where to take her, but gave this example:
"If the Top of the East played jazz all night and served my kind of food."
His favorite restaurant is Fore Street, by the way. While I've been to quite a few of the restaurants discussed in this blog, I still do not consider myself well-versed in Portland dinner-life, and would sincerely appreciate any suggestions you might be able to offer for entertainment of this kind.

Thank you!

Remember the mac and cheese at Commisary- it was terrible! they made the mixture up ahead of time and then put it in a casuela to heat, but by then the pasta had absorbed all the liquid and it was dry. A friend told me that the NY chefs that "watched over" said it was because they couldn't hire good help in Maine. I guess all the other great restaurants in Maine got all the good help.

Go back to no holds barred, John.

Jessica--Many of the good restaurants are closed on Sunday except for Cinque Terre. Great food, very attractive, attentive service.