Comfort Classics

The experts will tell you that eating your way to comfort is not really possible. Once you down that quart of Chunky Monkey, you’ll still have that jerk of a boss, the family is nonetheless coming to your place for Thanksgiving, and, yes, that is cellulite on your thighs. Did we mention the obesity epidemic?

Instead of seeking solace and comfort in the plate (after all, Mom was not gravy—she just mixed the powder with warm milk), let’s just call it what it is: Food that tastes great, that doesn’t require a cultural guide or require us to stretch our palates more than half a continent. Sometimes dinner should just be delicious, period.

And in case “Mom” isn’t available, doesn’t know how to cook, or is at the office working out a mechanic’s lien until 9 p.m., here’s our dossier of favorite local places to eat food that “Mom” might have prepared for those cold winter nights when all you want is a little . . . comfort.  —Adam Platt

Pot Roast at Modern Cafe
The Modern’s signature dish was made famous by Scott Pampuch during his tenure and is perfectly executed today by Phillip Becht—two of the best chefs in town when it comes to the slow art of braising. Thick chunks of melting beef are teamed with sweet root vegetables and whipped potatoes covered with the beefy, neatly balanced, and delicately reduced braising juices. Touted by most as the town's best grandmother food. 337 13th Ave. NE, Mpls., 612-378-9882  [top]

Swedish Meatballs at Pop!
When Clark and Leslie Knutson opened Pop! Restaurant, they put a Scandinavian comfort food classic on the menu, and it’s been a local favorite ever since. The plate is centered around a stack of moist golf-ball-sized meatballs, a heavenly rich and thick cream gravy, a dollop of buttery mashed spuds, and a sweet-tart lingonberry conserve that pulls it all together. 2859 NE Johnson St., Mpls., 612-788-0455  [top]

Cinnamon Rolls at Isles Bun
Someone once said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Maybe that’s why the line at Isles is as long as the wafting scent of strong java and toasted cinnamon sugar that drifts over Lake of the Isles every morning thanks to the resident baking geniuses. The dough comes out of an ancient mixer, is worked by hand, turned out onto a large board in the open bakery, schmeered with cinnamon filling, rolled, cut, and stuffed into tidy trays, then baked until the buns seem ready to jump from the tin on their own. Served warm, iced or plain, these sticky, fist-sized delights will get your head straight even on the coldest morning. 1424 W. 28th St., Mpls., 612-870-4466  [top]

Roast Duck at Lake Elmo Inn
When I was a young lad my father used to walk me over to the small Czech and Ukrainian restaurants on the southern edges of Yorkville on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. We’d order roast duck, slow cooked until the buttery meat was falling off the bone, the skin mahogany-crisp and devoid of fat. I always felt like a grownup when I ordered duck in a restaurant. Thirty years later, I found the dish again at the Lake Elmo Inn, served with smoky and nutty wild rice, a vegetable “medley” that changes with the seasons, and just enough schmaltzy love to create new memories. 3442 Lake Elmo Ave. N., Lake Elmo, 651-777-8495  [top]

French Onion Soup at Salut Bar Américain
The sturdy crock of caramelized onions, simmered with wine and stock, filled to the brim and crowned with a large toasted crouton and a slab of Gruyère, then broiled until the cheese is superglued to the rim and running down the sides of the cup, is the centerpiece for one of the most restorative meals in town. Say what you will about the faux-Minne-bistro motif, but paired with a salade mixte or a cup of frites, the onion soup at Salut is supremely fortifying in all the best ways. 5034 France Ave. S., Edina, 952-929-3764  [top]

Charlie’s Kitchen Sandwich at The Monte Carlo
You enter the old building through the inviting and familiar entrance, sail past the massive bar, and can almost taste the icy martini before you order it from your waitress in the old-fashioned white uniform. You know what you want—the Charlie’s Kitchen Sandwich, a longtime favorite at the beloved but long-gone Minneapolis eatery. It’s six ounces of grilled filet mignon with horseradish sour cream on pumpernickel. Of course, there is a choice of sides, but the potato salad is the way to go. 219 3rd Ave. N., Mpls., 612-333-5900  [top]

Wings at Pastor Hamilton’s
In this desolate and empty blue-collar end of St. Paul’s West 7th Street sits a small barbecue joint that makes its own sauce and serves a decent rack of ribs. While the rubes are content to gnaw on the pig bones, I would urge you to tuck into a twelve-pack of the good Pastor’s chicken wings. If salty, juicy, and deeply flavored barn bird, sealed inside a mantle of crusty, paper-thin, crunchy skin transports you back to the idyllic summer Sunday afternoons of a simpler time, then this is the chicken of your dreams. The price is soft, portions are large, and the wings are even better after a day in the fridge, brought back to room temperature and washed down with a glass of lemonade. 1150 E. 7th St., St. Paul, 651-772-0279 [top]

Morton’s Salad at Morton’s, The Steakhouse
Salad? You bet. Great steak houses all have their markers—barometer dishes that define the experience. The salad at Mort’s—romaine and iceberg in a creamy blue cheese dressing, tossed with hard-boiled egg and anchovies—is as simple as can be, but it’s the perfect prelude to a hefty grilled steak dinner. Devotees look forward to the salad as much as the steak—both have plenty of sizzle. In a town crowded with steak houses all eager to establish signature dishes that will separate them from the rest of the herd, sizzle counts. I like mine with plenty of chopped bacon from the baked potato caddy . . . seriously. Gaviidae Common, 555 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., 612-673-9700  [top]

Turkey Dinner at The Lex
There are several restaurants that do a nicely turned out hot turkey dinner with all the trimmings on the other 364 days of the year, but it’s The Lexington that takes the fat end of the wishbone. Its turkey comes sliced in hefty portions, with sage stuffing, potatoes, giblet gravy, and cranberry sauce. Eat in the bar, and enjoy one of life’s great guilty pleasures. Order your bird in the more formal dining room, and you’ll swear you’re having dinner with your great aunt. There’s nothing fancy about it, but the Lex’s vibe takes the dish all the way up to comfort food Valhalla. 1096 Grand Ave., St. Paul, 651-222-5878  [top]

Apple Pie at Turtle Bread Co.
There is nothing as quintessentially autumnal as a few pounds of thinly sliced Haralson apples seasoned with sweet spices, sugar, and a drizzle of fresh lemon juice, piled inside a buttery, crisp hand-rolled pie shell. The über version of this American classic is found at Turtle Bread. The apples hold their shape and intensity despite the long cooking time, and the crust is always molasses-scented and brittle. Have a wedge at a table or take a pie home and try to hold yourself to just one slice. 4762 Chicago Ave., Mpls., 612-823-7333; 3421 W. 44th St., Mpls., 612-924-6013; One Financial Plaza, 120 S. 6th St., Mpls., 612-455-2552  [top]

Frozen Custard at Liberty
Designer ice creams are hot and gourmet scoop shops are all the rage, but in a world seemingly dominated by $5 ice cream cones that come in flavors such as lemon thyme or salmon fudge ripple, a good old-fashioned custard cone is one of the most reassuring and satisfying ways to sate your inner child. Denser and creamier than ice cream, custard is quickly frozen in sturdy machinery that eliminates the formation of ice crystals and keeps the amount of air to a bare minimum. Liberty makes its custard with premium ingredients, in small batches, every day. Closed Dec. 17–Jan. 8. 5401 Nicollet Ave., Mpls., 612-823-8700  [top]

Pancakes at Al’s Breakfast
Comfort food is about the style and surroundings, the memories and zeitgeist. At Al’s Breakfast in Dinkytown, they all come together in an edible harmonic convergence. The small, narrow eatery only has fourteen stools, so a seat at the counter is one of the most prized pieces of real estate in town. Grab a Strib, wait your turn, order up a platter of cakes (buttermilk and buckwheat seem to be on the bowed and seasoned griddle most often), pile on the real butter and pure maple syrup, and shazam!, the best pancakes in the Cities. 413 14th Ave. SE, Mpls., 612-331-9991  [top]

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup at Cosmos
If there’s an Eames chair in your place and Andy Warhol is your idea of a classic artist, then the coolest grilled cheese sandwich in town is your idea of comfort food. It’s on the lunch, bar, and room-service menus at the Graves 601 eatery and made with a seven-year-old Hook’s cheddar, which is supersharp. The velvet hammer is the crust-off buttery brioche that platforms the construction (a little truffle honey is used to balance the decadent and intense cheese). In tomato season, the restaurant pairs the grilled cheese with tomato-ginger soup, a stunner of a summertime treat. Graves 601 Hotel, 601 1st Ave. N., Mpls., 612-312-1168  [top]

Stuffed Cabbage at Kramarczuk’s
Orest Kramarczuk is as addicted to doing food the right way as anyone I know, and his modest (newly remodeled) café next to the deli that bears his name turns out some of the tastiest Eastern European grub this side of the Black Sea. Choosing between favorites can be tough, but when the wind howls from the northwest there really is no choice at all. I go straight for sweet-and-sour stuffed cabbage. These little roulades of garlic-tinged ground pork and beef, swaddled in green cabbage blankets and slow-cooked in a tomato sauce, are superbly balanced. The experts scarf theirs paired with a Pilsener Urquell. Czech, mate. 215 Hennepin Ave. E., Mpls., 612-379-3018  [top]

Roast Chicken at Barbette
Barbette’s farm-fresh bird, rubbed with butter and herbs, roasted until the skin is crisp and then served bathed in a spoonful of natural jus, often on a pool of toothsome risotto, is a thing of beauty. The gild on the lily is the room it’s served in—a funky and timeless neighborhood bistro that always seems filled with the happiest crowd in town. Don’t skip the pommes frites. 1600 W. Lake St., Mpls., 612-827-5710  [top]

Global Comfort
Here are seven classic Twin Cities plates that all say “Mom’s kitchen” to some subset of the population, and could for you too.  [top]

Osso Bucco at Osteria I Nonni
The Marchionda family and chef Filipo Cafari change I Nonni’s menu many times each year, but the toothsome and melting, classic braised veal shank is always on the menu. If you love pot roast, you’ll love this Italian stalwart, served on saffron-infused risotto Milanese. 981 Sibley Memorial Hwy., Lilydale, 651-905-1081  [top]

Lobster Gnocchi at D’Amico Cucina
Available on the bar menu for as long as anyone can remember, this bowlful of tender little potato dumplings comes napped with a briny, bold, and buttery lobster sauce that’s studded with chunks of fresh lobster. The perfect quick meal before a night on the town or a late supper after a show. Butler Square, 100 N. 6th St., Mpls., 612-338-2401  [top]

Katsu Don at Nami
The quintessential Japanese dish, this casserole-for-one starts with a large bowl of rice that’s topped with scallions, beaten egg, sliced fried tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet), and drizzled with a mirin-dashi-soy reduction. The lid is dropped and the whole bowl is briefly steamed, fusing the ingredients together in what many Japanese consider the perfect comfort dish. 251 1st Ave. N., Mpls., 612-333-1999  [top]

#508 at Quang’s Restaurant
The roast pork and won ton egg-noodle soup at Quang comes piled high with vegetables, shrimp, fried shallots, and snipped garlic chives. Mix in your own basil, sliced hot chilies, and bean sprouts at the table. This soup is a must for anyone seeking the perfect winter restorative. It’s the Vietnamese version of Grandma’s chicken soup, and just as effective for squelching large appetites and head colds. Slurping the oversized bowl of steaming broth is allowed. 2719 Nicollet Ave., Mpls., 612-870-4739  [top]

Roasted Pork Chow Fun at Shuang Cheng
A huge platter of wide ribbons of traditional Cantonese noodles is tossed with slices of sweet, barbecued roast pork and combined with spring onion, bean sprouts, and soy sauce. This dish is hard to stop eating once you start—the perfect blend of salty and sweet, crispy and soft, spicy and mild. 1320 SE 4th St., Mpls., 612-378-0208  [top]

Cassoulet at Vincent
As its popularity grows among Vincent’s regulars, this traditional stick-to-your-ribs bowl of baked beans frequently pops up as a weekday special. French white beans are cooked low and slow with garlic sausage, duck confit, and either pork shoulder, belly, or ham, then seasoned with tomato, wine, garlic and herbs and finished with toasted breadcrumbs. 1100 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., 612-630-1189  [top]

Saag Paneer at Surabhi
Sautéed chopped spinach is mixed with fresh homemade Indian farmer’s cheese, cooked with onions, cumin, coriander seed, and ginger. The creamy intensity makes it the perfect partner for a tandoori meal of lamb or chicken—or try it on its own with a few disks of onion kulcha bread to sop up every last drop. 9818 Aldrich Ave. S., Bloomington, 952-746-3663  [top]