When the temperature drops, dinner changes personality
By Patty Padawer
Winter is the time when slow-cooked and slow-roasted meals that have lingered on the back of the stove will chase away the chills.
Moxy Bistro in the Central West End offers comforting cuisine, with chef-owner Eric Brenner creating globally inspired foods. His favorite foods from his childhood were the traditional German foods and American classics his grandmother prepared. He has translated and updated her creations, having transformed grilled cheese and tomato soup into tomato bisque and cheese toast. Pork chops and sauerkraut with applesauce reappear here as a center-cut double pork chop with a cognac demiglaze with braised apples and mashed sweet potatoes. Brenner also fondly remembers his mother’s pot roast and gravy, filled with overcooked vegetables. Brenner pays homage with braised short ribs in red wine over creamy whipped potatoes surrounded with roasted root vegetables.
Customer favorites at Moxy include free-range chicken roasted with balsamic glaze served atop creamy sage polenta. A modern approach to the classic fish bouillabaisse with broth topped with a bouquet of fresh, chopped tomatoes and fried eggplant planks instead of the traditional croutons, is a popular dish year-round, but the winter months are prime for this seafood dish. An exceptional special is chicken potpie with traditional potatoes, peas and carrots in a white wine velouté sauce served steaming hot under a flaky, whole wheat pastry round.
Brenner honed his skills in culinary schools here and in Europe. He likes to follow classic French technique while incorporating American ingenuity and Italian sensibility with an Asian presentation, using the food on the plate as a beautiful presentation. “If the plate is colorful then you are eating healthy,” says Brenner.
comfort food places
Other restaurants serving up some solace on a cold winter night:
Iron Barley offers tenderly cooked Chicken Virginia sauced with a seasonal local Schlafly Ale sauce filled with leeks, bacon and butter, plus potato pancakes made of beer and bacon and topped with homemade warm applesauce.
Cardwell’s at the Plaza features braised meats such as lamb shanks served over hearty grains or French green lentils, as well as vegetarian options. A local cider is used in making a braised beef brisket served with grains.
Remy’s boasts a braised lamb shank recipe used since its opening 10 years ago, along with a Lebanese rice and beef stew with onions, garlic and intriguing herbs and spices over a rice pilaf filled with vermicelli, pine nuts and browned butter.
At Momo’s, the slow-braised stews are redolent with warm Mediterranean herbs and spices, and lamb shanks sit on a bed of orzo infused with lemon zest, sprinkled with oregano and topped with a creamy tzatziki cucumber sauce.
Arthur Clay’s serves slow-roasted dishes such as game squab with fois gras and braised lamb shanks cooked osso bucco-style.
Café de France takes braised meat such as beef bourguignon and serves it over freshly made mustard-dill spaetzle or a warm bowl of sun-dried tomato risotto. Another special is the beef à la mode, filled with chunky pieces of onions and carrots braised with white wine and a consommé.
Eleven Eleven Mississippi invites diners to sit near one of its two fireplaces while taking in Madeira-braised short ribs served on top of Maytag cheese hushpuppies or a red deer osso bucco braised with shiitake mushrooms atop a savory spinach bread pudding.
