Warm Up With Comfort Food: Restaurants Ease Winter’s Chill With Mac and Cheese, Pot Roast, Chicken and Noodles and More.

By Denise Neil, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Jan. 19–When the weather turns bitterly cold, Chris Arnold’s crew at River City Brewery knows how to prepare.

The restaurant staff makes sure it is amply stocked with its “comfort food” staples — dishes like macaroni and cheese, pot roast with potatoes, and apple crisp.

River City’s chicken noodle soup is a particularly big cold-weather seller, said Arnold, the restaurant’s owner and operator.

“That’s what you got from your mom when you were at home,” he said. “Big, heavy, home-cooked meals when it got cold.”

Comfort foods — carb-filled, cheesy dishes that remind the palate of Mom’s kitchen — are popular on menus across Wichita.

Following are 10 restaurants where chilly diners can get their fill of comfort food favorites.

1. River City Brewery, 150 N. Mosley, 316-263-2739: This Old Town favorite offers everything from pot roast to chicken-fried steak. A particular highlight, though, is the rich mac and cheese, made with big-shell pasta tossed in a creamy cheese Alfredo sauce and topped with cheddar cheese and garlic herb bread crumbs.

2. Copper Oven Cafe & Bakery, 2409 W. 13th St., 316-945-7549: This neighborhood restaurant is packed almost every day at lunch as customers clamor for chicken pot pie (the Tuesday special), meat loaf (the Thursday special) and chicken-fried steak. The restaurant is revamping its menu and will soon add macaroni and cheese as well.

3. Stroud’s, 3661 N. Hillside, 316-838-2454: What’s more comforting than fried chicken and mashed potatoes? And that’s not all that’s offered at this popular restaurant. Diners will also find Mom-favorites like pork chops, hamburger steak, green beans, apple sauce and cinnamon rolls.

4. Jeanne’s Cafe, 4733 E. Douglas, 316-681-3335: Owner Jeanne Livingston recently remodeled her cozy cafe, which is just around the corner from Watermark Books. Daily specials include ham and beans on Tuesdays, chicken and noodles on Wednesdays and turkey and dressing every other Friday. Baked steak and goulash regularly show up, and the menu includes hot beef sandwiches, roast beef dinners, hamburger steak and grilled cheese.

5. The Pump House, 825 E. Second St., 316-265-6080: This newly remodeled cafe offers weekday Mom-approved lunch specials (served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.). Mondays it’s bierocks, Tuesdays chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes, Wednesdays hot roast beef with potatoes and gravy, Thursdays sloppy joes and Fridays tuna casserole.

6. The Beacon, 909 E. Douglas, 316-263-3397: It might be a tad smoky, but The Beacon is a downtown favorite largely due to comforting specials like turkey pot pie, chicken and noodles, goulash, Salisbury steak, beef stroganoff and Polish sausage with kraut. The diner rotates specials in and out, so call each day to find out what’s on the board.

7. Ted’s Montana Grill, 2142 N.Tyler Road, 316-773-4443, and 3121 N. Webb Road, 316-634-8337: Offering an upscale take on comfort food, Ted’s cooks up daily blue plate specials such as chicken-fried chicken on Mondays, chopped steak on Tuesdays and roast turkey and dressing on Sundays. And the standard menu includes comfort all its own: bison meat loaf, slow-roasted pot roast and squash casserole.

8. Granite City Food & Brewery, 2244 N. Webb Road, 316-636-5050, and 2661 N. Maize Road, 316-721-8500: Even more upscale home-style foods are offered at Granite City. Among them: a smothered beef sandwich, meat loaf, boneless barbecue pork chops, ale and cheddar soup, French onion soup and caramel apple crumble.

9. Riverside Cafe, 739 W. 13th St., 316-262-6703: Not only does this restaurant serve breakfast all day, but it also offers favorites like meat loaf sandwiches, grilled cheese, hot open-faced sandwiches, BLTs, Frito pies, chili dogs and roast beef smothered in gravy.

10: Your neighborhood diner/cafe: The above are just a few comfort food hot spots, but Wichita is filled with diners, cafes and cafeterias that offer their own versions of these dishes.

Denise Neil is all about the carbs. Reach her at 316-268-6327 or at dneil@wichitaeagle.com [mailto:dneil@wichitaeagle.com].

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

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