Trudy
Do you have a favorite food? Of course, you do! How about one dish from your childhood that made you and happy and that your mom always had on hand because you would annoy the crap out of her to have it probably on a daily basis? If you polled a crowd of Americans, they would likely answer one of the most popular American comfort foods mac and cheese!
It is no surprise because it comes in just add water mixes and it has been advertised geared towards children for the past thirty years as shown in this corny GIF from an old commercial. We were really inhaling that orange dust. That is why I chose to go back to one of my favorite comfort food restaurants, S’Mac, short for Sarita’s Mac and Cheese, with my niece for a little nostalgia.
Do You Like Mac and Cheese?
My niece was visiting and wanted to see as much authentic New York as possible, so I wanted to show her many places that I regularly go to or that make me happy because we live far apart. So that means we had to go to S’Mac!! S’Mac has been open since 2006 and is near my alma mater on the lower East side of Manhattan. That made it full of college students on a budget who love mac and cheese during the day, a cheap date night spot at night and full of families with children who won’t eat anything else. In other words, super casual which means you can stop by at any time without a problem.
What Did We Order At S’Mac?
The menu is basically all macaroni and cheese but with a list of mix-ins to flavor the base or their recipes for different types of cuisines. I’ve tried:
- The Mediterranean is made with goat cheese, kalamata olives, and roasted garlic.
- The Cheeseburger made with Cheddar and American cheese with ground beef
- The All-American is Cheddar and American cheeses together
- The Masala is a melange cheeses mix with Indian spices
- Buffalo Chicken takes boneless chicken, buffalo chicken sauce and the mix of Cheddar and American cheeses
- Napoletana, my favorite, has fresh mozzarella, roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic and fresh basil.
- Parisienne with Brie cheese, roasted figs, roasted shiitake mushrooms and rosemary.
The others that I haven’t gotten around to are the Alpine (Gruyère and bacon), Garden Lite (Lite Cheddar, Parmesan, roasted cauliflower and Portobello mushrooms, roasted garlic, broccoli and scallions), La Mancha (manchego, fennel, and onions ), and Cajun (Cheddar & Pepper Jack cheeses, andouille sausage, green pepper, onions, celery, garlic and, of course, some genuine Cajun seasoning). The choices also include lowered lactose, vegan, multigrain, and gluten-free.
This time I ordered the vegan option and added some mix-ins (spinach, shiitake mushrooms, and garlic) with an old-fashioned cream soda and my niece ordered the All-American.
The cast iron pans that they come served in are available in four different sizes, Nosh which is the smallest, Major Munch which is the size we both got, Mongo that can serve at least two and Partay that is good for a buffet. We were stuffed and fueled up to walk around Manhattan to visit everywhere that she wanted to go before my feet gave out.
Comforted At S’Mac
If you want to revel in all the mac and cheese glory that is S’Mac, it is at 197 First Avenue at the 12th street in Manhattan. Do you have a similar restaurant in your town? Do you like mac and cheese? What is your favorite way to eat it? Which recipe would you order if you visited? Tell me all about it in the comments!! Can’t wait to read!
Until our next rendezvous…
XOXO
Trudy
*books flight to NYC immediately*
Haha! They also ship across the country!
RIGHT??
OMG! a heart attack in a cast iron skillet. I need one of those. yum!!!
good morning miss trudy! 🙂
No heart attacks! Get the Garden Lite recipe with lite cheese and veggies. Good morning mister Jim! ?
it all sounds awesome and you would be great company for lunch. 🙂
Great compliment, thank you. Is it because I know where all the heart attack food is at?
LOL. yes and no. I think it would interesting to have lunch with you.
I’m blushing!!Thank you! So mac and cheese would be good then?
pass up good mac & cheese? never! 😉
Will have to try this place. Next time you are in Astoria, I highly recommend the mac and cheese at Strand Smokehouse on Broadway. Its not fancy, but it ranks up there with some of the best I have ever had.
Thanks for the suggestion. This place is the same, kind of like a backyard barbecue vibe, very laid back. They serve beer and dessert. I’m usually too full for dessert and it’s inexpensive.
Yes seems like it. The Strand is huge, with lots of space for big groups, beer and well drinks and bbq with a few options for vegetarians…like the insane mac and cheese and cornbread! Damn I’m hungry now!
Cornbread…
That’s amazing, the number of versions they serve. Some are very sophisticated!
I love the originality of the choices. You wouldn’t get bored because there are so many flavors that you are able to mix together.
Not a huge Mac and Cheese fan, but I must admit the Vegan Mac and Cheese with bread crumbs does look awesome and I may give it a go
I’m not either. It wasn’t a big thing for me. But I do enjoy how you can make it gourmet there with the mix-ins.
Always good to see how others do it and get ideas to use in future.
Omg that looks amazing! ? waiting for cheese pizza now
How was that pizza?
Are it in record time?
Ate it in record time!!
I have always wanted to go here! Looks so good!!
You live nearby?
No, I’ve just heard about it!
Must take my daughter to this place :), of course you are going to accompany us….that’s not up for debate!
Your daughter is a big mac and cheese fan?
It’s a food group in these parts for her :). She would be absolutely mindblown at that place.
So then we must go!
I kept getting more and more into it as I read the ingredients of each order, one after the other. Time to visit NYC.
Haha, I’m glad that you enjoyed the descriptions!
This would be a dream for my husband. A wonderful dream.
Is he a big mac and cheese fan?
Love the idea! Lots of different options to try, I think I would have been in mac n cheese heaven as a kid 🙂 (maybe even now too)
I’ll try the buffalo chicken first (of course) and the Napoletana and Parisienne next. They all just sound so good. 🙂
Napoletana is the best!
Will have to mention this place to my daughter as she’s visiting New York in the Spring. At home I make macaroni cheese with bacon 😊
Yes, please have her go! Then maybe you’ll get some?
My kind of place! Comfort food on steroids.
Yes, comfort foods are much jam. I love places like this, laid back and satisfying.