Macaroni & Cheese

Those years in the Scott Avenue house next to Dodger Stadium were poor and desperate. It took only a few meetings as a member of the Starving Poets Club to realize that one dollar could buy four boxes of that famous poet food, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. It was a strange new kind of orange, but I was hungry. I wrote many a great haiku with a generous portion of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese at my side, while my band-member roommates searched in vain for a word that would rhyme with diaphragm.

My journey continued. I can remember an especially interesting presentation of this classic at the Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake. It was a platterful, with just a touch of Velveeta. Well, maybe a little more than a touch. And good toasty bread on the side. Ditto for Du-Par's in the Farmers Market on Fairfax. Slightly watered down and overcooked for the senior set, it's perfect a for such a consumer base. But sometimes I take out the old Visa card I swore I wouldn't use until Christmas and splurge on the upscale version at Mimosa on Beverly. You'd think they'd make it with some smelly French cheese, but no, I think they shop domestically.

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Bob's Big Boy Restaurant

4211 W. Riverside Drive
Burbank, CA 91505

Category: Restaurant > American

Region: Burbank

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Mimosa

8009 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048-4503

Category: Restaurant > Bistro

Region: Melrose/ Beverly/ Fairfax

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A few years ago, I broke up with someone I loved very much. The one I should never have let go of, but did. You know, the regret relationship. The nights seemed long. I wept openly and I watched too much of the E! Channel. I thought I would never get over Senor Right. And then one night I am walking home from an opening at LACE, and there on Hollywood Boulevard I see the old neon sign, Musso & Frank. I need comfort food. I need really old guys in white coats serving me. I need macaroni and cheese.

Exactly 30 minutes after I order it, a grim-faced old guy delivers the dish of my youth. Slowly he pours it out of a casserole onto my plate. The tears begin to roll down my cheeks. Can it be true? These noodles look mighty familiar. These are not the Melrose Avenue Trattoria noodles of today. These are the noodles of my Mexican youth. Large and thick. The color of the cheese looks mighty familiar, too. A creamy, rich white, with just a tinge of orange Cheddar. Can it be? I look, but I cannot believe it. Thick peppery flakes. The kick of life.

I reach into my cool black Gap bag. Hey, I'm a successful poet, I can carry any damn bag I want to. I call my parents on the portable phone I won with my Pacific Bell Awards Points. Mom answers. I tell her where I'm at and what I'm eating. She says that my Aunt Tita is there with her kids and that's what she's serving. It's my meal, too! As I fill in my broken heart with the thick, cheesy noodles, my mom and I bond together, arteries and souls, while we stroll down memory lane. I interrupt her somewhere in a recollection of 1977 and call for the waiter. His smile quickly vanishes as I order the final touch to this most amazing return to home cooking. He comes back with a small white plate and the object of my affection. Slowly, I place the jalapeno on top of the mound of steamy deliciousness, and press down with my fork until it disappears.

Recommended macaroni and cheese: Bob's Big Boy, 4211 Riverside Drive, Burbank, (818) 843-9334; Du-Par's, Third St. and Fairfax Ave., (213) 933-8446; Mimosa, 8009 Beverly Blvd., (213) 655-8895; Musso & Frank Grill, 6667 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (213) 467-7788.