Comfort

When you go into a restaurant on a Wednesday evening, and it's so full that people are crowded around the bar and spilling out the door waiting for a table, you know they are doing something right. Fortunately for us, we arrived at Comfort about 10 minutes before the big rush, that appeared to be the second wave of the dinner crowd. The smoking section was full, so we decided to eat at the bar, which I like doing anyway, since I can drag K's chair over next to mine and bite on her ear if I get tired of waiting for the food to get to the table.

We decided to test out the Lemon Drop martinis, and they were deemed "perfect, if the rim had been sugared." There's a truly formidable Whiskey menu as well, but that probably needs an entire evening dedicated to exploring it (not to mention the next day off from work). At any rate, the bar at Comfort is a good one- they meet all our criteria: Good selection of everything, good mixology skills, fast and friendly service. You'd be surprised how many badly made drinks we get, so when we go somewhere and get a really good one, we get excited about it.

For those who have not had the good fortune to eat at Comfort, they do basic Southern food, and they do it very, very well. It does tend to get crowded quickly, and within a few minutes of settling in at the bar, we had a big crowd of sundress sporting, white wine drinking straight girls milling and bumping around behind us. We were just happy to have a seat though, and by the time the Fried Green Tomato appetizer arrived, we really didn't care. The tomatoes were sliced and done in a cornmeal batter. They were perfectly crunchy on the outside, and the remoulade served with them was spicy and complemented the flavors very nicely.

After the martini, we moved to wine, and ordered a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon off the fairly extensive winelist. It was a good deal price-wise, and lived up to the description on the list.

The way the menu works for entrees, is you pick a protein and then choose two or three items off the selection of sides. I have a hard time deciding on sides. The mashed potatoes are always a winner. They have the ideal texture and flavor for mashed potatoes. Never gooey, never dry, never lumpy. Just right. Other sides to be agonized over include the cheese grits, greens, fried okra, mac and cheese, scalloped potatoes, corn, or squash casserole.

I selected the Top Sirloin with mashed potatoes and asparagus. I am a pretty saucy person, and enjoy sauce or gravy of some sort on almost anything., but somehow I just didn't miss it here- the flavors were enough. My sirloin was cooked medium rare, as I had ordered it, and was a very healthy portion. K had a taste and wanted to know why it was so "chewy." I admit, it may have been a tad on the chewy side, but it tasted so good, I really did not mind a slight texture issue. The potatoes were as good as ever, and the asparagus was perfectly al dente.

K ordered the seared Tuna special, and while I have a fish allergy and could not sample it, she declared it "scrumptious." She looked really cute eating it, so I'll have to give the Tuna a high rating. It came with a smoked tomato aioli sauce, that I did taste, and found to be very very smoky tasting- almost too smoky. She said it went with the Tuna really well though. Her sides were the mashed potatoes and corn, both of which disappeared in short order.

We opted for splitting a dessert, and since I had heard good things about the banana pudding, and the bartender recommended it, that's what we went for. Next time I will not split one. Calling this concoction a "banana pudding" is so understated. It should have some grand, impressive name that somehow conveys it's deliciousness. It should be named after a grand dame, or a famous southern general or something, and have those little accent marks over the "e's." What you get here is a good sized ramekin-type dish of banana creme brulee, with thin sliced bananas baked on top of it, and whole affair coated with a crunchy layer of this carmelized sugar. It's sublime, and I must have another one very soon.

As for the service here, we couldn't have been happier. Our server was friendly and efficient, and made good suggestions. We sat for awhile after dinner, and while other places have been known to rush folks off, our bartender actually offered up another glass of wine on him. And that was before he even saw the tip. We felt very welcome and I'm sure we'll be back soon.