5 Favorite: Winter Dishes

WINTER DISHES from Cold Climate Cities5 by STEVE DOLINSKY

Steve Dolinsky, Food Reporter for ABC 7 News in Chicago, 12-time James Beard Award winner and a native Minnesotan, shares his five favorite winter dishes from restaurants in colder cities.

Portrait by Avery House

That stroganoff is the closest approximation to a wool sweater you’ll find on a plate 1

Short Rib Stroganoff ($18.50)

BAVETTE’S BAR & BOEUF 218 W. KINZIE ST., CHICAGO 312-624-8154

As the wind practically slaps you in the face, especially along the Chicago River near Lake Michigan, there is a constant yearning all winter long for a warm respite. Seek refuge in one of Brendan Sodikoff’s creations. Between the hearty cassoulet at Maude’s Liquor Bar, the dijonnaisedripping cheeseburger at his upscale diner, Au Cheval, and the fork-tender short rib stroganoff at his latest project, Bavette’s Bar & Boeuf, the menus are almost always suited to cold weather comfort. That stroganoff is the closest approximation to a wool sweater you’ll find on a plate: caramelized cremini mushrooms and hand-cut fettuccine swaddle the tender braised beef, all of which gets a mild jolt in the form of a horseradish cream sauce.

Tater Tot Hautedish ($24)

HAUTE DISH 119 WASHINGTON AVE. N., MINNEAPOLIS 612-338-8484 WWW.HAUTE-DISH.COM

You don’t have to be a fan of “Prairie Home Companion” or “Fargo” to know that the Twin Cities get downright cold in the winter. Having grown up there, I still have memories of watching Vikings games in a snowmobile suit—covered head-to-toe—while thinking about what mom could possibly have up her sleeve for dinner. If we were going to a family gathering or a potluck, chances are you’d see hotdish: an all-in-one casserole featuring a starch, a meat and a canned or frozen vegetable, usually bound together by a canned soup, like cream of mushroom. At the tongue-in-cheek HauteDish in Minneapolis, the casserole is ditched, but the ingredients remain familiar: a large puck of braised short ribs is topped with baby green beans and sliced porcini mushrooms; a béchamel adds further richness, while a pair of “tots” (silky potato croquettes) are saddled up on the side.

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Shiromaru Hakata Ramen ($15)

IPPUDO 65 4TH AVE. (BETWEEN 9TH AND 10TH ST.), NEW YORK CITY 212-388-9923 WWW.IPPUDONY.COM

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Walking the streets of the East Village, you don’t have to look too far for a warm-up. There are dozens of affordable, interesting eats. Fans of Japanese food might forget that beyond the assorted maki roll and steaming (but hardly filling) miso soup, there is ramen. Ippudo is a successful chain in Japan, and their presence in New York comes as no surprise; the search for delicious, affordable food in Manhattan is practically blood sport. The Shiromaru Hakata ramen is mainly about the broth —a heady, porky soup base perfumed with the umami of soy sauce and miso—jammed with toothsome egg noodles, then topped with architecturally precise knobs of mushrooms, red pickled ginger and scallions. A few tender slices of pork loin are draped across the top, and if you like, opt for some extra mustard leaves (extra $3) scattered across the fatty-rich surface.

With the wind whipping up off of Lake Ontario and temperatures routinely near sub-zero, the demand for hearty comfort food is especially strong in the depths of a season that typically sees the sun go down by 5 p.m. The focus at The Hoof is definitely on meat and offal. But after slogging around Kensington Market and window shopping at the funky shops along Queen Street, you need to dive into something substantial. The smoked mackerel chowder, one of the few dishes non-meat eaters can enjoy, fits the bill. Mackerel is cured overnight then hot smoked; a fish stock is fortified with cream, onions and garlic, then simmered for hours. When an order comes in, the hearty broth is garnished with sliced fingerling potatoes and diced fennel, plus sautéed lobster mushrooms as well as earthy chanterelles. This is Canadian comfort that somehow makes poutine look downright pedestrian.

Smoked Mackerel Chowder ($11)

THE BLACK HOOF 928 DUNDAS ST. WEST, TORONTO 416-551-8854 WWW.THEBLACKHOOF.COM

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Cassoulet ($31)

PIGALLE 75 CHARLES ST., BOSTON 617-423-4944 WWW.PIGALLEBOSTON.COM

In a city that treats its baked beans with the same reverence reserved for its baseball team, the Beantown moniker is especially apt among the city’s French bistros and brasseries come wintertime. Pigalle has been perched at the higher end of the dining spectrum in Boston for the past decade, but few dishes take away the East Coast chill of a January deep-freeze better than cassoulet. Chef Marc Orfaly slowly braises lamb shanks, combining the shredded meat with an entire duck leg confit and housemade garlic pork sausage. The protein-palooza is embedded in a sea of great Northern white beans; the heat, juice, fat and starch serve as a warm, familiar blanket (albeit more flannel than cotton) on a bitterly cold night.