Tag Archives: comfort food

Mo’s

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meter-greatThere a lot of words to describe Mo’s, and most of them begin with ‘B’. There’s burgers, breakfast, beer, and, most of all, big. This new-ish joint in Campbell prides themselves on going large, but it’s not just the portions that are supersized. The creativity and quality of the food is outstanding, and any place that officially serves breakfast for dinner gets high marks in my book.

To get things started, here is a picture of some fries. Everyone likes fries.

To get things started, here is a picture of some fries. Everyone likes fries.

” It will set your nose hairs on fire, no joke “

The evening started like any other, with me circling around downtown Campbell while muttering a steady stream of obscenities to no one in particular. After finally parking my car in a questionably legal spot, I headed down the block to meet up with my better half for dinner. Our eatery of choice for the evening, as you may have already guessed, was Mo’s. This self-proclaimed breakfast and burger joint is perched right in the middle of South Bay Hipster Central, aka East Campbell Avenue.

Shawn and I secured a spot on Mo’s cozy patio and took a look through the menu. In addition to traditional burger and breakfast options, there are tons of crazy and awesome menu choices. Steak and egg tacos, colossal carrot cake waffles, and The French Connection (a breakfast “sammo” served on a baguette) are just a few examples of Mo’s wackier fare, and all of it is darned tasty. I opted for a Sriracha cheese melt and Shawn ordered… wait for it, the name is pure awesome… a mother cluckin’ waffle.

Win.

This mother cluckin' thing was mother cluckin' tasty.

This mother cluckin’ thing was mother cluckin’ tasty.

What is a mother cluckin’ waffle you ask? It’s a “regular” cluckin’ waffle with Frosted Flakes added. Yep, those Frosted Flakes. Cereal. It’s a piece of fried chicken on a waffle and covered in cereal. (A very good piece of fried chicken, I might add, and a very good waffle.) The crazy bastards running the kitchen at Mo’s are officially out of their minds, and I love ’em for it. Keep up the good work guys and gals, you’ve got me grinning from ear to ear.

This was one spicy sandwich. It still burns.

This was one spicy sandwich. It still burns.

I almost forgot about the Sriracha cheese melt. Like it sounds, it’s essentially a patty melt with Sriracha involved… in every possible way. There’s Sriracha pretty much everywhere, including in the ketchup and in the patty. It was fantastically delicious, and fantastically face-melting. If you don’t like hot stuff, stay far far away. If you enjoy hot stuff, you should still probably take a few steps back. If you LOVE hot stuff, brush your teeth with Tabasco sauce, and think ghost peppers are for weenies, then you should order the Sriracha cheese melt. It’s really, really incredibly good, but make sure you are prepared. It will set your nose hairs on fire, no joke.

Simply put, Mo’s is my kind of place. This restaurant offers high quality comfort-style food with a creative twist, and that’s all I really need to say. This kind of eatery is my own personal holy grail, so of course I’m going to rate it highly. Looking at things objectively and without my own bias, however, it still gets a pretty good score. I rate Mo’s 140 out of 151 Frosted Flakes, which puts it squarely in the upper echelon of all restaurants in the Bay Area. Well done, Mo’s. Well done.

      Pros
+ The menu is way crazy
+ The “normal” food is awesome too
++ They serve breakfast for dinner!		       Cons
– Parking in Campbell SUCKS
– Can’t think of another con, which is annoying

Mo’s
278 East Campbell Avenue
Campbell, CA 95008
(408) 871-1300
www.moscampbell.com

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Sweet corn spoonbread

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” It’s the hybrid, half-baked lovechild of cornbread and creamed corn “

Spoonbread is apparently a real thing. I had never heard of it before seeing a recipe on Pinterest (this one in fact), but after consulting a few people it seems I’ve been living under a rock. It’s too bad, because I’ve really been missing out. Spoonbread is good.

Skip to the short version

This is one of those 'dump and stir' kind of recipes. It's awesome.

This is one of those ‘dump and stir’ kind of recipes. It’s awesome.

What is spoonbread? The name alone describes it about as well as I could hope to, but I’ll still give it a shot. Spoonbread is the hybrid, half-baked lovechild of cornbread and creamed corn, raised in the wilderness by a pack of untamed bread puddings. It is sweet and stick-to-your-ribs tasty, but not quite a dessert. It’s just about the most perfect side dish for a meal of barbecue that I can imagine. This recipe is just begging to be put in a Dutch oven and lovingly baked in a smoker alongside a slab of brisket or baby back ribs.


Ingredients

  • 1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix (8.5oz)
  • 1 can cream style corn (14.75oz)
  • 1 can whole kernel corn, drained (15oz)
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt


Other stuff you’ll need

  • a 2 quart casserole dish
  • something to grease the casserole dish with


Directions

As you may have noticed, pretty much all of the ingredients are yellow. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with color-coordinated recipes, provided they taste good. And this one does.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Dump all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir until you have attained a large mass of evenly-mixed yellow goo. Grease your casserole dish, pour in the goo, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Goo in a casserole dish.

Goo in a casserole dish.

The spoonbread is done when it has “set”, meaning it is not liquidy and has the same approximate texture as bread pudding or underdone cake. If the top is a little browned, it’s probably done.

And this is what it looks like when it's done.

And this is what it looks like when it’s done.

Dish it up, eat it, and enjoy. If anyone you serve it to doesn’t like it, kick them out of your house.

Looks good enough to eat, right? Believe me, it is.

Looks good enough to eat, right? Believe me, it is.




tl;dr

Sweet corn spoonbread

Ingredients

  • 1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix (8.5oz)
  • 1 can cream style corn (14.75oz)
  • 1 can whole kernel corn, drained (15oz)
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt


Other stuff you’ll need

  • a 2 quart casserole dish
  • something to grease the casserole dish with


Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine ingredients until evenly mixed and pour into a 2 quart casserole dish. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until spoonbread has set.



See also


McMenamins Six Arms

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meter-great-

If you’re looking for a mean pint of brew and a tasty meal, McMenamins Six Arms is the pub for you. It’s not the most super fabulous place in the whole world, but then again it’s not trying to be. Six Arms serves a mind-boggling (and gut-rumbling) array of comfort food gems, all of which pair up nicely with McMenamins lovingly crafted beers. Mmmmmmm, beer.

” The perfect reward for hiking up a hill in the rain “

Downtown Seattle is a nice place. It’s clean, cosmopolitan, down to Earth, and ever so slightly odd… but in a good way. On Labor Day weekend, however, the whole place transforms into a surreal, nonsensical alien landscape filled with mysterious clouds of body odor and people wearing elaborate costumes. This is mostly due to PAX Prime taking over the entire convention center and many of the surrounding buildings, but Bumbershoot also plays a part in the weird-ification process. The best way to describe it? Imagine being in a high school locker room on Halloween during a zombie apocalypse. It’s like that.

I found myself – along with a few friends – right in the middle of this chaos during lunch time. Every single sandwich shop and fast food joint in sight was packed to overflowing, and we knew we had to get away from the crowd somehow. Somebody suggested McMenamins Six Arms, a local pub that was just a short walk up the hill and nicely separated from the mayhem surrounding the convention center. We all agreed that this sounded dandy, so we forced our weary feet to start walking. After 10 or 15 minutes of minor uphill huffing and puffing, we arrived.

Unfortunately, the beer doesn't actually come out of those pipes.

Unfortunately, the beer doesn’t actually come out of those pipes.

We were seated immediately on our arrival to Six Arms and given an extensive beer menu to lust over. I couldn’t resist the allure of the Hill Top IPA, and I also ordered a Reuben sandwich as a garnish. The rest of the table ordered an assortment of burgers, soups, and of course beer. The Hill Top IPA arrived in front of me in a couple minutes, and it turned out to be hoppy and refreshing without being too overpowering. It was pretty much the perfect reward for hiking up a hill in the rain.

One is never too old to appreciate tater tots.

One is never too old to appreciate tater tots.

The food was good, although perhaps not quite as good as the beer. That might just be my own perception but hey, I’m the one writing the blog here. My Reuben was flavorful and piled high, but the pastrami was dangerously ordinary. My tater tots were fried to extra-crispy perfection; I enjoyed them thoroughly in spite of the fact that they were ever so slightly oily. None of this of course slowed me down from clearing my entire plate.. er, basket I should say.. and I was pleasantly satisfied after my meal. The assortment of burgers around the table were reported to be delicious, and all of them yielded prolific amounts of juice as they were consumed. I’m not convinced over-juiciness is a good thing, but since I didn’t hear any complaints I’ll let it slide.

That is one shiny bun.

That is one shiny bun.

Ultimately, McMenamins is exactly the kind of quirky place I look for when I’m on the road. Local beer and comfort food both rank very highly on my list of critical restaurant criteria, and this place does both very well. I won’t say it was the very best meal I’ve ever had in my entire life, but McMenamins earns an above average 60 out of 67 kegs of beer – a perfectly respectable score. I will definitely be looking this place up again the next time I find myself surrounded by unwashed Millennials wearing Pokémon costumes.

McMenamins Six Arms
300 East Pike Street
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 223-1698
www.mcmenamins.com

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Standard Restaurant Review Disclaimer
The ambiguous and illogical rating system used in this review is not intended to be pinpoint accurate. It’s only there to give you a general idea of how much I like or dislike an establishment, and it also gives me an excuse to write silly things. If my rating system angers and distracts you, there’s a good chance you have control issues. I would also like to point out that I am not a highly qualified restaurant reviewer person, nor do I particularly care what that job is called. If you were under the impression that perhaps I was one of those people, consider your hopes dashed. Lastly, wow! You read the entire disclaimer. You get a gold star on your chart today.