‘Comfort Food Tour’ an adventure in satisfying eats
Everyone has their own idea of comfort food, be it fried chicken, meatloaf, mac and cheese or spaghetti and meatballs. But the common thread is it’s a go-to dish, something that’s easy and inexpensive to make, is always satisfying and goes over well with big groups. Which is what Mark Anderson and Ryan Fey (“Grill Dads”) had in mind when they were coming up with ideas for their new Food Network series “Comfort Food Tour.” “For me growing up in a family that’s halfItalian,” Fey says, “comfort food was meatballs and sauce. But for an Indian family in Texas, it’s totally different. But the common theme is that everyone has something that’s comfort food to them in their community.” “Comfort food is something that people look for in the highs and lows,” Anderson adds. “You know, if you’re having a great day and want to celebrate, you’re going to go get comfort food. If you’re having a really crappy day and you want to make it better, you’re going to go have comfort food. And for me, comfort food is all the stuff I remember having at big family events. So whenever my grandmother made a big dinner and there’s 20-30 people there and you have these amazing sort of emotional memories, the food that’s tied to that usually is comfort food.” In the half-hour Saturday series, Anderson and Fey criss-cross the country looking for memorable versions or even new spins on old favorites. From burgers and cheesy lasagna to pork chops and casseroles, these guys eschew calorie counting for the simple pleasures of home cooking done superbly.
In Saturday’s episode, they’re outside San Diego at Betty’s Pie Whole, where they dig into a creation called Mama Joe’s Meatball Pie.
“It was basically a meatball parm sub meets a pot pie meets a slice of pizza,” Anderson explains. “The dough for the pie was made out of pizza dough and there was this awesome sauce. And I was a little bit nervous. I can’t remember if it was turkey or chicken but it was definitely a poultry meatball. It was turkey but they were rich and delicious and not dried out at all. (And) her homemade marinara sauce. And she put ... like a snowball of cheese on top of this, all melted down. I mean, it was heaven.”