Gridskipper

The one true God in mac form. The "DuMac and cheese" is a blend of cheddar and gruyere, with a light parmesan crust. It comes with bacon by default (though you can request it without); for once, the small, discreet… bacon pieces serve only to accent the dish, rather than tart it up and overwhelm with porky taste. The small radiatori are so soft and tender that they fall apart when disturbed with a fork. Meltingly delicious. $12. [link]

A side order, Artisanal's mac comes in a dainty steel skillet complete with doily. Fey appearance aside, it's topped with a thick crust of crunchy breadcrumbs, and the macaroni beneath are swimming in creamy melted… gruyere. No pretensions beyond the cheese choice, and it suits the mac quite well — no surprise, given Artisanal's overall fromage obsession. $9.50. [link]

Big screwy cellentani noodles and a smoky cheese taste make this mac distinctively good. Optional bacon brings out even more smoke action; it's also another example of a gigantic appetizer portion. Maybe a little… oily rather than creamy, but still damned savory. $7. [link]

For such a supergay restaurant, Cafeteria's mac & cheese is pretty straight(forward). It's an appetizer that's actually appetizer sized, and the default cheddar and fontina cheese blend makes for a tangy, bitey,… creamy flavor. The cheesy goodness makes up for kinda mediocre pasta — stubby, unimpressive little macaroni. Also available with smoked gouda, bacon, and truffle oil. $8. [link]

A tall bowl of mac with a crust of parmesan topped with "frizzled" onions. The macaroni underneath is surprisingly tender and very mild — enough that you'll be glad of the onions to give the dish a little… edge. A bit of grease to deal with, but despite the heavy appearance, a pretty light treatment of mac & cheese. $12.95. [link]

One of the most enthusiastic reader recommendations, the Penelope mac is an interesting variant. It arrives in a small bowl, accompanied by side salad and topped with a slice of tomato. That tomato will serve as… your life raft, as the macaroni are suspended in an extremely thick, rich, gooey bolus of white cheddar and fontina. The mixture is good, but so dense and filling one can instantly see why the portion is relatively small. Pretty tasty, but more like a heavy cheese course with incidental pasta. [link]

If you're at the bar, you can quite directly observe the cook mix up the pasta with parmesan, then slice a big hunk of cheddar on top before sticking it into the oven. Served in a crock, it's crunchy on top and… burned just a bit all round; the cheddar is sharp and tangy, and the parmesaned radiatori are soft and creamy. Gets good and peppered by the cook before serving, so halt that action if such disturbs you. A nice mac. $12. [link]

Another Cajun themed roadhouse, another side of mac. This one looks hearty and simple, and it's mostly melted cheddar rather than parmesan — no toasting or crisping either. The surprise comes once you dig… in and find yourself confronted with enormous corkscrew cellentani noodles. They hold the cheese like delicious sponges, making this mac very toothsome indeed. Hardly Nawlins, but who cares. $6. [link]

The four-cheese mac at Nolita House uses gemelli pasta; slightly unusual, and mine were a little undercooked. Even so the mac was simple and good, sporting a thin cheesy crunch on top sans burning. It's served very… hot, but it was difficult to avoid wolfing it down on the cold and rainy day I visited. Certainly a cut above the usual pub mac. Bacon, sausage, and tomato optional. $7.95. [link]

The apotheosis of cafeteria style steam table mac & cheese. Soft macaroni, gooey parmesan, and sharp cheddar on top. Its simple perfection is widely beloved. Not breaking any new ground, but pretty much perfect… in its genre. About $5 for a good-sized dollop. [link]

This modest app-sized mac & cheese has no surprises — tastes like cheddar and parm, the macs are decently tender, the crust on top gives you something to chomp on. Its main selling point appears to be… the optional beef chorizo, which plays the role of bacon in gussying up this otherwise middling mac. $7.95. [link]

S'MAC (Sarita's Macaroni And Cheese) serves mac & cheese, and nothing but. Three sizes and many mixin's are available. On my visit, it's a testament to S'MAC's simple good taste that a party of four (three transplanted… southerners and one honorary southerner), having just come from a huge Greek dinner, nevertheless could not resist picking apart a midsize portion of the four-cheese variety. Given the volume, S'MAC must premake the pasta, but the macaroni didn't taste stale. Surprisingly ungreasy and satisfying. $5.75 Nosh, $8 Major Munch, $14 Mongo. [link]

Roebling's orecchiette mac & cheese is bacon optional, and most people who like the mac praise the bacon and its quantity. Without the pig, though, this mac is a little puzzling. The cheese is supposedly gruyere… and cheddar, but it's an oddly thin sauce, and there's something else going on — an acrid, herby taste that a more competent reviewer could certainly identify. (I'd say oregano, but I think everything is oregano.) It makes the dish novel but just slightly off-putting, at least in terms of mac & cheese orthodoxy. $10. [link]

Basic no-bullshit cheddar mac & cheese, with soft mac and a slice of thick, slightly greasy melted cheese on top. No breadcrumbs or crunch, this favorably reminded me of elementary school lunchroom mac. Country… ham optional. Cup o' mac $3.75, entree $9.50. [link]

This sizeable platter o' mac isn't really this red, but Relish is all about the colored lighting. Their "macaroni and many cheeses" is indeed thoroughly cheesed, and it's pretty damned big for a side order (but… then, it's also $9). It's tasty enough but unremarkable on the whole; split it with someone and get an entree of something else for variety. [link]

A nicely fakey side-dish mac & cheese for a nicely fakey southern-Cajun restaurant. I don't mean that pejoratively — the actual South is also full of just these kinds of themed places, and some do passable… southern cooking. Acme's mac couldn't be any simpler, arriving unadorned by anything other than the required cheddarish cheese. Would not go unappreciated in any Alabama diner. $5.50. [link]

A competitor for S'MAC, Supermac also serves most nothin' but mac & cheese. The emphasis is definitely on the fixin's (lobster Thermidor?); the mac itself is traditional, with its strength being the cheese.… Go for the "quattro formaggio," e.g. cheddar, asiago, mozzarella, and parmesan. The cheese has a decent bite, though the mac itself is oddly ... flaccid. Skip the breadcrumbs, which appear and taste like industrial particulate. Advantage: S'MAC. Sizable Mini Mac for $5.95, enormous Mega Mac for $7.95. [link]

One glance at the dismal seedy rec room ambiance of this crap bar had me convinced the reader's mac & cheese suggestion was a joke. But ever the optimist, I went for it. The enormous portion arrives in an oblong… tureen heaped with fusilli, which are in turn slathered with four cheeses, all of which I suspect also see service on the bar's pizzas. The mozzarella takes over the show, turning the dish into white lasagna for all intents and purposes. And maybe it turns out a bit greasy. Still, this is honest mac that will certainly stick to your ribs, possibly for years. Why it comes with a side of bread is anyone's guess. $7.25. [link]

Despite reader recommendations, this borders on less than acceptable. Served in seconds, meaning this side o' mac lurks in a giant pan, waiting for a quick reheat and frog-march to your table. A few ribbons of cheddar… crust here and there, pretty creamy, but more dense than savory. Cheese faintly acrid, possibly fake. $4.50. [link]

A solid carapace of baked parmesan shields this ovoid mass of planarial taglioni, plus a few strips of ham hither and yon. The parmesan cheese sauce is so salty that it almost tastes like alfredo sauce. Well, it's… big at least, and perhaps that goes some small way towards justifying the tourist trappy $16.95. [link]