WINTERLICIOUS 2018: Handheld “deep dish” pizza…what???

So, we’re hanging out at Hotel Ocho, this funky boutique hotel in downtown Chinatown with a very modern resto lounge downstairs. Normally, this place serves up stuff like gnocchi, halibut and a steak ‘n shrimp surf ‘n turf, but for Winterlicious, they’re offering up a more upscale take on a whole bunch of American comfort food classics.

Up first, we’ve got their take on a Kentucky hot brown, an open-faced sammich with turkey, bacon and tomato, all smothered in Mornay sauce, which is basically a bechamel with extra cheese. Now, I’ve never been down to Louisville, but this hot brown was straight outta Flavourtown! The only thing that was kinda weird was when they put spinach at the bottom…

Now, I’ve never been to Chi-town neither–except for that time I ate Italian beef at the airport–but when I’m thinking deep dish pizza, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. I was expecting a ginormous, multi-layered cheesy casserole that you had to eat with a fork and knife. But I couldn’t eat this one with a fork even if I wanted to–the crust was so crunchy, you couldn’t even cut it, bro! And while they said there was blue cheese and jalaepenos in there, I got neither the heat from the peppers nor the pungentness of blue cheese. I kinda wish I’d gone with the ribs instead.

Now I can’t even think of a reason to go down to Mississippi, especially since the fire went out in Jackson, but I kinda thought a Mississippi mud pie would be a pie, and not a brownie. It was still a pretty tasty piece of chocolate, with some whipped cream on top, but I think they took just a bit of creative license with this one…