Chic comfort

Jason Cichonski is only 24 years old, so perhaps it is no surprise that a microwaved bowl of Kraft "Easy Mac" (with a side of cut-up hot dogs) is still his favorite after-work meal.

It's what Cichonski does with macaroni and cheese at his day job - as chef de cuisine of Lacroix at the Rittenhouse - that might be a little startling to comfort-food purists. And I'm not even talking about the decadent orzo macaroni with house-smoked salmon, rosemary-steeped brie cream, and brown butter panko bread crumbs that has been one of Lacroix's biggest lunch hits.

How about the molecular gastro-mac that Cichonski's crew pulled off for a recent wine dinner? Using silicone tube molds and a quick-set jelling agent called Kappa, they transformed a rich sauce of triple-cream Brillat-Savarin into springy noodle-shaped tubes - in essence, the cheese became the macaroni - served alongside scallop sashimi with caper-miso broth.

OK. Not everyone may be ready to cozy up to this sci-fi rendition of classic American comfort. But Cichonski is working the cutting edge of a much wider trend that has cooks all across the region embracing new possibilities for macaroni and cheese.

The phenomenon has been simmering for a decade, ever since the French Laundry's Thomas Keller published his iconic recipe for haute "macaroni and cheese," rarefied with butter-poached lobster, mascarpone orzo, Parmesan crisps and coral oil. But the movement to reinvent this inexpensive, homey indulgence has only intensified as the country has entered its economic downturn, and kitchens watch food costs more closely than ever.

Few dishes are able to both trigger warm childhood memories in diners and offer chefs such a blank canvas for culinary creativity. Kitchens are now adding everything from seafood to chile-spiced noodles to unconventional binders made from squash. The pasta shapes themselves have been a subject of variation, ranging from simple elbows to triangle-shaped tubes and tiny beads of Israeli couscous.

And every French bistro in town, it seems, is now suddenly broiling sides of macaroni "gratin." One Northern Liberties restaurant, Swallow, recently converted itself into an entirely "mac and cheese bistro," with mix-and-match blend-ins ranging from gyro meat to gorgonzola. Cajun Kate's in the Boothwyn Farmers Market even gives its tall wedges of crab- and tasso-ham-spiced macaroni the ultimate Louisiana flourish: a crisp in the deep-fryer.