MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCIV) - For those who seek life-changing comfort food, you need to look no further than Crave in Mount Pleasant.
The restaurant's macaroni and cheese dominated a contest by Esquire Magazine to find the best variation on a classic in America. Crave's dish demolished the competition and picked up 85 percent of the vote.
Two restaurants came in second, securing only 2.3 percent of the vote.
Executive Chef Landen Ganstrom told the magazine his inspiration for the dish came from his fiancee a few years ago.
Ganstrom's recipe includes a 10-year aged California cheddar, parmesan, mozzarella, and a "secret ingredient" suggested by his 10-year-old daughter, the magazine reports. It is then slow-cooked with cavatappi pasta to maximize the gooey quality of the cheese, a feature that Ganstrom told the magazine has driven the dish's popularity.
"It's thick all the way through," he told Esquire. "You don't have to restir it to get cheese off the bottom of the dish."
Crave is located just off the Isle of Palms Connector.
