Did you notice how well a cold beer goes with all of the above? Above all others, I'll take just one item from Jim Dixon's list - bratwurst with sauerkraut. Oh, well - maybe just one other: pastrami or corned beef on rye with sauerkraut, and beer.

Oh, one more: biscuits and sausage gravy topped with poached eggs, and a cup of strong, black coffee - best served south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Then there's the barbecue I got in a restaurant in a small town in Alabama, that I've never been able to find again; and the cup of coffee with cream I had after a snowy walk in Boston.

I was driving through "The Hamptons" on Long Island a couple of years ago and passed a restaurant with a big "comfort food" sign outside. I wanted to stop there for dinner on my way back - but then I couldn't find it. Was it a mirage, appearing and disappearing amidst all the fancy restaurants?

Are rich people in the Hamptons allowed to eat comfort food - or is that a pleasure reserved to us commoners?

-Joe Offer-