West Side Gravy: Comfort Food with a Trendy Twist

While waiting for our food during our most recent visit to West Side Gravy, we took a look at the restaurant’s rating on various opinion sites.

Our predecessor .

Instead, let’s focus on how opinions vary about West Side Gravy and how they match up with ours. Yelp users give West Side Gravy 3 stars out of 5, and Trip Advisor rates them 3.5.

The general consensus on Yelp and Trip Advisor is that West Side Gravy is “just okay.” As fans of the restaurant, we want explore this briefly. We think its identity might be partly to blame for the less-than-stellar reviews.

We've eaten at West Side Gravy even before its upscale sister restaurant, Blackbird, moved in to share the space. Hats off to chef-owner Alex Capasso for finding a unique way to offer two choices—quick and moderately priced comfort food, or trendy, upmarket American cuisine—under the same roof.

Before the cohabitation, we thought West Side Gravy suffered from a location that was too spacious and too loud. Now when we visit, we find it comfy and casual.

The menu at West Side Gravy is also smaller and more focused than those of other similarly-priced restaurants in the area. Some diners may feel limited by it. This perception is amplified when compared with the other comfort food spot in town, The Pop Shop, which offers a little bit of everything on a rather large menu.

To us, this is not a shortcoming; rather, we sometimes prefer a chef to execute exceptionally a smaller number of dishes.

West Side Gravy does comfort food with a modern twist, and does it well. Ordinary, down-home dishes like mac and cheese or meatloaf are dressed up with subtle touches.

During our most recent visit, Jessica ordered the Chick-Fil-What?, an upscale version of a fast-food sandwich: crispy chicken strips, topped with American cheese, spicy mayo, caramelized onions, and pickles on a sesame seed bun. It comes served with hand-cut fries, to which she added a side order of gravy.

Although the platter was clearly inspired by fast food, its taste far exceeded any drive-through meal. The spicy mayo added a zesty zing, and the caramelized onions and crisp pickles gave the sandwich a bold freshness.

Jamie chose the fried chicken—a small but tasty portion presented with two side dishes (he chose coleslaw and potato salad). The fried chicken is enormously salty, but in a way that it's meant to be. It tastes like something you could, with lots of research and testing, actually make should you stumble upon a good recipie; a good fry, not a cheap fry.

Jamie is ludriciously picky about what type of coleslaw he eats, but there is something special about West Side Gravy's slaw that works. Neither the mayonnaise or vinegar overpower the dish, and its consistency and additional flavoring—which, for some reason, is really hard for many restaurants to nail—are right on.

For another example, take the West Side Gravy PB&J, the simplest of comfort foods. They use homemade peanut and cashew butter and mixed berry jam on warm brioche, and serve with a side salad of dried cranberries, gorgonzola, and walnuts.

Is the juxtaposition of comfort food and trendy flair too much for the average diner? We wouldn’t think so, but we wonder why the restaurant isn’t always packed when we talk a walk down the strip.

Capasso did recently add an extensive burger selection to the menu, replacing some of the previous dishes, so maybe he's exploring a seasonal preference. We wish him luck and success, because we enjoy his unique take on gourmet fast food and hope more do as well.