Comfort Food soothes SaddleBrooke HOA1 diners

VIA SBINSIDER FOOD CRITIC GLORIA WOLF |August 6th, 2023

The Comfort Food Buffet at HOA1 on August 2 brought us back to our midwestern roots, especially the tater tot hot dish! Although you could have been in any number of places including a buffet in southern Minnesota, the HOA1 buffet did elevate the comfort food experience. While we joked about the tater tot hot dish, it was very good as were the other dishes on the buffet.

As a connoisseur of walleye, the pan fried walleye in a sour cream butter sauce was perfectly cooked and delicious. Every time I eat walleye, I think of sitting in a boat in Minnesota with my father or in a warm icehouse on the lake in January. In the spring, it was my job to catch all the little, tiny frogs I could get my hands on for bait.

On a midwestern buffet you would see corn, of course. It would probably be Green Giant corn. But the herb roasted corn with lacinato kale on the HOA1 buffet was an improved version of standard corn. Those who dined with us enjoyed the meatloaf smothered in sherry mushroom gravy and the baked potato soup.

For dessert there was a cherry crisp and Midwest puppy chow. Having grown up in the Midwest, I had never had puppy chow before. Sometimes known as muddy buddies, Midwest puppy chow is Rice Chex cereal covered with dark chocolate and peanut butter and dusted with powdered sugar. Put that in the “try something new” category. Chuck Moses added to the fun evening at the HOA1 clubhouse.