Consider chili.
It's hot, hearty and appropriate to serve in winter months, to be sure, but that's not the only reason it's currently restaurateurs' favorite comfort food.
Chili appears on 43.2 percent of the 6,000 menus that research company Datassential surveys, far outstripping fried chicken, which is on 27.5 percent of those menus, and crushing macaroni and cheese, which is on just 15.2 percent.
That's because chili has many of the qualities that restaurateurs and customers are looking for these days. For customers, it's inexpensive, full-flavored and adaptable to individual tastes. For restaurateurs it's inexpensive, easy to make and lends itself to the creativity that chefs enjoy, including the ability to differentiate a batch through the use of local ingredients.
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