Fill Her Up

If the appetizers took comfort to the point of comatose, the dessert list failed to soothe or cheer -- a real letdown at a comfort-food restaurant. I can't recall the last time a dessert menu failed so universally to inspire. Unquestionably, chocolate and polenta are feel-good comfort foods. But mixed together into a fudge-dense chocolate polenta cake, the cornmeal's granular texture was distinctly unappealing. And while cream cheese on a bagel may be a happy way to begin your day, you're probably not seeking it out for dessert. Jasoom's raspberry-cream cheese crostata was reminiscent of an Entemann's danish: familiar but boring.

For the most part, Jasoom's main-course menu was a welcome break from the first- and final-course funks: meat loaf infused with sharp notes of tomato and brown sugar and the fatty goodness of bacon; pozole that combined pinto beans, hominy, chiles, rice and roasted pork into a singularly sensational flavor (but could have used more than just three tortillas on the side); fried chicken of the deepest mahogany tones. And the Kentucky Hot Brown was downright stunning: a bowlful of sliced roast turkey breast, bacon, garlic bread and tomato, flooded with gooey cheese and Mornay sauce. Think eggs Benedict's sinister twin. In fact, the only main-course misstep was the red curry, a spiced-up stew of chicken, potatoes and vegetables that was fine but nothing more.

Jennifer Silverberg

Identity crisis: Jasoom's comfort-food innovations can be delightful -- or disappointing.

Details

Fried dill pickles $6.95
House salad $5.50
Meat loaf $13.95
Pozole $12.95

314-664-4145. Hours: Lunch noon-3 p.m. Tue.-Fri.; dinner 5-10 p.m. Tue.-Fri.; noon-10 p.m. Sat.

3210 South Grand Boulevard

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• Tony Paco
• Toledo
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• Meat
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Maybe when the weather turns cold I'll find myself craving the meat loaf or the pozole. Perhaps I'll even wish Jasoom was open for brunch -- I can see that Kentucky Hot Brown satisfying many a Sunday-morning craving. But it'll soon be summer, and staring down the barrel of Jasoom's menu in July seems a daunting prospect.