Lunch, Anyone? Lulu’s

Winter is a time for comfort food, and at Lulu’s, you’ll find plenty of it, but with a twist.

The Allston restaurant specializes in creating inventive meals that play off of classic dishes we all know and love. Take, for example, Mama’s Fried Chicken Breast ($14), fried chicken served with anise honey butter, mashed potatoes, and arugula salad, or Wild Game Frito Chili Pie ($12), a casserole concoction made with locally produced cheddar cheese, Fritos, sour cream, and scallions. Those in the mood for lighter fare will find salads and sandwiches. Try the Cobb salad ($13), local greens, smoked bacon, roasted tomato, avocado, crumbled bleu cheese, sliced egg, and grilled chicken tossed in a creamy lemon Dijon vinaigrette, or the All-American Turkey Sandwich ($14), a classic sandwich of house-roasted turkey breast, mayonnaise, Bibb lettuce, tomato, Swiss cheese, and smoked bacon on fresh white bread. The food can be pricey (most entrées range from $11 to $16), but the portions are ample enough to take home leftovers. And most of the items on the appetizer menu are $10 or under and sized for sharing.

We arrived at Lulu’s on a recent cold day hungry enough to kick off our lunch with a small appetizer. We chose the pretzel rolls ($3), warm, soft, bite-sized treats topped with smoked salt and garlic salt and served with a deliciously grainy vanilla porter mustard. For $1 extra, we opted for the special cheese sauce, which was a good decision—although the rolls were fresh and the salt particularly tasty, they lacked a strong pretzel flavor. The creamy cheese, a decidedly more grown-up and satisfying version of the cheese sauce served in school cafeterias, complemented the doughy texture and highlighted the pretzel-flavored undertones. We were easily able to share the order’s four small rolls.

For entrées, we chose to sample some of Lulu’s most popular dishes. The Shortrib Mac and Cheese ($13) came with a heaping pile of stout-braised short ribs on a generous portion of creamy macaroni and cheese. A bit of barbecue sauce or a zestier marinade would have helped the rib meat, which was slightly dry and lacking in flavor. Fortunately, a little stirring did the trick; mixing the rib meat into the macaroni and cheese resulted in a delectable version of the classic comfort food. But the highlight of our meal was the roast beef sandwich ($12), a towering pile of tender roast beef, tangy horseradish cream sauce, sweet red onion marmalade, and fresh tomato and arugula served on a buttery brioche bun. The simple but delicious sandwich also came with a side of Smokin’ Blonde Beer Cheese Soup ($3.50 and $6 if ordered separately), a creamy, thick, and flavorful soup made with smoked gouda and IPA beer. In short, it was an excellent cold winter afternoon meal.

Although Lulu’s entrées are generous, the dessert menu was too enticing for us to ignore. Several options caught our eye—from the Chef’s Donut Holes ($6), served with a warm chocolate sauce, to Grandma’s Warm Caramel Apple Monkey Bread, with a cream cheese sauce ($6). After careful deliberation, we decided on the Smore Tart ($7), a minimalist take on the classic campfire treat, served in a graham cracker crust with chocolate stout mousse, marshmallow fluff, and toasted marshmallows. Although the crust had a cookie-like consistency that made it a little difficult to get a fork into, its sweetness and satisfying crunch made it worth the effort. But the mousse, although smooth and creamy, had a bitter aftertaste that overwhelmed the rest, even with a spoonful of sweet and sticky marshmallow fluff added.

We didn’t sample anything from Lulu’s expansive drinks menu this trip, but the draft list, which changes monthly, is large enough to satisfy any beer drinker’s quest for variety, with hop-focused brews, Belgian-style and wheat beers, ales, lagers, and fancy beer-based cocktails. The restaurant also has a full bar and four flat-screen TVs, making it ideal for gathering with friends for drinks, snacks, and a ball game.

Lulu’s, 421 Cambridge St., Allston, is open from 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Friday; 10:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday and Sunday; phone 617-787-1117. Lulu’s accepts all major credit cards. By public transportation, take the 57 bus outbound to the Brighton Avenue at Linden Street stop, walk up Harvard, take a left on Cambridge Street, and walk for about two minutes.

This is part of a regular series featuring Boston lunch spots of interest to the BU community. If you have any suggestions for places we should feature, leave them in the Comment section below. Check out our list of lunchtime tips on Foursquare.

Samantha Pickette can be reached at pickette@bu.edu.