LA's best dishes: Mac and cheese smackdown

As much as we loved the elegance of Pacific Dining Car’s mac and cheese, its delicateness was a withering defense against Cut’s hearty contender. The secret? Those cheese-drenched corkscrew-shaped cavatappi—a chewy, thick pasta that can hold its own alongside a porterhouse, which is kind of the point in a steakhouse side. If its $20 price tag gives you heartburn—and, really, you shouldn’t even be here if it does—just remember it easily feeds two.