Luxury mashed potatoes: Our favorites on the menu (+ recipes to try)

Indulge! If you want a taste of luxury, these four hot spots around the country turn the humble starch into high-end dining.

Caviar Mashed Potatoes
There's always a crowd waiting on the cobblestone street in front of Nantucket's Boarding House (12 Federal St., 508-228-9622), a restaurant that's been popular for all of its 19 years, possibly because it used local ingredients before they were trendy. Or maybe it's due to the homemade carbs: french fries, flatbreads, doughnuts and, of course, mashed potatoes. Chef Erin Zircher's crème fraîche mashed potatoes with hackleback caviar ($9 as a side; $24 with scallops) is served with lobster until November, when the Nantucket Bay scallops arrive. They're in season for a short while and taste even better when dunked into these rich potatoes.
Sound good? We bet you'll like our:
Mashed Broccoli Potatoes with Browned-Butter Salmon »

Or, add caviar to our Potato Mash with Mix-Ins »



Rosemary and Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes
Perched on the shore of Payette Lake, the 62-year-old Shore Lodge helped McCall, Idaho transform from a sleepy timber village into a swank resort town. Its fine-dining restaurant, The Narrows (501 West Lake St., 800-657-6464), has lake and mountain views from every table, as well as local products like grass-fed lamb and mountain huckleberries. In Idaho it's expected that potatoes play a starring role on the plate. Executive chef Eric Gruber created his signature mashed potatoes ($4 as a side) by combining whipped Idaho russets with rosemary and blue cheese, a combination he swears by. Loyal customers can see why.
Make it at home: Wrap a few fresh sprigs of rosemary in cheesecloth; throw the bundle into cold water with potatoes and bring to a boil. Drain when tender. The potatoes will have a subtle rosemary taste without that wooden texture.
Sound good? We bet you'll like our:
Camembert Mashed Potatoes with Chicken, Apples and Pears »

Or, use the tip above and add blue cheese to our Potato Mash with Mix-Ins »



Lobster Mashed Potatoes
Originally opened in 1953 as a supper club (Bob Hope and Peggy Lee were regulars), Seattle's El Gaucho (2505 First Ave., 206-728-1337) still has old-world touches: low lighting, midnight-blue walls and original mink booths. Though El Gaucho is a steakhouse, the lobster mashed potatoes ($13 for a half-order) is one of the most popular dishes. Made of russets, lobster meat and stock, heavy cream, butter, paprika and a pinch of white pepper, the mash is so addictively delicious that many customers order it as their entrée.
Sound good? We bet you'll like our:
Mashed-Potato-Stuffed Chicken »

Or, add lobster to our Potato Mash with Mix-Ins »



Black Truffle Mashed Potatoes
In the Florida Keys, shorts and flip-flops are de rigueur. But at Pierre's on Islamorada (81600 Overseas Hwy., 305-664-3225)-a restaurant housed in a large, West Indies-style plantation home-you'll have to step it up to, say, khakis and sneakers. Forgo the white-tablecloth dining room and instead sit on the wraparound porch, overlooking a white-sand beach. To make black truffle mashed potatoes ($8 as a side), chef Ben Loftus cranks russet potatoes through a manual food mill, then adds heavy cream, fresh truffles, truffle oil and butter, creating an earthy dish that seems otherworldly and sophisticated in the land of palm trees.
Sound good? We bet you'll like our:
Hummus Shiitake Mashed Potatoes »

Or, add black truffles to our Potato Mash with Mix-Ins »



By Lambeth Hochwald | Main photography by Lucas Zarebinski

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