Kayos offers pre-baked ribs or a complete barbecue option. INSET PHOTO: Jackson’s Corner is selling chocolate chip, ginger molasses or oatmeal raisin cookie dough.

During the coronavirus shutdown, restaurants have been getting creative with their takeout and delivery offerings. Takeout can be great, but some foods lose flavor, texture and quality if they sit for too long. By the time a dish is made, you drive to pick it up, and you bring it home, some of that fresh goodness is lost. Homemade pasta is best when it comes off the stove. A hot gooey cinnamon roll is a burst of aroma and flavor when it’s hot from the oven. Several restaurants are offering customers a fresh experience by selling uncooked or par-baked options. Some restaurants prepare everything, include the spices and all of the ingredients. Others offer sauces, dough, pasta and fresh ingredients to go with your own groceries. Most of these pre-made meals took less than 30 minutes to prepare.

Jackson’s Corner on the Westside is an obvious place to offer take and make foods. General Manager Alex Mayer explained that this location used to be a grocery store and that, before the shutdown, the owners discussed offering groceries along with takeout items. The wall of coolers in Jackson’s Corner are usually filled with wine, beer and other beverages (also available for pickup curbside). Now, you can also find tomato soup, an 8-pack of meatballs, Bonta gelato and chocolate chip, ginger molasses or oatmeal raisin cookie dough. You can also get house made condiments from veggie remoulade and pickled veggies to house made Thai, blue cheese, Caesar and white balsamic salad dressings. Chicken and beef stock are available for cooking or creating your own soup.

While some foods come with cooking instructions, Mayer said that the chefs are happy to take a call and answer any questions.

Along with single items, Jackson’s Corner offers full entrees to cook. We ordered the “burger kit.” Instead of having a wet, disintegrating bun, the burgers can be served right off the grill. It comes with four thick burgers, house-made buns and a generous serving of special sauce, sliced dill pickles and shredded lettuce. I could add whatever other topping and cook it the way I like. It was one of the best burgers in town, and it was hot from my kitchen.

I ordered the fusilli pasta to go with the burgers. Fusilli’s corkscrew shape can be hard and tasteless when you buy it packaged.

After about 5 minutes, the fusilli came out al dente, fresh and rich in flavor.

If you are looking for authentic, fresh pasta, you can find house made pasta at Trattoria Sbandati. Pappardelle and tagliatelle pastas are made daily and can be paired with sauces in to go pints. We tried the ragu ala Bolognese with ground beef, finely chopped celery, carrots and red onions slow cooked in Sangiovese red wine and tomato paste served on the egg tagliatelle. Pappardelle pasta pairs well with Chiantigiana sauce made with Chianti, Italian sausage, fennel, tomatoes, and leeks. Cooking it at home is the closest thing to having the dishes served hot and fresh at the restaurant.

For those craving a casual Italian meal, there are a few take and make pizza options. Marcello’s Cucina Italiana offers a “Make Your Own Pizza Kit.” The kit comes with a homemade dough ball for four individual pizzas, as well as mozzarella cheese, homemade sauce and three toppings of your choice. If you like a pub pizza, check out the Take-N-Make option at 10 Barrel Brewing Company. A fresh ball of pizza dough comes in a box with a choice of pizzas — Combo, Cowboy, Jaca, Margherita, Pepperoni, or Italian Chicken Pesto.

Likewise, Jackson’s Corner offers a pepperoni pizza kit or a pizza dough ball to go with your own sauce and ingredients. Fresh pizza dough is also available for takeout or delivery from Sparrow bakery.

Touch of upscale

Fine dining restaurants also are offering make-at-home meals. When a chef creates a high-quality entree, the flavors will be most prominent as it comes off the stove and is served at your table. I was happy to learn that Zydeco was selling its barbecue shrimp base. The base is used in the Cajun inspired, creamy shrimp and grits that is a staple for Zydeco Kitchen and Cocktails. The sauce is so good that I usually order extra bread to soak it up. A jar of the base is enough to make more than 40 shrimp. As I didn’t have grits on hand, mashed potatoes were a perfect substitute. It turned out so good , we were glad that we ordered extra bread. Zydeco also offers their salad dressings and cocktail mixers.

Reheating a steak will often leave it overcooked and without the nuance of flavors. It would be a sin to reheat the aged meats that Bos Taurus serves. During the shutdown, the restaurant is offering a butcher’s menu of aged meats that come complete with smoked salt, cracked pepper and steak butter. Instructions to cook it to the perfect temperature are included.

Kayo’s Dinner House and Lounge reopened at the end of April and is also offering a “Protein to Go (You Cook)” menu. Meat choices include a 16-ounce prime New York steak, a filet mignon, a prime ribeye, or a bone-in ribeye.

Kayo’s also offers a complete make-it-yourself barbecue experience. To begin, choose from scallop, shrimp, jumbo prawn or a combination scallop and shrimp skewers.

I was able to control just how much I cooked the high-quality diver scallops and shrimp, so they came out sweet and tender.

We also chose the par-cooked baby back ribs that are ready for a slathering of barbecue sauce as we put them in the oven. After 20 minutes, the tender meat was falling off the bone. For the complete grilling experience, we added a barbecue package for two that includes a Walla Walla sweet onion to bake, green and yellow zucchini, asparagus, potato and garlic bread. All of which can be thrown right on the grill.

Comforting treats

There’s nothing like fresh baked goods. Sisters Bakery and Sparrow Bakery are offering pies to take and bake. Sparrow will deliver croissants that you can throw in the oven. Delivery orders must be placed before noon the day before you want the items delivered. Note that the croissant directions also require putting them in a refrigerator overnight before baking. Jackson’s Corner has pre-baked cinnamon rolls that you add the glaze and bake.

If there is a silver lining in the shutdown, it may be that you can have delicious food from your favorite restaurants that can be made in your kitchen. Best of all, you don’t have to get dressed up to eat it.