Of course Westside Tavern's mac and cheese pops.

The energy inside the attractive Westside Olympia restaurant and bar swells on a nightly basis. Bankers and bikers share fries. Hipsters and hillbillies hug. There's a book club chatting in that corner. There's a website brainstorm happening in the other corner. Craft beer and cocktails dot the landscape. If a juggler or someone dressed at Batman popped in at any part of the night, that catalyst would ignite the room into a frenzy - the bankers and hipsters would hug, the bikers and hillbillies would dance and a book club website would be born. Mass hysteria.

It's only naturally the Westside Tavern's mac and cheese consists of a "secret family recipe."  I did discover they blend four cheeses, elbow macaroni, jalapeños and house made bits of bacon topped with crispy bread crumbs with fresh jalapeño corn bread with housemade red pepper jelly. It's a rib sticker that pops with jalapeno spice. It could help sustain a sudden party situation. It could help keep the drive alive.

The Westside Tavern knows there are two guiding principles behind terrific mac and cheese: a combination of cheeses, never just one, and a high proportion of cheese to everything else. Velveeta, cheddar and heavy cream makes the creaminest, cheesiest mac and cheese. They also know ridged elbow macaroni helps the sauce cling to the noodles. And, homemade breadcrumbs and shaved cheddar on top is just badass.

Pop into the Westside Tavern, grab the huge portion of mac and cheese, and wait for Batman.

WESTSIDE TAVERN, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday-Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday-Saturday, 1815 Harrison Ave. NW, Olympia, 360.915.7839

LINK: More mac and cheese dishes in the South Sound

LINK: The answer to why this mac and cheese column exists

LINK: Westside Tavern won the Tournament of Burgers