Home of the Grilled Cheese Sandwich
In honor of Memorial Day, I decided that I was going to make a red, white and blue grilled cheese sandwich. The only problem is there really aren’t many blue ingredients in the wild. (There are, however, white ingredients, mozzarella, and red ingredients, red peppers.) …
A couple weeks ago I requested that people email and let me know which restaurants serve the best grilled cheese sandwiches. What local eatery serves a grilled cheese that they could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. What I was expecting was fans of restaurants …
Before discussing tonight’s sandwich, I must first explain tonight’s subject and why in fact I love white, square dishes. Ever since I have started creating a new grilled cheese each and every Sunday night, I have been using coral dishes that can be seen in most, if not all, of my photos. They are great and have worked well for as long as we have had them. However, I have always had a thing for really plain, white, square dishes. Maybe it is the designer in me, or maybe it is just that I have seen what real chefs have done with them and loved it, I do not know. Either way, last Friday night, I picked up some new white square dishes at Kohls and couldn’t be happier. You will be able to see photos of the dishes with the final grilled cheese as I did not take photos of the dishes only. Bad, Shane, bad. Now, onto, the mushroom and onions sliders.
Every Sunday I travel down the street to the same market to search for ingredients for that night’s Sunday Dinners/grilled cheese. Lately, I have felt like I have exhausted all of the ingredients they have to offer for my grilled cheese sandwiches. That is the reason that two weeks ago, I purchased my bread at another local place. This week however, I found a section of the cheese department that I had overlooked: Mexican type cheeses. I am very glad that I finally found them because this particular cheese was awesome.
This soft, smooth cow’s milk cheese has a mild, creamy flavor and somewhat elastic texture. The white cheese is a family favorite for snacking and melting into savory dishes and quesadillas. A variety called Queso Jalapeno has bits of jalapenos mixed into the paste for an extra zesty flavor…learn more about Mexico and The Caribbean cheeses.
The version that I purchased today did not have the jalapenos mixed in, although it did not need it. Once it was melted on the grilled cheese, it seemed to have a great taste and kick to it. Overall, I agree completely with ILoveCheese.co.uk’s description. It was very creamy, soft and yummy. I could definitely taste the Mexican influence. If you can find this cheese at your local market or grocery store, I would highly recommend trying it.
Sliders. They seem to be everywhere, Burger King, Steak ‘N Shake and White Castle, among other places. Now they are on my Sunday Dinners dinner dish. And they are yummy. Sure, they are tiny, but they are mini-sandwiches which you can eat many of in one sitting. Nothing wrong with that. Yum!
As already stated, tonight’s cheese was awesome. It had a great taste and texture that was perfect for tonight’s grilled cheese. However, I did not make enough of the mushroom and onions mixture, and therefore I thought the grilled cheese was missing something. If I had just a little bit more to spread over the six sliders, I think the sandwich would have been greatly improved. Plus, I over-salted the mushroom onions mixture, which was my mistake but definitely something I have learned from.
Before my in closing paragraph, I must give a shout out to the cook of our side dish. Today, I was out with the folks and we stopped by this new restaurant called go! Bistro, which just opened in December. I was unsure what I wanted for lunch, side dish or sandwich or maybe nothing. (I had a few pieces of pizza at my nephew’s 3rd birthday party around noon. Happy Birthday, Nate!) I walked in and the people could not have been nicer. They were especially kind in making sure that my Tuna Tarragon sandwich was cooked exactly how I wanted it, like a tuna melt sandwich. I only ate half of the sandwich, but it was awesome and I will be taking the other half for lunch tomorrow. [Update: Unfortunately, they have since gone out of business.]
Anyway, homemade kettle chips came with the sandwich and although they were salty, which in this case was good, they were amazing and a perfect complement to tonight’s grilled cheese. I think I may have liked them better than my sandwich. They were that good. If you are ever on the east side of Cleveland, make sure to stop by go! Bistro.
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This grilled cheese was good but not great. As I already wrote, the grilled cheese needed something, some more mushroom and onions would be great, or maybe less salt. The slider idea was great, as were the new dishes and Mexican cheese, but all in all, it wasn’t perfect. I would definitely make it again, and try and improve, but next week, it is on to a new and better recipe.
NPR recently posted a new blog entry for their Kitchen Window series and it just happens to feature the wonderful grilled cheese sandwich. Yum! This blog post would have been great when I was writing my History of Grilled Cheese Sandwich entry, but oh well. …
I hear that today is Mother’s Day and as a son, I should be doing something special for my mother. That is the yearly ritual, right? As if I don’t appreciate my mom the other 364 days of the year, today I am supposed to …
When I started the I Love Grilled Cheese feature, I thought there would be tons of people to interview, and tons of restuarants doing amazing things with the simple but awesome grilled cheese sandwich. Well, I still think that, I just can’t find them. Googling “grilled cheese restaurant” really yields no usable results. I find that two grilled cheeese restaurants, one in CA and one in NY, have gone out of business. I find CHEDD’s, which I have already interviewed. Melt, check. However, in those results, I don’t see a restaurant that is serving a new grilled cheese sandwich each and everyday, or, a restaurant that is serving a $15 or $30 grilled cheese. I find nothing unique and that is exactly what I want for I Love Grilled Cheese.
This is where you come in.
Where do you eat grilled cheese sandwiches?
Sure, you may cook the greatest grilled cheese sandwich known to man, but that is for a different feature. I want to know what restaurants in your area create the best grilled cheese sandwich. Which restaurant simply doesn’t leave the grilled cheese to fester on the kid’s menu for the youngin’s but let’s it breathe for all to enjoy. I want to know which restaurant has that grilled cheese sandwich that just makes you go “mmmm.” The one you want to return to each and everyday just so you can take that amazing first bite.
Please, email me at grilledcheese@imagine24.net, or leave a comment below, and let me know where YOU eat amazingly awesome grilled cheese sandwiches. I may just feature them in a future I Love Grilled Cheese column. (And of course I will give you all the credit in the world!)
Breakfast and by extension hash browns, is a meal that I love. The same can be said for grilled cheese sandwiches. Therefore, I thought why not combine a part of breakfast (hash browns) with my favorite sandwich? It was a no-brainer… ingredients: Homemade Hash Browns …