Home of the Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Back in my life as a webmaster, my father dragged me to a few networking events. I sat next to him, not moving much, while my father worked the room, talked to anyone and everyone, handing them a business card even after just two seconds …
I had not truly thought about creating a grilled cheese sandwich for tonight’s dinner until I was driving with the sous chef to see Billy Elliot. I was not prepared with any great ideas or recipes to choose from. Not until I arrived at Whole …
The appearance of this grilled cheese sandwich, Grilled Taleggio-Walnut Sandwich With Roasted Fall Grapes, is what intrigued me the most. The grapes/arugula on the side and the crispy nature of country white bread (of all breads) all appear to make a great meal. I normally turn my nose at the thought of using white bread but the way this country white bread looks, it seems so much better than typical white bread that you buy for 50 cents/loaf at the grocery store. This sandwich, simply put, looks perfectly cooked and very delicious. The walnuts are a nice touch. Continue reading WSJ: Grilled Taleggio-Walnut Sandwich With Roasted Fall Grapes
On this, the one random day I was actually on Twitter for more than 2 seconds, I was treated to this grilled cheese sandwich, thanks to @alosha7777 and Serious Eats. For some reason, maybe because of the photo (courtesy Serious Eats), I have taken a …
I have not posted a grilled cheese sandwich recipe/entry since August 29, 2010. That adds up to over two months of non-grilled cheese photographing and writing. Amazing, isn’t it? I had no idea it had been that long. Either way, I am back with a …
For as long as I can remember, Kevin Lynch and Closet Cooking have been creating awesome grilled cheese sandwiches with spectacular photography. The blog is not dedicated to grilled cheese sandwiches, just great recipes/food, but Kevin does cook grilled cheeses on what seems like a regular basis. The main allure to Closet Cooking’s sandwiches are that they are a far cry from your typical white bread and American cheese sandwich. The most recent sandwich, Grilled Goat Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper Pesto, is not the type of grilled cheese sandwich your mother made when you were growing up. These are gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches at their core and they are fantastic.
Choosing my favorite sandwich was very difficult as there were so many good ones…
Out of all the possible sandwiches, I chose the most simple one. For some reason, the photo just oozes yummy. I want to attempt to grab this grilled cheese sandwich through my screen, even though I know I would only break my computer (and possibly the Internet). I am a huge fan of pesto and based on this photo, I can only imagine I will love spinach pesto. Plus, who doesn’t love a good gruyere?
The ingredients include:
If you are looking for a great grilled cheese recipe, make sure to head to Closet Cooking. Or, if you are looking for a great recipe for anything that isn’t a grilled cheese, make sure to head to Closet Cooking. Kevin Lynch has something great going with his blog and I wish him all the best.
I created this blog to disprove the thought that a grilled cheese must include white bread and american cheese. I have continually stuck to that motto as I create new grilled cheese sandwiches each week. Along the road, I have encountered other people, other bloggers, who believe in the same thing and now feel it necessary to feature them right here, with a new feature called: PerfectlyGrilled.
Who would have guessed Martha Stewart would know how to cook an awesome grilled cheese sandwich let alone multiple yummy grilled cheese sandwiches? Definitely not me. Thanks to padgett hoke, I stumbled on Ms. Stewart’s recipes (and awesome photos), both vegetarian and carnivorous. With me …
I am finally ready to unveil the all new grilledshane.com, a continuation and improvement on the imagine a different world of grilled cheese blog. Ever since my friend Kyle gave me the nickname of grilledshane, I had been pondering moving the blog to grilledshane.com but …
I have been following the creation and opening of The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen for as long as I can remember. I even saw their booth at the 1st 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational, but was unable to get a sample. I have been impressed ever since. Thankfully, I was able to reach Nate Pollak at The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen, who answered all of my questions regarding his new restaurant and included his thoughts on the grilled cheese sandwich. The next time I am in San Francisco, I will make a point to stop by The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen for an awesome grilled cheese sandwich. Below are Mr. Pollak’s answers in his own words.
How long have you personally been in the restaurant business?
Cumulatively, about 3 years
Please expand on your love for grilled cheese and how it evolved into a restaurant, including your participation in the Grilled Cheese Invitational.
My partner, 7-time grilled cheese invitational champion Heidi Gibson, has a knack for creating incredibly creative comfort food dishes using only the highest quality artisanal ingredients. The GCI was actually founded by some of Heidi’s mutual friends 8 years ago in Los Angeles. Heidi decided to travel down from SF to compete in the first ever GCI. It was a small event, with 40 competitors, held in a warehouse in downtown LA. She won first place. 8 years later, the event boasts over 500 competitors, three competition categories, corporate sponsorship (Kraft, Tillamook), regional competitions (Austin, TX; San Francisco, CA), and this year the event was held on the studio lot at LA Center Studios in downtown Los Angeles and had 8000 attendees. I started cooking with Heidi as her assistant when she won her 5th trophy at the regional SF competition. We had both been recently laid off from our corporate management jobs during the economic crash of 2008, and inspired by her 5th victory, we joined forces to write a business plan for San Francisco’s first ever gourmet grilled cheese restaurant. As there were no small business loans available, we self-funded the entire project out of our own savings. We did tons of research, over a year of menu testing, and sampled hundreds of products from hundreds of vendors to come up with the perfect gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, at an affordable price point, to create our menu.
At the 2010 GCI, THE AMERICAN Grilled Cheese Kitchen were also official food vendors. We offered our Piglet sandwich to event attendees: Tillamook sharp cheddar, artisan cured ham, apple mustard, rosemary butter
How long, from conception to implementation, did it take to open The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen?
15 months.
Does social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) play a role in promoting your restaurant (pre/post-opening)?
Huge role. Our restaurant is in South Park, one of the oldest, most historic neighborhoods in San Francisco, in the South Beach area. It’s also home to San Francisco’s .com tech startup community; including companies like Twitter, Ubisoft, LookSmart, ServiceSource, EventBrite, Travelocity, Vertical Response, and many others. We exclusively use facebook and twitter for announcements (daily specials, menu updates, and other information), and our website is built entirely in WordPress.
Do you believe that most people stereotype the grilled cheese in that they think it is boring and only for children?
Some do. I think most people are very excited to have a grown-up, sophisticated grilled cheese sandwich. That is why we’ve been successful to date. We feature local vendors, and artisanal products. For example our breads are a custom baked country-wheat levain boutarde load from Pinkie’s Bakery. Our sourdough is a spectacular, fluffy, rich sourdough from Artisan bakers in Marin. Our cheeses feature local, and international cheeses. All of our sauces, mustards, relishes, pickles, etc are made in-house! And each gourmet grilled cheese sandwich is inspired by a gourmet entrée at a restaurant. For example, our mushroom gruyere sandwich is inspired by French-onion soup. Also, our tomato soup is a house made soup made from REAL tomatoes. We used Campbell’s tomato soup as our example soup – the nostalgic soup in everyone’s mind when they think of grilled cheese. And recreated something unique, that’s our own (but still resembling the sweet Campbell’s tomato), but with real vegetables, and no sugar or corn syrup.
Some people still truly believe that a grilled cheese should only be Kraft Singles and Wonder/white bread. For those people, our restaurant might not be the best place. There are plenty of diners, etc that offer this. We only serve real food products. So unfortunately, processed, chemically rich American cheese did not make the menu, nor did wonder bread. We pride ourselves in taking grilled cheese to the next level. Although, there is a secret menu item which will get a customer a very basic, grilled cheese…
Have you seen a positive response to The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen?
Very positive. Now into our fourth month, we are still selling out of food daily. The neighborhood and community has been incredible in supporting what we’re doing. They’re excited to have a new eating option in the neighborhood, and something unique and hip.
What has been the most popular sandwich and what is your personal favorite?
We’ve got a few that a very popular. Our most basic grilled cheese, The Mousetrap (cheddar, havarti and jack on buttered sourdough) outsells everything. Most often it’s ordered with a seasoned roasted tomato and apple wood smoked bacon. A lot of folks like getting some of our house made bread n’butter pickles on their Mousetrap too!
When it comes to the more complex, gourmet sandwiches, the Mushroom Gruyere (fontina, gruyère, roasted wild mushrooms + gold potatoes, melted leeks, caramelized onions, thyme butter ) and Jalapeno Popper (chèvre, monterey jack, apple wood-smoked bacon, apricot-jalapeño relish) are by far the most popular.
One of our newest sandwiches though, is creeping it’s way to the top: The Don Gondola (aged provolone, sopressatta salami, roasted tomato, lavender-basil pesto, garlic butter)
Where does your sandwich inspiration come from?
As we mentioned above, we look to gourmet dishes and other foods for inspiration. For example, we’ve done a sandwich influenced by butternut squash ravioli. This one includes: Italian Fontina, smoked Idiazabal, roasted butternut squash, sage, bacon, prosciutto, caramelized onions and pane rustica.
The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen • 1 South Park Ave. Suite 103A • San Francisco, 94107 • 415-243-0107
