The Salty Cook attended last Saturday's "1st 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational" along with some friends. After an afternoon filled with cups of tomato soup and eating more cheese than ever before, here is what we thought:
The YEAHS!:
The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen
1 S. Park
San Francisco 94107
**Opening TBA
-Their "Piglet" grilled cheese was phenomenal -- sourdough, a smoked slab of ham, and cheesy goodness. This was a perfect blend of salty and savory!
-Kudos on the extra-large skillets--it was fun to watch and shortened the wait!
Campanile Restaurant
624 S. La Brea Ave.
Los Angeles 90036
-Their standard grilled cheese featured La Brea Bakery bread and high quality gruyere, proving the saying that "less is more".
Greenspan's
a.k.a. Eric Greenspan's upcoming mac 'n cheese restaurant, set to open on Melrose next to his other restaurant, The Foundry, later this summer.
-They featured a grilled cheese that was basically an ooey gooey version of a reuben -- the pastrami grilled cheese with whole grain dijon mustard. Tangy and delicious!
The NAYS:
The Grilled Cheese Truck
-Now, many will probably disagree with this vote. But, considering that the Grilled Cheese Truck's sole purpose is to provide grilled cheese, you would think that the would have prepared a special menu of cheesy offerings in honor of the invitational. But despite this event, they did not offer any specials, and in fact, they actually limited their standard menu. Considering that they had two (!) trucks in attendance, they could have offered something besides their standards...
HotKnives
-First of all, they decided to offer one type of grilled cheese per two hour block. So, from 12pm-2pm, the only option was the "Band Camp ." I found this infuriating, because some people (including myself) did not stay for the full 6 hours of the event. That meant that your tasting opportunities were incredibly limited. This is an event celebrating grilled cheese, people! Bring your A-games.
-Second of all, they devised a 2-line system: one line to go up and order (but is it really ordering if you have no options?) then you receive a ticket and go to the back of the second line and wait for your pre-selected grilled cheese. I found this ridiculously time consuming, especially considering the fact that they were grilling only one kind of sandwich! One line would have been perfectly suitable, not to mention that everyone else in attendance seemed to manage just fine with one line.
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P.S. -- LA-based ice-cream sandwich truck Cool Haus was also in attendance...YUM!
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P.S. -- LA-based ice-cream sandwich truck Cool Haus was also in attendance...YUM!
Greenie's the best! Can't wait for that place to open up.
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