Sunday, April 25, 2010

It's a Bries - The Cheese Sandwich Post:

The first sandwich I ever truly "fell for" (In the somewhat anthropomorphic Sandwich to human sense) was likely the grilled cheese. The grilled cheese is perhaps one of the simplest Sandwiches out there and likely one of its best. It's soft, nurturing and truly serves as one of my most important comfort foods. Also, it's one of the most socially acceptable vehicles for molten cheese (nachos notwithstanding). While not an especially noteworthy iteration, I have consistently ordered the Grilled Cheese platter (along with the requisite Pea Soup) from United Bakers' since the Reagan administration.

Every country that eats cheese and some kind of bread has seen some variation of the Grilled Cheese (or is it the other way around?), whether it be the Mexican Quesadilla

















The Portugese Francesina

Czech Smažený Sýr
















or the Welsh Rarebit















And who could possibly forget the famous Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese, which grew no mould, and sold for $28,000?













The American Style Grilled Cheese seems to have originally popped in the 1920s, and remained open faced until the 1960s, when the top slice of bread came to dominate relevant Sandwich discourse.


Roughly 6 months ago, after launching a similarly themed restaurant, Rob Yuil opened an all-grilled cheese , all the time, Sandwich shop in Kensington, appropriately titled "The Grilled Cheese". By being a single item shop, with a limited prep area, Rob continues to fight an uphill battle. But his Sandwich delivers the Goods.

The wide variety of offerings lead to a veritable Sophie's Grilled Cheese Choice Situation:


On this particular visit, after much consternation and soul-searching, I opted for the Grill Works with Provolone, Swiss, Monterey Jack, Portobello, Roasted Red Pepper and Red Onion. Immediately after ordering, I worried that with such diverse ingredients, the Cheese factor would be overshadowed...


The sweetness of the grilled vegetables seemed to compliment the delicate balancing of selected cheeses, and it was clear that the cheese would not be outdone.



The Grilled Cheese was excellent, with a relatively even distribution of cheese, bread and veggies per bite. My only complaint was that it felt a little shy on the butter for my liking.

Overall - A very good Niche Sandwich Shop. Great selection, customizable (Bacon for $2 etc.), very good accompanying soups (last time I was there it was organic tomato, a.k.a. the Grilled Cheese Sandwiches' best pal), and a menu that will allow you to explore different options for at least a dozen visits.

Judgment: 8/10 Opas.

The Croque Monsieur, while functionally similar, has its own separate history. Roughly translated as the "Crispy Mister", legend (endorsed by Wikipedia and various Sandwich crackpots on the net) suggests that the Croque Monsieur was invented, like most wonderful things, by accident. Sandwich lore holds that it was created when a blue collar worker left a cold cheese Sandwich with Ham on a radiator - et voila.

The first recorded literary mention of the Croque-Monsieur dates back to Proust's 1918 magnum-opus À la Recherche du Temps Perdu

Or, en sortant du concert, comme, en reprenant le chemin qui va vers l’hôtel, nous nous étions arrêtés un instant sur la digue, ma grand’mère et moi, pour échanger quelques mots avec Mme de Villeparisis qui nous annonçait qu’elle avait commandé pour nous à l’hôtel des «Croque Monsieur» et des ufs à la crème…

Clearly a storied history indeed.

Run by the owners of Tati Bistro, Chabichou is a combination cheese-monger/cafe/prepared food outlet. With a wide array of cheese and liberal use of the French language, I figured this would be as good a spot as any to get the French Classic.

The Croque Monsieur is typically served with Emmental or Gruyere (I believe the latter was used) with extra layers of cheese on the top with a gooey concentration of ham and cheese in the middle. As it is French, it is also typically generously buttered.

In this particular version, the cheese was good, the ham was rich and flavorful, but the preparation felt off. Instead of frying in butter, a semi-prepared version is sent to a Subway-esque speed toaster, which gave the bread the seem unfortunate texture of the bread portion of a Toasted BMT/Garlic Bread instead of a more even pan-based golden crunch.



Still, the ingredients were very good.

Judgment: 7/10 Opas.

At no point should this post suggest that a great Grilled Cheese needs to be fancy with white truffle oil and edible gold and served w/ Caviar-emulsion ketchup. Far from it. Sometimes a slice of Kraft single and some Brian Schwartz whiter-than-white white-bread is just when the doctor ordered. But when you feel the need to get one out, there are tons of fantastic Grilled Cheese Sandwiches to be found.

After all, if the cheese isn't yours, it's Nacho Cheese.

No comments: