After my first bite at MELT during the Eat The Street: Japan event at the end of March, I've been craving for more gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. Luckily earlier this morning I was graced by a Tweet from the wonderful crew at MELT that they were going to be on Ward Avenue in front of Sports Authority from 11am – 2pm. I knew I had to take advantage of this opportunity since I didn't have class today.
I got to the MELT truck about 12:30 and they were about six tickets deep as I waited to place my order. The menu was small and simple. It consisted of five different grilled cheese concoctions and tomato soup (for dipping). The five different grilled cheese sandwiches were; “Triple Melt” (Cave-Aged Gruyere, Vermont Cheddar, Dutch Gouda on Sourdough), “Pastrami Melt” (Cave-Aged Gruyere, Pastrami, Mustard on Rye), “Tapenade Melt” (I forgot what was on this..), “Chorizo and Greens” (Chorizo, Fresh Local Greens, Mustard, Vermont Cheddar), and the “Melt of Shame” (Quarter Pound Kuawihi Beef Patty, Sauteed Onions, Melt Special Sauce between TWO grilled Vermont Cheddar Sandwiches). For me and my girlfriend, I decided getting the “Triple Melt, “Chorizo and Greens” and the “Melt of Shame”. I also got a couple of Tomato Soups so we could dip.
They make ALL their sandwiches to order so don't expect your food to come out in a minute. The folks at MELT take pride in their work and want you to have the best sandwiches in the world so wait a few minutes and be patient for your sandwiches! Trust me, it's worth the wait. I waited about 15 minutes for my food to be finished and about 7 – 8 more people showed up while I was waiting. I got my bag with my sandwiches and soup and I was a happy little kid all over again.
On the drive to my girlfriend's workplace the smell of the sandwiches in my car was killing me because it smelled so good. That aroma of Cheese, Meat and Bread is a delicious smell and I just wanted to eat it in the car! That was probably the worst car ride I've had in a while since I couldn't indulge in what I wanted to eat.
As I finally arrived at my destination I opened the packages and I had the biggest smile on my face. 3 GIGANTIC grilled cheese sandwiches just waiting to be devoured. The first on my list was the “Chorizo and Greens” as I am a HUGE fan of Chorizo and it was delicious!!!! A little bit of heat from the sausage mixed with the bitter taste of Kale, oh my goodness! It was delicious. The Mustard added a nice tang and the Creaminess of the cheese was excellent! Probably not the best sandwich to dip in your tomato soup though (as my girlfriend pointed out). It really did take away from the flavor of the sandwich.
However, dipping the “Triple Melt” in the Tomato Soup was a blast from the past! It was like when you were a kid and your mom made you Grilled Cheese with Cambell's Tomato Soup (Though..my mom never made me that!). But honestly the mix of the three different Cheeses with the tang of the Tomato Soup was EXCELLENT. Now let's talk about the Tomato Soup for a second. It's “Fresh Tomato Soup” and you can definitely tell. The Tomato Soup is a little tangy but not too much and it's sweet. It literally taste like if you were to take a nice tomato, squish it between your hands and eat it with a little sugar. Normally I'm really not a big fan of tomatoes but this will definitely be on my exception list.
Now, it's time for the King of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, the “Melt of Shame”. Oh my goodness, when I first saw this thing on the menu, I knew I had to get it. It's basically a hamburger with grilled cheese sandwiches as the buns. I mean, HOW AWESOME IS THAT! I've seen it on TV and now it's reality for me! And honestly it's better then I thought it would be. It IS a big sandwich but it's delectable in every bite. The patty itself is very tasty and it just added that nice juiciness to the Burger/Sandwich that it needed. Though I think because we didn't start eating it till a while later the burger got a little dry and maybe not as good as it could have been but it was still definitely worth it in every bite.
AND WOW, the next day I woke up, looked at twitter and saw that they were near where me and my friend were so we zoomed over to be one of the few last customers of the day. They stop their operation at 2pm or if they run out of food. They had the same menu as the previous day except they ran out of the "Tapenade Melt" (which i found out has Olive Tapenade Spread, Local Tomatoes, Nalo Basil and Vermont Cheddar) and replaced it with a simple "Tomato Basil" grilled cheese sandwich. I decided on getting the two I didn't have yesterday which was the Pastrami and the "Tomato Basil".
I started off with the "Tomato Basil" grilled cheese and the first bite reminded me of a wonderful Caprese salad even though it didn't have Mozzarella. But the tomato mixed with the sweet basil and the cheese just made it into a wonderful mix of foods. As for the Pastrami grilled cheese sandwich, I loved every bite of this too! The Rye Bread made this sandwich out of this world. My only complaint would be maybe a little bit too much mustard but it's still okay for me.
Overall I think Melt is EXCELLENT. Their grilled cheese sandwiches are wonderful and imaginative and just down right delicious! A big reason why is the bread they use. The Sourdough and Rye bread make these sandwiches exponentially better. Me and a culinary classmate talked about how their bread and how we both loved it because it added to the greatness! Who knew bread could be so good!!! Take my word for it guys, Eat here and you will DEFINITELY not be disappointed. Check their Twitter for the current location or check out their Website for the locations of where they will be around. Remember they're open for only a 4 hour gap OR until the run out of food! So you better find them quick!
Oh And if you're wondering about the prices, they're pretty reasonable since one of these can fill you up! (But i'm a big boy!) The sandwiches range from $6 - $11 with the lowest being the "Triple Melt" and the "Melt of Shame" being $11. The Tomato soup is $2 and thats a great deal! Now go spend your money!!
Taste: 4.5
Appearance: 4
Location: 4
Value: 4
Overall: 4.25 (rounded up)
*Based on a 5 point scoring system with 1 being Not So Good and 5 being Great*]
-Chef B
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