imagine a different world of grilled cheese.

I have neglected the I Love Grilled Cheese series for too long and I apologize. I had wanted to turn I Love Grilled Cheese into a regular feature, but with all of the sandwiches I was creating and the changing of jobs, time just got away from me and the feature slowly died. I have had a reply from Connie from The Pop Shop sitting in my inbox for longer than I would like to admit. I just never made time to update the blog.

Not anymore. I believe the story goes that I was simply looking through either Twitter or my grilled cheese Google Alerts and noticed that there was a store in Collingswood, New Jersey, that serves 30 grilled cheese sandwiches. I knew at that point, I had to ask The Pop Shop a few questions for the blog. After a few emails back and forth, Connie responded with great answers and they are posted below. If you ever happen to be in Collingswood, New Jersey, please make sure to stop by. Tell them GrilledShane sent you!

P.S. Even Bobby Flay headed to The Pop Shop for a grilled cheese Throwdown. Nice. Being on an episode of Throwdown is one of my many dreams. Looks like The Pop Shop beat me to it! Maybe I will, one day, have to challenge The Pop Shop to our own version of a Throwdown! Read the rest of this entry »

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 to write me singing the praises of a local restaurant. Instead, I received an email from someone who is in the process of opening a brand new grilled cheese restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.

Mr. Eric Powell, owner of Meltworks, wrote notifying me of his soon to be opened restaurant. As you will read below, in Mr. Powell’s own words, Meltworks will feature a menu that will promote creativity and individuality. Based on Mr. Powell’s responses alone, I believe that he is on the right path to creating an awesome restaurant that I plan on visiting once it opens, in the near future. Mr. Powell took the time to fully and completely reply to my questions, so hopefully you take the time to thoroughly read his responses. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Let me start off by saying that if you haven’t read the first installment of I Love Grilled Cheese, I would definitely recommend you read it now!

One of the first times I googled “grilled cheese,” I noticed a result for a restaurant specializing in grilled cheese sandwiches: CHEDD’S gourmet grilled cheese. Since CHEDD’S is currently only in Colorado, I of course have never visited, but since they only serve grilled cheese sandwiches, I was intrigued. Once I decided that I was going to create the I Love Grilled Cheese column, I emailed their general email address expecting no one to answer. I was wrong. 100% wrong. Sure, there was a delay since Mr. Jamie Jalazo was traveling, but he responded and said that he was more than willing to answer my questions, which I have included below, in his own words. Read the rest of this entry »

Soon after I started cooking grilled cheese sandwiches and blogging about them, I began emailing a few different people who are involved in the restaurant business and have a special tie to grilled cheese. I was interested in hearing why they are so interested in grilled cheese sandwiches and how it fits into a restaurant when not being featured on a children’s menu.

The first restaurant I contacted has a new grilled cheese sandwich each and everyday. The owner seemed very interested in answering my questions. However, I believe but cannot confirm, that once he realized I had never visited the restaurant he began to ignore me and my questions. I eventually gave up and decided that although I was intrigued by his restaurant, I would never visit it.

The second restaurant I contacted was much more responsive and Mr. Matt Fish of Melt Bar and Grilled answered my questions. With just a couple nudges, he took time out of his very busy schedule to answer my questions in full. Unfortunately I have not been to his restaurant in a couple of years, but because he was so nice and forthcoming, I will do my best to make it back as quickly as I can. Plus, it is a grilled cheese restaurant, why wouldn’t I want to return? (The one time I dined at Melt, I ordered the Parmageddon, which Matt names as one of the most popular sandwiches. I can definitely see why, considering I am still talking about it two years later. I would highly recommend it.) Read the rest of this entry »