Over-the-Top Grilled Cheese Sandwiches Across America
A perfectly made classic grilled cheese can be a treat, but when chefs up the ante with epic ingredients and cheese combinations, it becomes a true delicacy. All across the country, food trucks and restaurants offer next-level grilled cheese sandwiches that pile the ingredients high and stack mouthwatering mixes of oozing cheese to make for an unforgettable sandwich. We've rounded up just some of the most delicious over-the-top grilled cheese finds around, from the most gooey to the most unexpected. Do you have a favorite we missed? Tell us in the comments.
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Multiple Location in Ohio
Ohio's Melt Bar and Grill's Mighty Macaroni comes with creamy and gooey homemade mac and cheese that's battered and deep fried before it's layered with a cheddar cheese sauce and an extra slice of your choice of cheese melted on top. The eatery is also famous for its Melt Challenge, which features a grilled cheese with 13 types of cheese in it.
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Rockville, Maryland
This grilled cheese from Full on Craft and Drinks features a hearty portion of Maryland style crabcake and a combination of cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, tomatoes, and sliced brioche bread smothered in remoulade sauce.
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Brooklyn, New York
The Brooklyn butcher shop B&A Pork Store has been making fresh mozzarella, breads, sausages, and Italian delicacies since the 1970s, and it uses its homemade mozzarella to create a decadent fried grilled cheese. The Mozzarella Carrozza features thick slices of mozzarella that are fried and topped with marinara and basil for a crispy bite.
Related: Where to Find a Good, Cheap Sandwich in Every State
The Grilled Cheese and Crab Cake Co.
Garden City Beach, South Carolina
Another location featuring a popular crab grilled cheese, The Grilled Cheese and Crab Cake Co. also has a fried lobster tail grilled cheese that includes a 4- to 5-ounce fried lobster tail that comes served in between thick Texas toast and American cheese. Oyster and shrimp lovers can also get them fried on top of their grilled cheese here.
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Miami
Ms. Cheezious, a food truck with bricks-and-mortar locations, has gained popularity for its gourmet grilled cheese. Most of its selections break the mold, but when it comes to savory the Southern Fried Chicken and Waffle Melt reigns supreme. The grilled cheese includes fried chicken and cheddar on homemade buttermilk waffles served with house country gravy and maple syrup.
Related: Best Fried Chicken Sandwiches in America
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Hammontree's offers a dessert version with its Blueberry Grilled Cheese, which includes a mix of mascarpone cheese and cream cheese and blueberries that are grilled between two slices of pound cake drizzled with honey. The grilled cheese has ranked as the best in the state, according to Yelp, with reviewers raving about its light and crumbly exterior and creamy interior. Hammontree's offers 15 grilled cheese sandwiches and a build-your-own option with 26 cheeses, eight meats, and seven sauces to choose from.
Hawaii and Utah
Porky's Kauai, known for its succulent, pineapple-infused pork, stuffs its tender pork into a grilled cheese diners love. The dish, offered at Porky's locations in Waimea, Hawaii, and in Lehi, Utah, includes a combination of Havarti and Muenster cheese topped with double layers of its signature slow-roasted kalua pork and toppings of grilled onions and fresh pineapple between slices of cheese bread. The grilled cheese comes with a side of sweet or sweet and spicy sauce for dipping perfection.
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Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
The Potsticker Meltz, a 2013 National Grilled Cheese Invitational Winner for its inventiveness, includes provolone, pepper jack, pork, pepper, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, scallions, sesame, fried wontons, Sriracha chili aioli, and a potsticker dipping sauce. A secret menu has vegetarian showstoppers such as the Halitosis — white cheddar, fontina, goat cheese, caramelized onions, buttermilk fried onions, pickled onions, green onions, and roasted garlic vinaigrette.
Related: Amazing Sandwiches From Around the World
Nashville, Tennessee
Another food truck that's addded bricks-and-mortar locations, The Grilled Cheeserie's menu is filled with original selections. Pizza lovers can try the pizza melt, which combines provolone cheese, crispy pepperonis, fresh basil, and pepperoncinis between parmesan-crusted rosemary garlic bread. Dip it in the side of roasted red pepper marinara for the ultimate bite.
Houston
Twisted Grilled Cheese is another food truck with a restaurant. There's a wide range to choose from here, but, for a halal take on grilled cheese, go with The Halal Philly Grilled Cheesesteak, which features marinated ribeye, white American cheese, provolone, and mozzarella.
Charlotte, North Carolina
Papi Queso is all about recreating childhood favorites when it comes to grilled cheese. Its Burger Melt combines the best of a burger with grilled cheese, creating a special-blend patty made from brisket, chuck, short rib, and aged rib-eye. A combination of Gruyere cheese and white cheddar melds 4-ounce patties together. They're topped with onions and served with a homemade Thousand Island sauce.
Related: Where to Find a Good, Cheap Burger In Every State
Kenilworth, New Jersey
New Jersey might not be the place where you'd expect a sandwich with Southwest flavors, but the Big Tex lives up to its name with barbecue sauce, Monterey Jack, bacon, cheddar, mac and cheese, roast beef, avocado, and of course, jalapeños. You can also get glazed doughnuts as a bread option when building your own custom grilled cheese.
Norfolk, Virginia
All the grilled cheese creations at this café are taken to the next level, from the Sunday Morning featuring brie with fried apples, eggs, and bacon, to the Don Quixote, combining olive tapenade with roasted peppers, mushrooms, parmesan, and fontina. The Big "O" pulls together an unexpected mix of mozzarella cheese with mascarpone, peanut butter, Nutella, bananas, and applewood bacon all inside a local Belgian chocolate bread French toast.
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Champaign, Illinois
Sun Singer offers a restaurant, deli, and retail shop in one, with selections of gourmet wines, beers, and imported and local cheeses that go into hearty dishes such as its Grilled Cheese Supreme. It includes Danish fontina cheese and white cheddar, Granny Smith apples and purple fig jam spread on grilled challah bread. Pair it with crispy truffle fries for a plate diners can't get enough of.
Multiple Locations in Nebraska
The Cheese Frenchee arrived in Nebraska in the 1950s, according to Food and Wine. Today, select locations still feature the deep-fried grilled cheese with a crunchy exterior and gooey center. Don and Millie's restaurant, which has locations across Lincoln, Omaha, and Bellevue, is one of the places that still offers the treat, cutting a classic grilled cheese sandwich and deep frying each bit to perfection.
New York
This small food stop inside the Essex Street Market has been a neighborhood favorite for selections such as fluffy pancakes, crispy waffles, and decadent doughnuts. Enjoy the waffles when ordering the So Good, a triple-decker French toast grilled cheese. Three slices of French toast come together between thick layers of gooey cheese with poached eggs on top. Since they cut out the center of the grilled cheese to make room for the eggs, the piece gets transformed into a mini grilled cheese that comes on the side.
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California
All the grilled cheeses from Grater Grilled Cheese, which has locations across Mission Valley, Otay Ranch, Irvine, and Huntington Beach, have the Basic 5 as their base: colby, Swiss, Monterey Jack, provolone, and sharp cheddar cheese on sourdough. The chef's special always offers inventive twists ranging from birria-grilled cheese with short ribs and a dipping sauce to jalapeño-cream cheese grilled cheese.
Washington, D.C.
Stable brings Swiss cuisine to the United States, offering traditional dishes such as fondue and raclette. Its Fondue Grilled Cheese, served for brunch, takes a signature fondue blend and slabs it into a sandwich made with homemade bread for a delectably creamy match. The fondue here is made using three Swiss cheeses mixed in garlic and white wine to make for a tangy fondue.
Westerly, Rhode Island
This live music venue and café offers coffees, inventive martinis, and grilled cheese selections named after famous musicians and filled with tasty ingredients. The Cash comes on Italian bread and is stuffed with a homemade bacon mac and cheese. A combination of cheddar cheese and Velveeta tie the sandwich together.
St. Pete Beach, Florida
Beachgoers are pampered by celebrity chef Robert Hesse, who has appeared on Food Network programs and worked as a private chef to celebrities for years, as he pulls together epic combinations such as the Hot Mess. It has crispy cheddar cheese curds, smoked Gouda, a cheddar fondue, braised short ribs, pickled red onions, tater tots, horseradish aioli, and a poutine beef gravy.
Gayle V's Best Ever Grilled Cheese
Chicago
All the sandwiches here are made with cheese from Prairie Pure Cheese in Belvidere, Illinois, which dates back more than 100 years. The Duke — named after Duke's Alehouse in Crystal Lake, Illinois, where Gayle V's gets a beer mustard to use on the sandwich — comes with Swiss cheese and ham and a choice of toppings, ranging from a rhubarb to cranberry mustard.
Natick, Massachusetts
Cheesy Street Grill started as a food truck and opened locations at Massachusetts' Natick and Westborough roadside service plazas. The Taco Grilled Cheese is available only in Natick and comes with a cheddar grilled cheese topped with taco seasoned ground beef, sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole, and jalapeños.
Charleston, South Carolina
This selection takes decadence to a new level. The upscale grilled cheese comes with ingredients such as salty paddlefish caviar and a cured yolk powder, with a pimento cheese mousse on a grilled brioche with ham. While most diners say the $39 price tag is a shock, they rave about its combination of flavors.
Barre, Vermont
This restaurant and tap room features a range of out-of-the-box grilled cheese options, each with a choice of two dips. The Spinach and Artichoke Grilled Cheese has cream cheese, parmesan, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese with spinach, artichokes, lemon, and garlic on garlic bread. Dip choices range from blue cheese and Buffalo sauce to Vermont's famous maple syrup.
New Haven, Connecticut
This food truck's classic doesn't skimp. Can't choose which oozing cheese you prefer? The signature cheese mix combines six to indulge in. They include provolone, swiss, Gruyere, Gouda, sharp cheddar, and Muenster cheese. Cornichon pickles and grain mustard come on the side.
Dallas
Most of the grilled sandwiches at this Dallas restaurant are over the top, like a white cheddar grilled cheese with sloppy joe sauce, but the Grilled Pimento Cheese may be the most packed. It uses a house-made pimento from mascarpone, brie, and cheddar mixed with mayo and roasted red pepper, and comes topped with fried onion strings and smoked brisket you can add on for $2.50.
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