Talk-A-Vino

Who likes cheese, raise your hands! And now, who likes grilled cheese sandwich, raise your hands! Well, even if you didn’t raise your hand, as you think that grilled cheese is for the kids only, I will then appeal to your inner kid. You can try denying it, but I know that presented with crunchy, ooey, gooey, melty goodness, most of us can’t resists it.

As a foodie, one thing you usually do is follow the other foodies and listen to their stories. This is how you learn about what is going on, what are the latest trends, what are the hottest restaurants – all in all, you are in the know. Living in Stamford, Connecticut, I heard about Melt Mobile for the long time – a food truck with a fame of taking a homey simplicity of the grilled cheese and converting it into the object of rave and desire. Interestingly enough, visiting a hot (pun intended) food truck might be even harder than a restaurant – you always know where the restaurant is, so you can align the visit to your schedule. The food truck, on another hand, can appear and disappear in a whiff, making long term planning, well, rather hard. So as you can deduce from the above, I was only reading about it, but never tasted Melt Mobile’s food.

Thus when I had an opportunity to finally taste the Melt Mobile fare together with the blogging friends, I couldn’t let it pass.

Metl Mobile’s story started about 4 years ago, when two long time friends Darlene Anderson and Diana Hall combined business prowess and cooking skills, and realized that there might be a melted cheese in their future. Darlene and Diana appeared on the “3 Days to Open with Bobby Flay” episode on Food Network, where they had lots of fun and not so fun challenges thrown at them. Fast forward to today, with two of the Melt Mobile food trucks in operation, and franchising opportunity being in the high demand, I would say they are doing great – and retaining very humble and super-friendly attitude.

Diana and Darlene

During our dinner, I had an opportunity to taste through the most of their menu, as well as many specialty dishes, and I have to tell you – grilled cheese sandwich is a dangerous thing. Same as the concept of a “dangerous wine” – the wine so tasty you can’t stop drinking it – these seemingly simplistic grilled cheese sandwiches are so tasty, it is literally impossible to stop eating them. If you stop random people on the street and ask them to describe grilled cheese sandwich, I’m sure majority will stay with simplicity of golden bread, melted cheese and may be a side of tomato soup. Diana’s unbound imagination really took this comfort food to the next, fully gourmet level, as you will see in a second. Fair warning – if you are hungry, stop reading right now, go feed yourself and only then come back. I accept no responsibility for any fainting or nervous breakdowns caused by the pictures of the ooey gooey goodness below. Yep, consider yourself warned.

We started with Original Melt with Bacon (Bacon, Vermont Cheddar, Monterrey Jack, Mozzarella and Gruyere on Country White Bread) and Jalapeño Popper Melt (Vermont Cheddar, Cream Cheese on Cheddar Crusted Country White) – both very tasty, Jalapeño melt delivering a nice kick.

Next up were The Pork-U-Pine (Tillamook Cheddar, BBQ pulled Pork, caramelized Onions, and sliced Dill Pickles on buttery grilled Country White) and Short Rib Melt (Braised Beef Short Ribs, Caramelized Onions on an Original Melt – Vermont Cheddar, Monterrey Jack, Mozzarella and Gruyere on Country White Bread). Pork-u-Pine was very generous and tasty, and Short rib melt was simply outstanding – you know that goodness of the slow roasted meat, combined now with melted cheese? Don’t think I need to talk further.

With such a tasty  food, I even developed a courage to ask if I can pick inside the kitchen (yes, in the food truck) to snap a few quick pictures – and I was actually allowed to do so:

The next two sandwiches were beyond spectacular. I unquestionably love mushrooms in any form. Mushrooms with cheese are even better than just mushrooms. Add a drop of truffle oil? Heaven on Earth, period. That is how the White Truffle Melt (Mascarpone Cheese, Fontina, Truffles and Mushrooms on Tuscan bread) was – amazing flavor, a absolute delight for any mushroom aficionado. And Meatball 3 Cheese Squeeze (Diana’s Meatballs in Marinara, Fresh Mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, Parmigiano Reggiano and Fresh Basil on Tuscan Bread)? I don’t even know how to describe it. Take the absolutely best Italian meatball – soft, fluffy, generous, flavorful – best you can imagine – then multiply the flavor by ten and put it between two slices of golden crusted bread a add a bit of the melted cheese. Just amazing. Might start drooling as I write this.

Meat sounds as a natural companion for the grilled cheese sandwiches, but seafood is also not a slouch in this game – Blackened Shrimp Melt (Blackened Shrimp with Guacamole and Tomato on an Original Melt) and
Maryland Melt (Panko Crusted Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Lemon Caper Aioli, Micro Arugula on an Original Melt) were simply superb – great favor, great texture – delicious.

Do you think dessert can be grilled? If you said “yes”, you are absolutely right – we had a pleasure of trying The Fluffernutter (Caramelized Bananas, Marshmallow Fluff, Belgian Chocolate and Peanut Butter on crunchy Tuscan Bread dusted with powdered Sugar) and Cheesecake Melt (Creamy NY Cheesecake, Sandwiched between grilled Marble Pound Cake dusted with Powdered Sugar) – I can’t even tell you if I had a favorite,  this was really a super-delicious ending to the great evening.

That’s all I have for you, my friends. I can make a fair assumption that I made you hungry after reading this. If you live somewhere in the lower Connecticut or New York, you can use some of the Melt Mobile’s social media handles listed below to see where you can find them. For the rest of you? Come on over, this food worth a special trip! Cheers!

Melt Mobile
Stamford, CT
Ph: (203) 667-1971
Web: Melt Mobile
Facebook: MeltMobile
Twitter: @Melt_Mobile