If you're in the Lower East Side for any reason, you'll definitely find yourself strolling down Allen. As we patiently await the reopening of Rockwood, just around the corner of other buzzy hot spots like K-Dog and Katz Deli and right next to the crowd favorite rooftop Make Believe rests CHEESE GRILLE. This no frills cheese specialty shop is a great quick eats in the area for an array of cheesy options. From mac and cheese bites, to every kind of mac and cheese and grilled cheese you can imagine!
When the doors and windows are wide open, the bright graffiti colored walls are more than inviting. They offer TWELVE signature grilled cheeses, cheese fries, mac and cheese bites, and some beer and wine to choose from for a quick grab after a long day of drinking or to start off a long night of drinking.
Having personally lived within delivery distance, I am proud to say I have tried every grilled cheese on the menu! From sloppy joe to their Mediterranean with truffle oil, I've had em, loved em, and picked the best for this ranking.
Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese- Their best seller and the SHOW STOPPER. It's got breaded chicken covered in franks buffalo sauce, loaded with jalapenos and cheddar cheese. I swap the bleu cheese with ranch because I have taste, but do you. Then of course a side for dipping.
2. Their Goat Grilled Cheese is so creamy. I typically remove the bacon because I think the goat, gouda, and avocado are a perfect combobulation but the bacon does add a nice crunch and a great contrast to the flavor profile.
3. The Mediterranean. With truffle oil, tomato, basil and asiago this one is addicting. You'll start to crave this taste, I swear. I'm not a fan of the multigrain bread, it's a little too seedy for my taste so I tend to swap it for levain pullman which is fluffier and flavorful.
4. The Little Italy. It taste's like a pizza, with pepperoni and pesto, yet somehow also a grilled cheese. They've truly nailed it.
Honorable Mentions are The Sloppy Joe- I wouldn't recommend getting it delivered, but fresh- in shop, it's pretty damn good if you like sloppy joes. Reminiscent of my childhood so that might be a nostalgic thing for me. The Ham and Cheese with gruyere and dijon mustard is good if you enjoy the taste of ham. I don't necessarily so I can't recommend but I know it's well liked. Skip the plain cheese, you can make that at home.
For offering such a quality buffalo chicken, you'd think their ranch would be better so that's their downfall but bad ranch is still better than no ranch to me. And always better than bleu cheese. I've had their mac and cheese bites a lot, it comes with a side of tomato soup which I enjoy but I wasn't blown away by. Their mac and cheese isn't the best I've had either, I was really hoping the buffalo chicken mac and cheese would blow me away, but they killed it with the grilled cheese, it should be between bread.
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