Grilled Cheese Invitational: The Gooey Recap

An entry drizzled with honey

Last Saturday was the 2nd 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational and the second year in a row it was at Los Angeles Center Studios.  The event, which had both amateur and professional competitions, brought together dozens of grilled cheese makers and thousands of eaters on a warm downtown day.  The Invitational, sponsored by Oregon cheese maker Tillamook, featured a series of head to head throwdowns in the Hot Knives Thunderdome, which produced a winner in Ricardo Zarate (pictured below right), who recently was named one of the Best New Chefs by Food and Wine magazine.  Zarate's winning entry was a lamb and chorizo grilled cheese sandwich.

This year felt more organized and less crowded than last year, due to using a lot more real estate and learning from prior experience.  The lines could still be long for the grilled cheese vendors, and sadly short for the Korean taco truck etc vendors, as if you came to the Grilled Cheese Invitational, kalbi is not what you want for lunch...  This was the second appearance in a week for the soon to open Daily Dose, the downtown cafe from Christian Page and Sarkis Vartanian, following their presence at last weekend's Artisanal LA.

Ironically all the Executive Judges I knew are at least part Jewish, yet this festival was held during Passover, the one week of the year Jews are supposed to not eat bread.  I hope they will consider that when scheduling this event next year as several of the people involved with the event told me the organizer was oblivious.  As such I can't comment on the quality of any of the sandwiches as I didn't eat any due to the holiday.  Fortunately I was able to eat some of the cheese provided by the sponsor, which tided me over.

The people's judges were able to get to try the sandwiches by hooting and hollering to get samples.  Each judge had to rate every sandwich they tried on multiple dimensions and submit their ballot to a voting station (pictured below).

The crowds were well behaved and the event was quite orderly.  People were having fun trying the grilled cheese sandwiches, cheering on competitors at one of the two stages and just enjoying the people watching on a beautiful afternoon.  This year also included a beer garden, with proceeds going toward Library Park in West Hollywood.

Below are an assortment of pics from the gooey afternoon:

Lines to buy grilled cheese sandwiches

Voting station

Judges waiting for food

Contestants grilling

Contestants grilling and vamping

A mustachioed entry

Judge Elina Shatkin sampling the sandwiches

Grilled Cheese Month is Here: Ready, Set, Eat!

There are only three days left until the annual celebration of melted cheese known as the Grilled Cheese Invitational (GCI), at which one sandwich will be crowned the champion, and all others will be merely delicious accompaniments to tomato soup.   In preparation, six local restaurants are each offering their take on specialty grilled cheese featuring GCI sponsor Tillamook Cheese. These sandwiches are only available until Saturday, so that gives you four days to eat them all.

In addition, Tender Greens West Hollywood is celebrating Grilled Cheese Month with a different sandwich each day this week.  Their chef, Eric Hulme will be competing in Saturday's GCI. Through Friday, April 22nd at the West Hollywood restaurant only, these special grilled cheese sandwiches will be $10.50 (served with a simple salad) and will be posted on twitter daily.  That makes seven sandwiches for you to eat this week to get your Grilled Cheese merit badge.

Lastly, Clementine will be celebrating Grilled Cheese Month all month long with different sandwiches available each week.  The full menu is here.  This is Clementine's 10th Annual celebration of the sacred sandwich.

Chef Eric Hulme’s Quack Attack Grilled Cheese Sandwich

The six participating restaurants serving cheesy and delicious Tillamook melts this week are:

simplethings sandwich & pie shop
8310 W 3rd Street ô (323) 592-3390
www.simplethingsrestaurant.com

Chef Carrie Cusack has created a Pork Belly Grilled Cheese with Tillamook Monterey Jack Cheese, Pork Belly, Smoked Tomato, Caramelized Onions, Avocado ($9.50)

The Foundry on Melrose
7465 Melrose Avenue ô (323) 651-0915
www.thefoundryonmelrose.com

Grilled Cheese Invitational veteran Chef Eric Greenspan will offer the Johnny Apple Cheese AKA Johnny Pastrami with Tillamook Sharp Cheddar, Sourdough Bread, Apple Mustard Chutney, Green Apple, Smoked Pastrami ($8.00)

Dominick’s
8715 Beverly Blvd ô (310) 652-2335
www.dominicksrestaurant.com

Chef Brandon Boudet has created a sandwich featuring Tillamook Monterey Jack Grilled Cheese, Grilled Wild Ramp, Ciabatta Bread ($11.00)


The Oaks Gourmet
1915 North Bronson Avenue ô (323) 871-8894
www.theoaksgourmet.com

From another Grilled Cheese Invitational participant, Chef Luke Reyes will offer a sandwich with Tillamook Sharp Cheddar, Black Forest Bacon, Homemade Tomato Jam, Sourdough Bread ($9.95)


101 Coffee Shop
6145 Franklin Avenueô (323) 467-1175
www.the101coffeeshop.com

Chef Brandon Boudet has also created a Po Boy for Angelenos across town with Tillamook Medium Cheddar & Homemade Creole Hot Sausage Po Boy ($9.00)


crow bar & kitchen (Orange County)
2325 East Coast Highway ô (949) 675-0070
www.crowbarcdm.com

Grilled Cheese aficionado, Chef John Cuevas, will offer a melt with Tillamook Sharp Cheddar, Pickled Ramps, Smoked Bacon, Garlic Mayo, Fried Egg ($11.00)


Tender Greens West Hollywood is the only Tender Greens location with the grilled cheese specials this week.

Tender Greens West Hollywood
8759 Santa Monica Boulevard  (310) 358-1919

Clementine in Century City has a month of sandwiches:

Clementine:
1751 Ensley Avenue (310) 552-1080
http://clementineonline.com/

Free Grilled Cheese tomorrow at the Grilled Cheese Truck

The Tillamook Cheese Loaf Love Tour is coming back to Los Angeles on its second annual cross-country road trip.  What that means for you, aside from the opportunity to see a cute orange van, is free grilled cheese sandwiches tomorrow from the Grilled Cheese Truck.  To help kickoff and promote National Grilled Cheese Month (no this isn't an April Fool's Day prank), you can get a free Tillamook Loaf Love grilled cheese sandwich from the Grilled Cheese Truck from 11 am - 12 Noon at Beverly Hills Porsche.

It is on the early side, but the price is right.  Other sandwiches are not free, so be sure to ask for the Loaf Love free sandwich during the Hour of Cheese.  The loaf love melt will be available from the Grilled Cheese Truck during the rest of April, but not for free, alas.  You don't need a password or a coupon for this special.  While you are there you may decide to spring for a Porsche while you are at it.  But please do not customize it orange to match your sandwich.  That would just be wrong.

In related news, the Grilled Cheese Invitational will be coming back to Los Angeles Center Studios on Saturday April 23rd.  That gives you three weeks to get excited and prepare your system for an overload of cheese.

Beverly Hills Porsche: 8425 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills.  Just East of La Cienega.
The Grilled Cheese Truck: http://thegrilledcheesetruck.com/

Grilled Cheese Invitational - 2010

This is the last cheese related post of the day. This past weekend about 8,000 Angelenos lined up to attend the 1st 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational. Unlike at the innagural LA Street Food Fest, the lines to get in moved very quickly. Admission was $10 and entitled attendees to a sample of a Tillamook grilled cheese sandwich and the opportunity to purchase mini grilled cheese sandwiches from a variety of vendors.

The lines for purchasing sandwiches/food was frequently very long, a consequence of less than 10 vendors selling grilled cheese sandwiches and the capacity crowd of 8,000 excited fans and judges.
The best of the sandwiches I ate was the fresh burrata with cherry tomatoes and salsa verde from the Campanile/Point booth. It was $4, double the price of the other sandwiches. Spendy but tasty. Chef Mark Peel was there in person working the grill.

Chef Eric Greenspan of the Foundry on Melrose and the upcoming Grilled Cheesery was also there grilling up with his staff. His line blended in with the Hot Knives folks, making it confusing.

It was fun and a good vibe but it was too hard to actually get some of the product. Waaaay better than the LA Street Food Fest, but there was still room for improvement if your goal was to sample several grilled cheeses that you couldn't normally get. I skipped the Grilled Cheese truck as their product is available all the time - why wait an hour in line in the heat for something that I can get another day without the wait?

Also sampled the Greenspan sandwich and one called "band Camp" from the Hot Knives folks which included cheddar and apple butter. I found it way too sweet - the apple overpowered everything else. The lines at Hot Knives were also the worst and most confusing as there was one line to pay and another to get your sandwich. As the lines were so long and the Hot Knives folks changed their offering each hour, when you got in the ordering line there was no way to know what sandwich you were likely to get when you finally made it to the front of the food line.


The photos to the left are of Mark Peel at the griddle and Eric Greenspan at his tent.