It's alright! I'm able to adapt! Upon arrival at my hotel I scoped out the Facebook updates for both grilled cheese trucks and concluded that Ms. Cheezious would be parked not TOO too far away, so once I convinced a cab driver to actually drive me to a random intersection I was on my way (seriously, I look like a crazy woman asking a taxi to drive me to a truck: "Are you going to this dry cleaner?" "No, I'm going to that truck parked on the side of the road.")
I had the driver wait in the dry cleaner's parking lot while I went ahead to order. Ms. Cheezious had 6 signature grilled cheeses on their menu as well as the option to make your own. I asked what their most popular varieties are and they said that the Grilled Blue and Bacon and the Goat Cheese and Prosciutto are their best sellers. I wasn't particularly feeling either at that juncture, so I opted for a Grilled Harvest (spiced apples and havarti cheese grilled to perfection on multi-grain bread) and a Crabby Cheese Melt (fresh made crab salad with sharp cheddar cheese on sourdough bread). I'd say about 5 minutes later my sandwiches were ready and I was headed back to my hotel for immediate taste testing, so let's get down to business.
Crabby Cheese Melt
This one had a perfectly grilled aroma as soon as I unwrapped the foil. The outside was charred, but just the right amount so as to not be burned. Pulling the sandwich halves apart I couldn't help but notice that the cheddar is so gooey and smells so good!
My first bite was mostly cheddar since the cheese was literally oozing out of the sandwich, but this meant that I didn't get a lot of the crab taste initially. The bites closer to the center of the sandwich had more crab, which is what made me realize that this was pretty similar to the crab-feta melt I made back in May. The key difference is that with the crab-feta salad, the feta gave the crab a more standout taste so that it could stand up to a sharp cheese melted over it, but here the crab was a very soft flavor. One good thing about this crab salad is that it isn't heavy on the mayo, which is nice because it keeps the flavor light to offset the ooey-gooey rich cheddar. I really can't emphasize enough how perfectly grilled the sandwich is-- the outside has that perfect crisp crunch that reminds me of grandma's grilled cheeses (you know, the ones that inspired me to start this blog in the first place).
Grilled Harvest
This one was suuuper stringy and gooey/runny, so I was looking forward to the first bite. Despite the apples being described as "spiced," I wasn't expecting the sandwich to have a sweet taste-- but the cinnamon on the apples was the very first thing I tasted. It was almost like eating cinnamon apple sauce along with a grilled cheese. Since the apples are cooked, they don't give quite as much of a crunch, but they still do add a little something to the otherwise runny filling. The fact that the apples were cooked also made it so that when I would bite into an apple, the filling of the apple tended to come with me while the peel stayed behind-- not to say this is a good or bad thing, but it makes for a little messier eating.
The multigrain was good to add some texture since, as I mentioned, the filling is a little softer/gooeyer. Since the havarti is so mild, it's definitely a secondary flavor to the apples. This feels like a sweeter, softer play on the apples and cheddar on sourdough that I know and love. It looks like they use green apples too, which is interesting since I think Granny Smith apples would be too biting for the soft flavors of this sandwich. Must just be a variety of apple I'm not familiar with (grilled cheeses are my forte, not apples).
All in all, both sandwiches are delicious for different reasons. Immediately after finishing I would've said that I liked the Crabby Cheese Melt better, but reflecting back on the sandwiches I lean more towards the Grilled Harvest. Since the Crabby Cheese was so focused on the cheddar, it was a good savory sandwich whereas the Grilled Harvest was lighter and sweet. They would make a great lunch/dessert pair, which works out well since that's exactly what I had! This actually ended up being one of two field reports during my time in Miami, so stay tuned for the second!
