It's catching on...

My friend Molly hosted a Sandwich Night last week and she's never even been to Sandwich Night at my house! I'm a trendsetter!

Molly and her husband Ralph were inspired by Ralph's south Jersey roots and chose to make a Philly Cheese Steak. That's a sandwich we haven't attempted yet, so I was excited to try their version. They did some pre-testing (what a concept!) to get the components just right. They considered a couple bread options, including the French rolls used for banh mit, before settling on Mexican bolillo rolls. One day old bolillo rolls, to be exact.

Bolillo rolls are soft, yet strong enough to stand up to wet ingredients. They are just slightly sweet, like a good white bread should be. They are lovely for Cubans, too.

With the bread squared away, the rest was easy. Thinly sliced ribeye, sauteed green peppers and onions, provolone, and Cheez Whiz. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about Cheez Whiz. I know it's the right way to do it, but it still seems wrong to put Cheeze Whiz on a sandwich with such great ingredients.

I decided to do a side by side comparison. I made my sandwich with provolone and Beth made hers with the Cheez Whiz and we shared them.The provolone was tasty. I layered it under the rest of the ingredients so it would melt. This was a fine sandwich.

Beth layered the Cheez Whiz over, under, and around the other ingredients for a deliciously messy cheesy explosion. This was an amazing sandwich! I'm a convert! Bring on the Whiz!

There's a truck made of grilled cheese???

I knew I had to find the Grilled Cheese Truck when I was in Los Angeles last week. It's mobile fancy grilled cheese kitchen! They go everywhere. You can follow them on Twitter. They make a sandwich with macaroni and cheese AND pulled pork in it. How could I pass that up?
I couldn't, of course. They even made it easy for me, parking a mere 10 minutes from my parents' house on a day when we had no lunch plans. Can you see my excitement?

I had carefully studied their menu online and was wavering between getting the cheesy mac and rib or the brie melt. Then I found out about their special of the day: the fried chicken melt. What's that? It takes the classic L.A. meal of fried chicken and waffles and improves it with lots of melty sharp Cheddar. Oh my goodness! We got there soon after they opened shop and had to stand in line for almost 45 minutes just to order. We had another 20 minutes to wait for our order to be ready. Yes, the sandwiches were worth the wait.
We were feeding a small crowd back home so we were able to get a variety of sandwiches. That's the brie melt in back. It has brie, fig paste and almonds on black peppercorn potato bread. In front, we have the delectable fried chicken melt. It comes with maple syrup for dipping. We also got the cheesy mac and rib and the smores melt. (I didn't get a picture of them before they were devoured, unfortunately.) They were all great, but the fried chicken melt was the standout. The sweetness of the waffle mixed well with the slightly spicy cutlet and gooey cheese. The maple syrup tied all of the flavors together perfectly. Mmm...now why didn't I think of making sandwiches out of waffles?

Thanks, Grilled Cheese Truck!