Brandon Buck

People's Choice Winner, Fully Loaded

What this year's Grilled Cheese Invitational brought in quantity was not only saturated fat and carbohydrates but flair, with a vegan twist. There was plenty of exhibitionism on display yesterday at the Rose Bowl -- from the bearers of the Kraft-singles skirts to the stilt walkers of March Fourth Marching Band.

Eyebrow-raising ingredients in the Missionary and Kama Sutra categories included quail egg, habanero pepper, SoyRizo, masala, squid ink and octopus. But the real shocker of the day was when the Frickin' Figgin Vegan Sandwich took first place in the Honey Pot (amateur) category. To veteran grilled cheese lover and founder of the GCI Tim Walker, a sandwich winning for sandwich's sake (which happened to be vegan) was "an event horizon at the Grilled Cheese Invitational." Turn the page for this year's results.

More >>

Boska

Toastabags

It's difficult to decide what to say first about this new product, called Toastabags and created by the Dutch company Boska, a toastable sandwich bag that supposedly simplifies the process of making grilled cheese sandwiches. Because, you know, they're so hard to make already. So maybe we'll just quote @gastropoda, whose tweet was what led us to a discovery of the product in the first place: "One more reason my big fear is reincarnation: Evolving world too inept to grill cheese." Exactly.

More >>

Drew Tewksbury

Previous year's competitor

Tomorrow marks the 10th annual Grilled Cheese Invitational, held this year at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Undoubtedly there are a few devotees out there who can attest to sandwich superiority, having frequented the event over the last decade. Competitor registration is closed and it's too late to be a judge, but for those of us stumbling upon the occasion for the first time, here's a look at what's between the bread.

More >>

Rachael Narins

Grilled Cheese

What is a grilled cheese sandwich? It's comfort food. It's warm and retro-yet-now and endlessly customizable. It's something that can be lowbrow, high-end and everything in between.

How is it defined? For the purposes of this guide, we're saying a grilled cheese is a vegetarian sandwich that's served hot and consists of 80%-90% melted cheese on sliced bread that has been pan-fried or griddled. Plain and simple. If it's mostly pulled pork, or short ribs, that's not a grilled cheese -- that's lovely hot pulled pork or short rib sandwich with cheese. Is that good? Yes. No doubt. That just doesn't make it right for this list.

For those times you're craving rich-fatty-carbohydrate-heavy goodness, there are lots of local spots willing to feed your need; and we suggest one of the following. Having meticulously sampled them all (and then some) and gained a few pounds in the process (because we care!) we present the Top 10 Best Grilled Cheese Sandwiches in Los Angeles. We still haven't quite figured out why it's called grilled cheese, when there's rarely a grill involved, but we're willing to let that one go.

More >>

Kelly Bone

Grilled Cheese

Has any sober person ever pondered why grilled cheese sandwiches are called that, when they aren't typically made on a grill? They're griddled. It's a griddled cheese sandwich.

Griddled, grilled, baked or battered and deep fried, they're still utterly delicious and the focus of the 10th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational, sponsored by Cabot Creamery. Registration is open now and the event itself takes place Saturday, April 28, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Lot K of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

More >>

Anna Woo

Molten Marshmallow Peep Guts

One thing is for sure: the husband and wife team of attorney Brian Beecher and schoolteacher Crystal Beecher, a/k/a, "The Mivens" won't ever tell you what the hell their secret ingredient, "Mivens" is, no matter how insistently you beg, threaten, wheedle and cajole. They'll just smirk, "Mivens are good and good for you."

Last Thursday night at The Foundry, chef-owner Eric Greenspan invited The Mivens, friends and fellow champions he met through the Grilled Cheese Invitational, to join forces with him as he let an eager crowd preview samples from the menu at his soon-to-open quick service restaurant next door, Greenspan's Grilled Cheese (opening date: "eventually").

The tasting menu featured four savory sandwiches created by Greenspan and four dessert sandwiches created by The Mivens.

Theories abound as to the actual composition of the mystery ingredient/running gag that Team Mivens uses to snag trophies at the Grilled Cheese Invitational year after year. Mivens is marshmallow peeps. Mivens is "your favorite thing." Mivens is crystal meth. Mivens is people.

More >>

A. Trachta

The sexiest damn grilled cheese you've ever seen.

Sure, there are quick and dirty versions of the grilled cheese. You can melt something yellow between two buttered buns in less than 5 minutes. But where's the payoff there? Let's take it slow. Make it worth our while. If we learned one thing about Eric Greenspan in our recent two-part interview, it's that he's all about creating an experience. Nowhere is that more apparent than in his recipe for "The Champ" Grilled Cheese, named so because it took top spot in the annual Grilled Cheese Invitational in 2008.

On the following page, Greenspan shares his recipe for the ultimate melty experience. If this looks like more than you can handle, head over to The Foundry on Melrose and have him make you one. With short ribs, even. So live dangerously.

More >>

Celia Soudry

Asparagus Melt at Clementine

It's National Grilled Cheese Month and Clementine chef-owner Annie Miler isn't taking it lightly -- she's been brainstorming new sandwich ideas and bracing her staff for a menu of 10 different grilled cheeses offered every week of the month. "This is double what we've ever done," Miler says, "we have fun planning it and get excited thinking about what it's going to be." In previous years Miler has gone all-out for her favorite "holiday," creating buttons and stickers with the message: "I Eat Grilled Cheese." But this time around she's celebrating with her largest menu yet. "This year it's about variety, and having so many grilled cheeses."

Hall of Famers, or customer favorites, include the asparagus melt; grilled torta; Philly cheese steak; and grilled white cheddar. It's not unusual for customers to arrive in flocks of six or eight at the Century City cafe, Miler says. It's a community event of sorts and parking can be scarce, but there's three-hour free parking at the Westfield mall across the street. And, let's face it, we could use the walk.

Turn the page for more Grilled Cheese Month Happenings around town...

More >>

Those pocket-sized theme cookbooks on an excessively narrow subject tend to taste repetitive very quickly (veggie burgers?). And so when we received Laura Werlin's Grilled Cheese, Please! 50 Scrumptiously Cheesy Recipes, we were wary -- that exclamation point and subtitle certainly didn't help. Nor did the jacket cover, which simply touts Werlin as the "author of Great Grilled Cheese," a similar book touting the same number of grilled cheese recipes that she published in 2004. All of that made the new book sounds, well, like a uselessly cheesy book.

What the publisher neglected to mention on the jacket cover is that Werlin also happens to have written several meaty cheese tomes, including one reporting on American cheesemakers and a comprehensive cheese primer. She also wrote the Foreword to the home cheesemaking guidebook by Ricki Carroll that got many cheesemakers started, including Jackrabbit Ranch's D.J. Mitchell.

In other words, despite the cheerleader title, Werlin is no cheese slouch. Why another grilled cheese book so similar to her first one? Well, she says it is simply a matter of "grilled cheese has grown up since that book was published." Alright, then we'll take a look -- even if we are going to leave that bologna-peanut butter-pickle grilled cheese for you to try. Get the recipe after the jump.

More >>

It's National Grilled Cheese Month, and the cooks inside the Grilled Cheese Truck aren't the only ones tossing buttery bread and cheese on a skillet. We rounded up some restaurants around town that are honoring the gooey holiday with traditional grilled cheese and tomato soup combos, as well as entire intricate menus dedicated to the sticky sandwich. Though Passover ends tomorrow, Clementine is making their own matzah from scratch through April 16th--which you can substitute with any of the sandwiches on their special grilled cheese menu. Check out our list of the top 10 grilled cheese sandwiches in L.A., and read on for more comfort foods that will make you re-think your diet plan.

Celia Soudry

More >>