The Grilled Cheese
66 Nassau Street
Phone: 647.347.7062
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The Grilled Cheese in Kensington Market has taken a simple concept, perfected it and unleashed it on the neighbourhood at just the right time to capitalize on the mass patio exodus that fall instigates.
The Grilled Cheese serves variations on traditional plain grilled cheese and nothing but (save for an accompanying daily soup).
Their menu ranges from the basic 'Classic' grilled cheese which contains three types of cheese, with varying degrees of sharpness, plus tomato slices and the 'Dill-icious' a dill Havarti, pesto and sun-dried tomato medley that tastes even better than it sounds.
Occupying the space formerly taken up by a Belgian waffle shop, The Grilled Cheese was conceptually transplanted from New York to Toronto by Rob Yuill.
The simplicity of the idea (reclassifying grilled cheese as a late-night option by having extended opening hours and serving it in take-out containers) is a logical continuation of Toronto's appetite for a diaspora of specialist comfort food.
After gourmet burgers, poutine restaurants and cupcake stores what makes more sense than epicure grilled cheese?
We stopped by The Grilled Cheese for weekday lunch after a few previous attempts to visit left us staring at closed doors during posted opening hours.
In the initial days of opening The Grilled Cheese was a one man operation, but two weeks on staff have been hired and opening hours have expanded to include lunch time.
We ordered the Grill Works ($7) and the aforementioned Dill-icious ($6) to have in, plus a Classic ($6) to take out. The grilled cheese here is more of a panini than a pan-fried grease missile, an appreciable feature when each variation is loaded with multiple, molten, gooey cheeses. All orders arrive in takeout boxes and come with tortilla chips plus a side of pickles.
The Grill Works, a roasted vegetable and three cheese fusion combining Provolone, Monterrey Jack and Swiss is amply-filled, with the mushrooms, red onions and peppers balancing out the cheese content well.
The Dill-icious though, is so tasty that it makes my choice seem bland by comparison. The mix of pesto, dill, onion and sun dried tomato works well with the creaminess of Havarti, infusing it with flavour.
Overall, The Grilled Cheese is exactly what you'd hope it would be. The food is good, the bright, wood-paneled interior makes the place feel more like a cozy cabin than a fast-turnover enterprise and it's a great compliment to both I Deal Coffee and Ronnie's Local on Nassau St.
Photos by Anna Lisa Sang.
Comments (73)
WHY do these new places insist on using those containers!!! I as well as many others will not bother going in regardless just for that fact. If you're a new place, concept etc.... you should have NO excuse not using recyclable containers for takeout. However throw back you are, the grilled cheese may have grown up, but who ever this place can credit it's master plan ,really needs to grow up too.
Lost a customer
For a minute I knew exactly what i was going to eat tonight.. until I scrolled to the picture showing the board with the prices. $6-$8 for a grilled cheese sandwich is way overpriced.
What the hell - are those styrofoam takeout containers?
YOU BETTER CHANGE THOSE OR MY PEOPLE WILL NOT FREQUENT YOUR ESTABLISHMENT
GOOD DAY SIR
I was there the other day and they do use recyclable containers (yay!)...it's hard to tell from the photos.
As for the food: I got the classic grilled cheese, which was probably the blandest grilled cheese I have ever had. Looking forward to trying something with flavour. Also, the two times I went in for soup it still wasn't ready for the day (and this was around 1pm).Sad.
I HEREBY HAPPILY RETRACT MY ENVIRORAGE
I WILL BE IN THIS WEEKEND TO STUFF MY FACE
GOOD DAY SIR
Just so you folks know, Toronto Recycling takes styrofoam containers and has for about a year now. It's just listed under "foam polystyrene" because styrofoam is a copyrighted name. Check the city's website for more info.
I agree- I'm not paying 8 bucks for something I make when I'm too lazy to go grocery shopping! (plus a bowl of soup and tax, 15 bucks!) good luck lol
for those who wanna go all environmental friendly, why don't you just eat at home.. these sandwiches are ridiculously over priced..lol..how hard is it to make a grilled cheese sandwich, huh?
it's not all that hard to make a grilled cheese, unless your name is J-Dawg. and while the sandwiches do look good, you can easily get some quality cheese and ingredients and do this yourself at home for far less than $6-8 a sandwich.
N and Jack -
Thanks for your awesome revelation that buying food prepared by a restaurant costs more than buying the groceries and making it yourself.
SUCH AMAZING POWERS OF OBSERVATION
Chuck -
A crap grilled cheese at a shite hole like Mars is still 6 bucks, and it's processed crap on Wonderbread crap. If that's what you're into, more power to you. But sexy bread + higher quality ingredients is definitely worth 6-8 bucks.
However I will say that 2 bucks extra for bacon is outrageous.
That's true, but considering all the controversy over how much of the content in our blue and green bins is actually ending up in landfill, I'd prefer to have a take-out container that I know will naturally break down regardless of whether it gets 'processed' or not.
OH, lighten up people! I think 6 to 8 bucks is perfectly reasonable! Where in T.O. can you get a meal for that price? A sandwich in any pub in this city is a few dollars more. You are eating OUT, it's going to cost a bit more than making it at home.... DUH! Sure, you could buy all the ingredients and make it at home... or you could save yourself the headache of trying to figure out what to do with all those ingredients afterwards and just get someone else to make a grilled cheese for you.... which always tastes better when someone else makes it!
I'll have to check out the hours, I've been by for lunch when its been closed - looking forward to checking it out. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdintoronto/3929400817/
Where do you think that container will break down exactly? Are you planning on taking it home and composting it properly in your backyard? Unless The Grilled Cheese is accessing the City's commercial Green Bin program (and presuming its processed properly), that container is going straight to landfill too. Sanitary landfills lack the three ingredients necessary to promote decomposition - light, air and water.
If you were replying to me, the kind of container I'm talking about is the sort that's used at Poutini's and other food establishments. They're essentially heavy-duty recycled paper which breaks down, as all paper does, without the need for a recycling facility. Why be so indignant?
no, you should thank blogto for giving us advice on how to waste our heavily taxed income... or maybe the core readers of blogto are just very rich and don't care
Be like me and not give a rats ass about the environment. I have news for you, the sun is going to explode one day.
Yay take out containers INSIDE A RESTAURANT.
lazyest store ever?
We don't even have the recycling facilities to recycled the millions of plastic water bottles that dumbasses are drinking every day. (Only about 40% of our recycling is actually recycled)
I was walking by there one day when they were fixing the place up to open it and there were 2 people pouring jugs and jugs of bleach into the gutter to "clean" it.
They were arrogant and rude when I mentioned that that stuff goes directly into our waterways.
I can smell a GRILLED CHEESE BOYCOTT bitches.
Can I also add that take out grilled cheese isn't exactly the revolutionary concept the author is making it out to be. Try visiting either of the Leslieville Cheese Market stores sometime.
lol, wow- someone had too much coffee? (relax a little- why do all these comment sections have to be people yelling at each other??) Toronto is mean!
Hey, I'm all for eating out, but I'm just saying this trend of 'dressed up comfort food' leaves me feeling ripped off. I'll pass!
Auntie's and Uncles have set a high bar for grilled cheese sammys - A&U is only $8 and change INCLUDING bacon AND you get their heroin-y potato salad and some olives.
I have high expectations for TGC - I hope they're met.
Auntie's and Uncles have set a high bar for grilled cheese sammys - A&U is only $8 and change INCLUDING bacon AND you get their heroin-y potato salad and some olives. I have high expectations for TGC - I hope they're met.
If you're worried that they are shipping Blue Bin stuff straight to landfill, then it doesn't matter if its biodegradable or not. It is going to waste. Nothing biodegrades in a landfill, because the oxygen needed to break down the materials is not present. Even for paper. This is partly why landfills get full so quickly. Feel free to look this up.
Unless you are composting these paper packages in your backyard, they will either go to landfill or be recycled. (There is some controversy over the amount of bleach used to recycle paper, but that is another matter)
The main controversy over Toronto's waste management is over the Green Bin anyway, something that doesn't handle any kind of take out packaging. There has been some controversy over some Blue Bin stuff being shipped to China, but I haven't heard of any Blue Bin stuff going straight to landfill, as the city makes money from selling recyclables from Blue Bins.
Either way, I was just trying to mention the poor job the city has done in letting the city know that styrofoam is accepted in the blue bins, proven by most of the comments at the start of this article.
oh my god, this thread is hilarious!!! Enviro-conscious, vitriol, prices, restos vs homemade vs laziness vs vs man vs man man vs nature man vs himself... only on BlogTO!
(J-Dawg.. that sun thing is really depressing... i really hope expanding-universe rumours is just more media scare-mongering...)
Thanks for clarifying my point Joel.
Excuse my indignation, but perhaps it is justified when you consider that many consumers and business owners believe that they are making the right choice when they opt for biodegradable bags, or other "eco-friendly" packaging options when the City of Toronto does not currently offer the means (nor in some cases does the technology exist) to recycle or compost them and keep them out of landfill.
To further the point about styrofoam, at least there is now a process in place to manage it as responsibly as possible. It has taken years to get to this point, and as one of the bulkiest items taking up space in a landfill, it couldn't have come sooner. I'm not advocating increasing the use of polystyrene by any means, but at least there is a level of honesty involved in its recyclability and the end products it creates.
Additionally, many times these choices come at an increased cost to the business owner, who may or may not decide to pass those costs on to their customers. Again, what's the point of paying extra for a corn-starch based biodegradable fork, when the waste management system we use cannot break it down? Manufacturers of these products are constantly touting their merits, but as consumers, shouldn't we feel a little "green-washed"?
they should put a sin tax on food like this...whoever eat this regularly is going to be a burden on our healthcare
Fair enough - and pardon my ignorance. I'm just trying to do what I think is (or thought was) the right thing, versus encouraging the highly polluting production - and more times than not improper disposal - of more polystyrene. There has been some recent news about Blue Bin contents ending up in a Michigan landfill - thanks to an investigative report by the Toronto Star, not the overseers of waste management at the City of Toronto - which cost Halton Recycling their contract. They claim this was a byproduct of the City Strike, but who knows how often this has happened in the past.
Anyway, some of the above posters are absolutely right: this thread really is hilarious and ridiculous. I think I need to walk away!
jack on October 2, 2009 at 4:22 PM
they should put a sin tax on food like this...whoever eat this regularly is going to be a burden on our healthcare
------
There should be a stupid tax on people who think a grilled cheese sandwich is unhealthy.
OMG they put TOMATOES in some of the sandwiches? WOW SO UNHEALTHY.
Oh yeah jack. That sounds like a marvelous political platform.
WE WILL BE HEREBY ADDING ADDITIONAL TAXES TO ALL GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES.
Ha! I haven't enjoyed BlogTO this much in awhile. These poor, little grilled cheeses have certainly taken a beating here. I want to go eat an $8 grilled cheese now, just to see what all the fuss is about. And hey, maybe you can take your own container?
P.S. Mr. Hate, I think I love you.
I feel like I've been part of something... this is what Woodstock must have been like.
Where are we reviewing next, dear readers? Where indeed.
Grilled cheese & fries or salad combo for only $5.00 inclusive can be found only at Karine's in the Village by the Grange.
Market people piss me off, I'll take mine to go when I come in so i don't have to listen to a bunch of losers up on their high horses.
It doesn't make you any less of a loser if you shit talk everything. It just make you a more annoying loser.
Grill cheese on the other hand, they're cool with me.
Anything mainstream is lame. Even stuff that I thought was cool before it was mainstream. I have dirty hair and clothes. I love the market, we just get it, you know, how to be amazing and outside the box.
Haha, everyone hates Kensington Market people, aside from other Kensington Market people of course.
Going there is like going to a high school of 30 year olds, it's weird when people cling to styles that only really are understandable for teenagers.
Nothing sadder that a 30 year old with a mohawk, who still thinks that is rebel cool.
I'm going to grab a grilled cheese and laugh at the locals tomorrow.
So... has anyone actually eaten the grilled cheese served here? If so, I couldn't find your praise or pan of this restaurant's food due to the fkn Sierra Club meeting going on here.
looking at this has if anything inspired me to buy a grill type mechanism to grill my own sandwiches
yes you can make this yourself at home but it is so important to dine out with your loved one every once in awhile it just lets you step outside your perimeter outside the box and you are forced to make conversation with each other lol (couples who have been together a long time can relate)
I'm hungry and have a few dollars in my pocket. I'd like to buy some bread and some cheese and make myself a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. But this is Toronto and there are so many choices of cheese and bread. Why just today I saw at least three different kinds of bread in my local bread shop!
Can blogto'ers rouse themselves from last night's non-grilled reverie and advise me as to what cheeses and breads make the best grilled cheese? Should I use some green onions? Should I butter or use olive oil on the bread before grilling? How do people feel about raisin bread? Edam? Jarlsberg? Cheddar? Emmenthal? Mozzarella? Gruyere? Processed? Which cheese(s) make(s) the best grilled cheese?
For all those who want to make it at home, and are wondering about what cheese to use, try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3KBuQHHKx0
I farted in my hand once, then put it right up to my mouth. It tasted pretty good, I'm thinking of opening up a restaurant in Kensington too.
"Cup O' Farts" is what I'm going to call it.
Cup 'O Farts sounds delicious, but will you only sell one variety of farts there, or will you feature several? Will they be organic farts, or farts created from synthetic foods? Will you get a license to serve beer farts? Because they're the best, imho.
let's talk about the food.
i had a grilled cheese sandwich there a couple weeks ago. frankly, it's not as good as homemade. homemade style usually involves buttering the top and bottom of the sandwich to provide a flaky delicious surface to the exterior of the sandwich once fried in the pan. they don't do this -- they just slap it naked into a panini grill, and the result is a hard, flavourless exterior.
the corn chips that come with each order are pointless -- who wants cold corn chips when you're eating a grilled cheese sandwich? when we went there was no pickle, just a side of hummous for the chips (which is dumb -- a pickle makes more sense). but how about including the soup? soup is cheap, $8 is a lot to pay for just a grilled cheese sandwich.
it just feels weird eating from takeaway boxes while sitting in the restaurant, but there's no other option. they need to think about the concept of 'dishes,' like maybe having them.
I went there yesterday. $8 for a grilled cheese (classic with bacon and tomato) that was tough to eat. I felt so guilty for the paper box. I only got one pickle. Glad it came with corn chips because I was still hungry when I finished the sandwich.
I want to really like this place, but I don't. If I have to spend $8 on lunch in that area I'd much rather go to Big Fat Burrito for something delicious, varied, and filling.
OK. Unbelieveable! Best new restaurant concept I have been to in a long time. The food was amazing, and I love the simplicity of this restaurant. Highly reccomended! BRAVO!
We went there last night for an early dinner and ordered two different (vegetarian) sandwiches on two types of bread, one tomato soup, a can of pop and a glass of tap water. The sandwiches were tasty. The chips were fresh enough, though a bit skimpy, and the (half) pickle complemented the deal. The soup was quite good and the one order was sufficient for the two of us. The service was average. I can't say that I'd be in a hurry to get back there, as I am not sure the price was worth what I got, but if I were in the neighbourhood looking for a sammy, I would go. But that's something I usually want only around lunch hour, and I am hardly ever near Kensington at that time of day.
And, for the green gestapo, the sandwich was served in a plastic reusable basket with red and white checkered waxed paper underneath (the kind the use at some joints to serve fries or wings), the soup was in styrofoam and the water was in plastic.
I just had lunch there with a friend. We crossed our fingers that it was open at noon (it wasn't a few weeks back) and were happy to see it was. We both enjoyed our sandwiches very much. The guys working there were nice. They've chosen to do one thing and do it well. I think it will be there for a while, especially with Kensington Market nightlife picking up! I'll certainly be back to try another sammich soon!
How much do you think the good quality cheeses they're using cost? Just as much as meat. Jeez, where do you shop? Go stuff your face at Subway.
I don't understand this comment section. Why is there a reply button next to people's comments that does NOT serve the function of allowing commenters to reply to other commenters?
You can totally tell that those containers are the expensive recyclable kind. Take a lude pious motherfakkers.
What? Kensington Market is cool? It has a rebel subculture - these "Market people"? Man I love Toronto myopia. A market area like KM is a fucking staple feature in every effing city in the world, since like forever! But in Toronto it fascinates people, like supposedly discerning people?! Cool.
I think it's fascinating because it provides contrast to the rest of the City: it's organic, unlike St. Lawrence (or Byward, Granville Island or even Jean Talon in other Canadian cities); it's historical, in a City that often chooses to forget history; and, it's eclectic amidst overwhelming conformity.
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