It is the tagline for Little Muenster - a grilled cheese joint that opened down on the Lower East Side last Fall. A small storefront with enough room for about ten to fifteen people to sit, Little Muenster offers a selection of approximately eight different grilled cheese combinations that can be paired with the classic tomato soup and / or a wedge salad. Otherwise they come with local sweet potato chips.
We all tried three of their different grilled cheeses to really get a sense of what their menu has to offer -
1. Asiago / Parmesan / Muenster / Butternut Squash / Sage Brown Butter - An excellent blend of creaminess and nuttiness with a rustic homey earthy aromatic quality - flavorful and delish! Perfect with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon on a cold winter evening. Filling yet comforting - just what you want a grilled cheese to be.
2. Taleggio / Fontina / Sauteed Crimini & Shitake Mushrooms - Earthy and nutty with a melt in your mouth fullness of the fontina but I think this sandwich could have used a little bit of green herbs to cut the richness of the mushrooms and the cheese, perhaps some chives?
3. Maytag Blue / Muenster / Pear Puree - This was my favorite by far - savory yet sweet, piquant and biting yet fruity and light, creamy yet spicy, approachable for the novice blue cheese lovers but in your face enough for the more advanced blue cheese palate. It was subtle yet refined, simple yet developed. Great with a glass of mineral forward Sauvignon Blanc to cut through the richness.
Overall each sandwich had a developed flavor profile but a sense of playfulness -- exactly what a small grilled cheese joint should be. Go for a snack before going out with friends on the Lower East Side; a quick lunchtime bite after the New Museum; or well really whenever you feel like it except not on a Monday because they are not open.
Little Muenster
100 Stanton Street (between Orchard & Ludlow)
NYC
Thanks! I definitely will!
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