It may come as a surprise that this was my first visit to Tom + Chee. Given my love of grilled cheese sandwiches, as well as their many creative options, I knew it I'd end up there sooner or later.
I just kept pushing it for later, for purely selfish reasons. Oh, I looked at the menu online. I knew about the grilled cheese donut. I follow them on twitter, and see tweets of the daily specials and soups, which sound delicious most of the time. But I just couldn't bring myself to go there.
I knew that if it was anything like Melt Bar and Grilled, visiting Tom + Chee would be akin to opening Pandora's box. My will power would vanish, and indubitably I would construct some sort of goetta-triple-cheese-and-potato-chip-grilled-cheese-donut-monstrosity the likes of which has never been seen by man or beast.
Putting my fear aside, I visited for lunch this past week with two of my friends, who kindly let me take pictures of their sandwiches. And yes, I got the grilled cheese donut. And the mac n' cheese grilled cheese with bacon.
Tom + Chee was as awesome as I was afraid it would be. Service was quick and friendly, grilled cheeses were gooey and toasty, and the wide variety of coke products (diet coke, caffeine free diet coke, cherry coke zero and regular coke!) was a welcome surprise.
Hippy Chee: lettuce, tomato, cucumber and hummus with cheddar on wheat, $3.50
Hot N' Spicy Chee: pepperoni, hot peppers and onion, with pepper jack on wheat
The grilled cheeses were also very inexpensive for their size (my two sandwiches, even with the upcharge of bacon on the grilled mac n’ cheese and my soda were still under $10), which is a good deal. It's easy to see why they've been successful and able to open up a second location in Newport so quickly. I'll definitely be back. My donut creation awaits.
it calls
Your pics make me want to give them a 2nd try. I tried their Fountain Square booth and it wasn't a good experience. Maybe I'll try Newport.
ReplyDeleteI have had both downtown and I live next to the levee so of course I've had that one as well. The donut is amazing! It was suggested that I get the one with peanut butter and that was something else too. I like almost anything bacon-wise so I tried the BLT and would recommend that. I've also had a tomato basil which is a great side instead of a second sandwich. The special soup of the day the first time I went was a blue cheese chili, which if you love bleu cheese like me this is a must get!
ReplyDeleteYou can probably tell that I like cheese. I am from Milwaukee, WI and know my stuff.
I'd never heard of a grilled mac-n-cheese, but if I'm ever in Cincinnati, I'm headed here to try one!
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