A few weeks ago, in the gravel lot next door to the work office, I noticed a new lunch wagon opened up. I popped over to check it out, it was gourmet grill cheese sandwiches, called Melt. At the time I was looking for something to supplement food I had brought from home and this didn’t sound like it would go too well. I figured to try it at a later date. Earlier this week I purposely did not bring home lunch planning to try it, only to find no one at the truck. Heynow, what the heck?! Tried again today. Dunno if this is supposed to add to the hipster vibe or what, it seemed half the clientel were being mod and dare I say looked like they should have fixie friends. The concept feels mainland city, like LA or NY.
In any case, I wait in the small group that is at the truck. Unfortunately while I wait for a fair amount of time, a customer showed up at our office and I had to run back to take care of them. After I delt with that, I went back to the truck to wait to place my order again. And I have to emphasize the wait. There were two people working the truck, and things moved very slowly. I finally placed my order for the Black forest melt, tomato soup, and the $1 dime bag of pickled veggies. I guess that’s inflation? There were only three orders ahead of me, and it took at least half an hour, not counting the first time I waited and had to leave. People know I am a patient man, so when I say I was getting impatient, you know something is up.
I hustled back to the office and pulled everything out of the fashionable paper bag. The ensemble you see was $10, might seem a little steep for a grill cheese sandwhich and sides. My attitude was not aided by the long wait, but that melted away with the first bite of that crispy bread grilled with real butter filled with gooey premium cheese smoothering the black forest ham given a little zest with the country style mustard. The tomato soup is quite a small serving, but also delicious. It tastes scratch made, it has a fresh zing, and its suggested use as a dip for your sandwich is spot on. The “dime” bag of pickled veggies is interesting, carrot sticks and what I think might be bulbs of baby ginger?
I have to say that I found it all quite tasty! And pretty decadent. I think that filled my dairy, fat, and salt quotient for the day, and then some. I cannot imagine what you would feel like after consuming the “Melt of Shame”, a quarter pound hamburger sandwiched between two grilled cheese sandwiches. So how do I rank it? I would give it a solid three out of four cheesy monkeys, almost on the verge of more, but the speed is what will kill them. The wait is simply too much, most people will not have the time to kill at lunchtime for this. Which is a shame because it was pretty darn yummy, but not something I would make a habit of as it weighed pretty heavy on me for the rest of the day, and kinda dessicatingly salty. Check out their website, melthonolulu.com for details.
yeah, I’ll have to walk over and try it one day. Though not the burger one. Too much death!
Do you remember Wei that used to work at TCM? She’s somehow affiliated with that truck. The chef used to work at Nobu’s so you know he’s got some skills fo sho. Just like the wave of mobile food trucks that have swept the mainland, you can find out where and when they’ll be at a certain locale by following their tweets, twitters, twitterers, twitterwhatevers.