Your First Look at Melt’s Fried Chx Grilled Cheese
The Citigroup area of Midtown is full of subterranean food finds, but most of them are inside. Not so with the newest spot, Melt Shop (on Lex btw 53+54th). It’s nestled in the corner of the outside public plaza by the subway entrance, a place easy to miss by those walking around upstairs. Once we get consistent better weather, Melt might find a huge audience, but I’m not sure how this will work when winter comes again. When I heard this new grilled cheese place was opening on Monday, I wondered what exactly the menu would contain. Then commenter ‘joer’ said he got a buttermilk-fried chicken sandwich and I was on it.
The fact that it’s just a take-out window might bother most people, but I’ll guess that most customers are planning on bringing their sandwiches back to their desks anyway. All of the sandwich choices are less than $10, the most expensive being the Fried Chicken and the Beef ‘n’ Blue-both $8.95. They also serve breakfast until 10:30am where you can get a toasted pb&j! Sides include the ever-awesome Zapp’s potato chips and soon you’ll be able to pick up homemade ice cream sandwiches.
Now for one of the best fried chicken sandwiches around! The buttermilk-fried chicken comes with jalepeño jack cheese, red cabbage slaw, and their special melt sauce on country white bread. The chicken is freshly fried and juicy with a nice crunchy breading, and by placing strips on both sides of the sandwich you get a nice piece in each bite. The tang from the buttermilk and crunch from the coating are intensified by the slaw, which makes up in texture what it loses in flavor. Then there’s the cheese, just spicy enough to warm your mouth and make this the grilled cheese indulgence you’re after. Not an everyday lunch in my opinion (unless your afternoons consist of naps at your desk) but definitely a must-try for the grilled cheese and/or fried chicken lovers among us.
The + (What somebody who likes this place will say)
- It’s grilled cheese! You can get tomato soup! It’s your childhood in a lunch!
- Grilled cheese with Fried Chicken, the perfect comfort/hangover lunch ever.
- Did I mention they have Zapp’s, one of the best potato chips ever?
The – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place will say)
- It’s outside, I don’t want to have to eat outside or at my desk.
- Can’t we just go to ‘wichcraft? It’s closer and they have grilled cheese too.
- I’m lactose-intolerant.
Melt Shop, 601 Lexington Avenue, (212) 759-6358
Posted by Blondie at 11:45 am, April 21st, 2011 under Melt Shop.
17 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
Totally going there, right now.