Midtown Lunch

Morris Grilled Cheese is, to me, a dream of a food truck. The grilled cheese sandwich is a food that’s near and dear to my heart–it’s the first dish I ever learned how to make. Even though I normally don’t go out of my way for American cheese, I still love the classic American cheese on buttered white bread just for nostalgia’s sake. Then when I got a bit older, I developed a more sophisticated cheese love when I was introduced to gruyere, smoked gouda, roquefort, manchego, goat cheese… cheeses of all kine. When I saw the menu several weeks ago in this ML post, I could see that Morris Truck blends the classic sandwich, fancy-ass cheeses, and they sometimes throw in a pork product here and there–it’s almost like they made this menu just for me!

But if you like variety like I do, one of the best things about this truck is that the menu changes all the time. The ingredients are always seasonal and fresh, so the menu board is being updated constantly. They just had their first birthday and have run over 150 sandwiches, they make their own seasonal sodas, and they’ve even received Slow Food NYC’s Snail of Approval. The day I decided to go for my first visit, Morris had been parking in at 51st and Madison (according to their twitter feed), a small journey from my office. But the rain had subsided and I thought I’d go check it out.

I went for the current version of the halloumi — on that day it had roasted fennel and yuzu fennel relish. What the hell is yuzu? I think I’ve seen it on menus before but I have no idea. I ordered it with their habanero sauce, which was an extra 50 cents. The Morris guy said that not all the sauces went well with the sandwiches, but this was a good choice.

The sandwich was awesome. The cheese was salty and a bit squeaky because I had walked a few blocks before I ate it. (Squeakiness on my teeth is something I personally love in a cheese dish — is this just me or do other people feel the same?) The mild licorice-like flavor of the fennel added both taste and bulk to the sandwich. The yuzu fennel relish seemed to be finely chopped fennel that had possibly been marinated in tangy yuzu, which I now know is citrus. The sourdough bread was nice – buttered well and toasted perfectly.

I might recommend holding off on any extra sauce though until you’ve already tried the sandwich. Although I LOVE to add spice to almost everything and the habanero sauce was nothing less than de-lish, I felt like it was taking over the carefully crafted flavors. I used the sauce for the edges of the sandwich with slightly less cheesy goodness, then I saved the rest of the sauce to slop all over my late afternoon snack. At Morris, you can also order a side of an egg (which is offered as hard boiled in the summer and fried in the winter) for two bucks or a side of duck fat for a buck. Yes, you read that right. God, the possibilities.

I do want to wrap this up by saying that if you can get past the prices, these guys are just real folks selling great food. They take a lot of pride in their operation and take special care to talk to customers.  And it just so happens they’re on 51st btw. Park+Madison today.

The + (What somebody likes about this place)

• I love fancy cheese, diverse flavors, and pork products– this concept is a great twist on a classic sandwich.
• I’m a big fan of a seasonal menu that makes every experience a different adventure.
• Although sometimes it fun to go to a place where the owners are grumpy, I also like to frequent places who are nice to me and at least act like they care about their operation. These guys seem like they do.
• Did somebody say duck fat?

The – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• Approaching 10 bucks for a grilled cheese sandwich? For reals?
• There’s nothing better than good, cheap, grilled cheese sandwich. Why are they trying to bastardize this classic?

Morris Grilled Cheese Truck, Check their twitter for locations.