at any rate, i had my first grilled cheese sandwich at novel cafe w/nida last spring. and it was divine. absolutely divine. the warm crusty bread w/the gooey melted cheese. and yet somehow a slice of tomato got in there. my purist friends would deny this sandwich the glory of being called a grilled cheese simply b/c of this (ever so minor) addition. at this point, however, i've yet to weigh in.
nevertheless, if one slice of tomato could cause such a ruckus, i'm not quite sure how these purist friends would react to clementine's ridiculously wide array of grilled cheese sandwiches. (which definitely contain more than your typical bread & cheese.)
as i found out last year (right after i missed it -- grrr), april is national grilled cheese month. and to celebrate, clementine (the most adorable little restaurant in LA) offers 5 different grilled cheese sandwiches every week for the entire month. (for those of you who are mathematically-challenged, that means TWENTY different sandwiches -- TWENTY!)
as if that weren't scintillating enough to draw you in, they've developed a brilliant marketing campaign called MELT THE VOTE: http://www.meltthevote.org/.
as an example of the kind of effort they've put into this campagin, you can download (or pick up) a voter guide that lists all of the sandwiches (as political candidates), their individual party affiliations, and all of the partisan measures (e.g., legalizing cheese for vegans). you can vote for (and order) your favorite sandwich at a makeshift voting booth located at the register. and you'll even get an "i ate grilled cheese" sticker after you vote (and order)!
needless to say, i was amused in every way. and i'm glad i was b/c the place was *so* packed that it took erika and i quite a while before we were even able to place our order. as soon as we did, we grabbed the number for our order and snagged a cute little table by the window. fortunately/unfortunately, we were gabbing away until we realized that our food hadn't come after 15-20 minutes!
so now, i know i should give waitstaff some leeway when things are busy. but honestly, restaurants should be used to the lunch rush, which means they should know how to staff accordingly and get food out quickly. even though they've been doing grilled cheese month for EIGHT years now (as i was told by a waitress bussing our table), clementine still has some kinks to work out.
for example, when the waitstaff came out of the kitchen w/orders, they didn't do a full sweep of the restaurant, so they could've easily missed our table w/our order number, since the place was jammed w/people and they barely even came over to our end of the room. i even attempted to make eye contact to let them know we were still waiting on our food, but that obviously meant nothing, b/c i finally had to stop a waittress to let her know that we were still waiting for our food, and that we at least wanted our drinks (which usually come out first -- at most places anyways).
after the waitress apologized for the delay, she asked for our order and went back to the kitchen to check on it. w/in a few minutes, a server came out with our drinks. a few minutes after that, the waitress came back, apologized again b/c she couldn't find the order, and said she'd put a rush on it for us. we recited our order again and went back to our conversation. when the waitress came back the second time, she apologized yet again for the delay, and offered us whatever we wanted from the deli or dessert cases. which was a totally sweet (and appropriate) gesture considering that our tummies had probably started growling by that point.
erika opted for a deviled egg, but i decided to splurge on the chocolate dessert bar that i'd been eyeing since we sat down. when i asked the waitress what it was (two large, thick squares of chocolate w/some white cream in the middle), she made sure to say that it wasn't as heavy as it looked. which brought out my immediate response, which was something to the effect of: "i don't care if it's heavy. i don't mind decadent." i just think it's hilarious when people in LA presume that no one likes cream or fat or butter. i mean, it's DESSERT, for pete's sake. what's the point if it's not creamy, fatty, and buttery? at any rate, i LOVED it. i totally don't remember a thing she said about it. as long as she was willing to comp it for me, i really didn't care. you'll notice this thing in the dessert case as soon as you walk in. don't think. just order it.
when our meal finally came, we did our best to converse at the same time that we were stuffing our faces. however, we were quite challenged, since both of our sandwiches were quite delicious. i ordered the white cheddar w/roasted turkey, bacon, and chutney on whole-grain bread (c/o the gobble gobble party). erika (who i found out was vegetarian) orderd a basic grilled cheese w/gruyere, sun-dried tomatoes, and avocado. both of us were pretty much in grilled cheese heaven, though i must admit that i didn't think my cheese was melted quite enough. not that it mattered b/c it was really the chutney (which i think was mango) that really made the sandwich. even though derek isn't a fan of the sweet/savory blend, I AM!! and this was a perfect combo. in fact, the chutney was SO good that i barely remembered the bacon! (that's pretty much heresy, isn't it?) along w/the sandwich came a little bit of cucumber salad, which was a bit vinegar-ey, but made for a nice palate cleanser. the ginger limeade was a tad sweet for my tastes, but when and where else can you get homemade ginger limeade, right? it had to be had.
needless to say, i already have my next sandwich picked out for this week. who's up for some havarti w/braised leeks and whole grain mustard on multigrain bread (c/o the fancy party)?
clementine
1751 ensley avenue
los angeles, ca 90024
310.552.1080
1 comment:
OMG! Was totally drooling when I saw this posting for Grilled Cheese month. Damn I wish I were there. Thanks for the shout out! I feel so honored to have been there for your first grilled cheese ever. :)
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