The Big Cheesy at Openhouse Gallery

The Big Cheesy happened this weekend at Openhouse Gallery and it was probably the best day of 2012 to happen thus far.  There were seven grilled cheese vendors competing for the voters' choice of the best grilled cheese sandwich. Votes were tallied via ping pong balls left at each voter's vendor of choice.  

The amount of deliciousness consumed in our allotted one hour time slot made it worth the convoluted trek from Brooklyn, being that both the 7 and L trains were out of service this weekend. I definitely recommend going to this next year.  Admission was $25, and you get a free Sixpoint beer (or coconut water) upon entry. 

 

Casellula Cheese & Wine Cafe was on rye bread, simple, and delicious. 

401 West 52nd Street

New York, NY 10019

 

Here's a close up, with the incredibly tasty pickled relish on top:

Big Daddy's really went all out. They had mac n'cheese in their sandwich. And bacon. Bacon! It actually was a little too much for me, but my friend over at Burger Weekly (seriously, check these guys out if you like burgers) voted it as his favorite.

1596 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10028 (one of three locations)

My vote went to these sandwiches at Melt. They had 3 choices, and we tried them all. This is the pulled pork:

Melt
601 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10022

And the goat cheese with mushrooms and pesto. They also had a third amazing sandwich with bacon and blue cheese. 

Also delicious, Tartinery was serving up croque madame. This place is dangerously close to where I work.

209 Mulberry Street
New York, NY 10012

Little Muenster was smart in adding a side of tomato sauce, because who doesn't love dipping grilled cheese into tomato sauce? Both the grilled cheese (which was a little sweet, in a good way) and the tomato soup were great:

100 Stanton Street
New York, NY 10002

Lucy's Whey had really good cheese, but the sandwich itself was a bit too heavy on the bread for me.

425 West 15th Street
New York, NY 10011 (in Chelsea Market)

And last, but not least, Murray's. I enjoyed this sandwich because it has a bit of a spicy kick to it from their special sauce, which I'd like to purchase at some point.

73 Grand Central Terminal
New York, NY 10017

I just found out that Melt won the grilled cheese-off with their trio of sandwiches, but these vendors all had amazingly delicious grilled cheese sandwiches; it was definitely a difficult decision to choose just one.