While wandering down Church St, on my way to O’Grady’s Tab and Grill (check them out for the best and most economical, in my opinion, sangria), I stumbled across this massive yellow building with a sign out front that said, “Basket of Bacon, $3.” You have my attention.
Upon further inspection, this building was super simple, but had a menu full of various grilled cheese sandwiches posted in the window. Sold.
We wandered inside where there were a few tables, some benches and a single TV on the wall. The floor was paint splattered, and I loved it. I’m all for fine dining, but I also just genuinely appreciate food. If you choose to spend your money on quality ingredients over decor, I’m okay with that.
I bellied up to the small counter with a white board menu and decided on the Arjan’s Toasty, which had gruyère, mozzarella, ham, tomato and mayo on marble rye. I also got a roasted red pepper soup (stay tuned for how much I loved that) and a drink, for $9.50 plus tax. Reasonable. My roomie ordered the Tuna Melt (cheddar, havarti, tuna, dill pickle and mayo on marble rye) and a drink for $8.40 plus tax. Also pretty reasonable.
The girl behind the counter encouraged us to grab a seat, and about 10-minutes later, she brought us our food. The red pepper soup was served in an adorable mini casserole dish and both sandwiches came with homemade barbecue chips. I love BBQ chips, but didn’t love these ones. Mostly because I love my Lays BBQ chips and nothing else.
Now back to that roasted red pepper soup: It was smooth and flavourful. It tasted a bit like Campbell’s tomato soup that had been amped up with roasted red pepper purée, but it was delicious nonetheless! The soup also had homemade croutons on top, WOW! The flavours were perfectly balanced.
The sandwich…also perfection! The bread was crispy, but soft, and not too buttery. The cheese was perfectly melted, which can be challenging with tomatoes (I don’t know why, I just know that from experience). The flavours were well balanced and it was an amazing grilled cheese sandwich.
I would definitely go back and try some of their other gourmet grilled cheeses (hello, Antipasti, featuring havarti, gruyère, roasted cremini mushrooms, roasted red peppers, cooked onions, roasted garlic and arugula on marble rye) or their dessert grilled cheeses (The Smitten features fried banana slices and hazelnut spread (aka Nutella) on french toast slices – YUM).
Oh, and that Basket of Bacon.
I did, however, find out after the fact, that the upstairs level is actually a vapour lounge (Read: 420 friendly). But you’d never know! Although I saw couple of people come downstairs, there was no scent carryover, whatsoever.
If you want to see what other delicious options are available, check their menu out online.
Which restaurants have you recently tried?
a quarter young 