Over-the-Top Grilled Cheese Sandwiches Across America

A perfectly made classic grilled cheese can be a treat, but when chefs up the ante with epic ingredients and cheese combinations, it becomes a true delicacy. All across the country, food trucks and restaurants offer next-level grilled cheese sandwiches that pile the ingredients high and stack mouthwatering mixes of oozing cheese to make for an unforgettable sandwich. We've rounded up just some of the most delicious over-the-top grilled cheese finds around, from the most gooey to the most unexpected. Do you have a favorite we missed? Tell us in the comments.

Related: How to Make an Ordinary Grilled Cheese Extraordinary

Melt Bar and Grill

Multiple Location in Ohio

Ohio's Melt Bar and Grill's Mighty Macaroni comes with creamy and gooey homemade mac and cheese that's battered and deep fried before it's layered with a cheddar cheese sauce and an extra slice of your choice of cheese melted on top. The eatery is also famous for its Melt Challenge, which features a grilled cheese with 13 types of cheese in it.

Related: Fun Facts You Didn't Know About Mac and Cheese

Full on Craft and Drinks

Rockville, Maryland

This grilled cheese from Full on Craft and Drinks features a hearty portion of Maryland style crabcake and a combination of cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, tomatoes, and sliced brioche bread smothered in remoulade sauce. 

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B&A Pork Store

Brooklyn, New York

The Brooklyn butcher shop B&A Pork Store has been making fresh mozzarella, breads, sausages, and Italian delicacies since the 1970s, and it uses its homemade mozzarella to create a decadent fried grilled cheese. The Mozzarella Carrozza features thick slices of mozzarella that are fried and topped with marinara and basil for a crispy bite.

Related: Where to Find a Good, Cheap Sandwich in Every State

The Grilled Cheese and Crab Cake Co.

Garden City Beach, South Carolina

Another location featuring a popular crab grilled cheese, The Grilled Cheese and Crab Cake Co. also has a fried lobster tail grilled cheese that includes a 4- to 5-ounce fried lobster tail that comes served in between thick Texas toast and American cheese. Oyster and shrimp lovers can also get them fried on top of their grilled cheese here.

Related: Amazing Seafood Shacks Across America

Ms. Cheezious

Miami

Ms. Cheezious, a food truck with bricks-and-mortar locations, has gained popularity for its gourmet grilled cheese. Most of its selections break the mold, but when it comes to savory the Southern Fried Chicken and Waffle Melt reigns supreme. The grilled cheese includes fried chicken and cheddar on homemade buttermilk waffles served with house country gravy and maple syrup.

Related: Best Fried Chicken Sandwiches in America

Hammontree's Grilled Cheese

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Hammontree's offers a dessert version with its Blueberry Grilled Cheese, which includes a mix of mascarpone cheese and cream cheese and blueberries that are grilled between two slices of pound cake drizzled with honey. The grilled cheese has ranked as the best in the state, according to Yelp, with reviewers raving about its light and crumbly exterior and creamy interior. Hammontree's offers 15 grilled cheese sandwiches and a build-your-own option with 26 cheeses, eight meats, and seven sauces to choose from.

Porky's Kauai

Hawaii and Utah

Porky's Kauai, known for its succulent, pineapple-infused pork, stuffs its tender pork into a grilled cheese diners love. The dish, offered at Porky's locations in Waimea, Hawaii, and in Lehi, Utah, includes a combination of Havarti and Muenster cheese topped with double layers of its signature slow-roasted kalua pork and toppings of grilled onions and fresh pineapple between slices of cheese bread. The grilled cheese comes with a side of sweet or sweet and spicy sauce for dipping perfection.

Related: The Best of Hawaii on a Budget

Meltz Extreme Grilled Cheese

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

The Potsticker Meltz, a 2013 National Grilled Cheese Invitational Winner for its inventiveness, includes provolone, pepper jack, pork, pepper, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, scallions, sesame, fried wontons, Sriracha chili aioli, and a potsticker dipping sauce. A secret menu has vegetarian showstoppers such as the Halitosis — white cheddar, fontina, goat cheese, caramelized onions, buttermilk fried onions, pickled onions, green onions, and roasted garlic vinaigrette.

Related: Amazing Sandwiches From Around the World

Twisted Grilled Cheese

Houston

Twisted Grilled Cheese is another food truck with a restaurant. There's a wide range to choose from here, but, for a halal take on grilled cheese, go with The Halal Philly Grilled Cheesesteak, which features marinated ribeye, white American cheese, provolone, and mozzarella.  

American Melts

Kenilworth, New Jersey

New Jersey might not be the place where you'd expect a sandwich with Southwest flavors, but the Big Tex lives up to its name with barbecue sauce, Monterey Jack, bacon, cheddar, mac and cheese, roast beef, avocado, and of course, jalapeños. You can also get glazed doughnuts as a bread option when building your own custom grilled cheese.

Sun Singer Restaurant

Champaign, Illinois

Sun Singer offers a restaurant, deli, and retail shop in one, with selections of gourmet wines, beers, and imported and local cheeses that go into hearty dishes such as its Grilled Cheese Supreme. It includes Danish fontina cheese and white cheddar, Granny Smith apples and purple fig jam spread on grilled challah bread. Pair it with crispy truffle fries for a plate diners can't get enough of.

Don and Millie's Restaurant

Multiple Locations in Nebraska

The Cheese Frenchee arrived in Nebraska in the 1950s, according to Food and Wine. Today, select locations still feature the deep-fried grilled cheese with a crunchy exterior and gooey center. Don and Millie's restaurant, which has locations across Lincoln, Omaha, and Bellevue, is one of the places that still offers the treat, cutting a classic grilled cheese sandwich and deep frying each bit to perfection.

Grater Grilled Cheese

California

All the grilled cheeses from Grater Grilled Cheese, which has locations across Mission Valley, Otay Ranch, Irvine, and Huntington Beach, have the Basic 5 as their base: colby, Swiss, Monterey Jack, provolone, and sharp cheddar cheese on sourdough. The chef's special always offers inventive twists ranging from birria-grilled cheese with short ribs and a dipping sauce to jalapeño-cream cheese grilled cheese.

Stable

Washington, D.C.

Stable brings Swiss cuisine to the United States, offering traditional dishes such as fondue and raclette. Its Fondue Grilled Cheese, served for brunch, takes a signature fondue blend and slabs it into a sandwich made with homemade bread for a delectably creamy match. The fondue here is made using three Swiss cheeses mixed in garlic and white wine to make for a tangy fondue. The eatery is closed for the summer, but stay tuned.

Perks and Corks

Westerly, Rhode Island

This live music venue and café offers coffees, inventive martinis, and grilled cheese selections named after famous musicians and filled with tasty ingredients. The Cash comes on Italian bread and is stuffed with a homemade bacon mac and cheese. A combination of cheddar cheese and Velveeta tie the sandwich together.

Fo'Cheezy Twisted Meltz

St. Pete Beach, Florida

Beachgoers are pampered by celebrity chef Robert Hesse, who has appeared on Food Network programs and worked as a private chef to celebrities for years, as he pulls together epic combinations such as the Hot Mess. It has crispy cheddar cheese curds, smoked Gouda, a cheddar fondue, braised short ribs, pickled red onions, tater tots, horseradish aioli, and a poutine beef gravy.

Gayle V's Best Ever Grilled Cheese

Chicago

All the sandwiches here are made with cheese from Prairie Pure Cheese in Belvidere, Illinois, which dates back more than 100 years. The Duke — named after Duke's Alehouse in Crystal Lake, Illinois, where Gayle V's gets a beer mustard to use on the sandwich — comes with Swiss cheese and ham and a choice of toppings, ranging from a rhubarb to cranberry mustard.

Cheesy Street Grill

Natick, Massachusetts

Cheesy Street Grill started as a food truck and opened locations at Massachusetts' Natick and Westborough roadside service plazas. The Taco Grilled Cheese is available only in Natick and comes with a cheddar grilled cheese topped with taco seasoned ground beef, sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole, and jalapeños.

The Meltdown

Barre, Vermont

This restaurant and tap room features a range of out-of-the-box grilled cheese options, each with a choice of two dips. The Spinach and Artichoke Grilled Cheese has cream cheese, parmesan, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese with spinach, artichokes, lemon, and garlic on garlic bread. Dip choices range from blue cheese and Buffalo sauce to Vermont's famous maple syrup.

Crispy Melty By Caseus

New Haven, Connecticut

This food truck's classic doesn't skimp. Can't choose which oozing cheese you prefer? The signature cheese mix combines six to indulge in. They include provolone, swiss, Gruyere, Gouda, sharp cheddar, and Muenster cheese. Cornichon pickles and grain mustard come on the side.

Dallas Grilled Cheese Co.

Dallas

Most of the grilled sandwiches at this Dallas restaurant are over the top, like a white cheddar grilled cheese with sloppy joe sauce, but the Grilled Pimento Cheese may be the most packed. It uses a house-made pimento from mascarpone, brie, and cheddar mixed with mayo and roasted red pepper, and comes topped with fried onion strings and smoked brisket you can add on for $2.50.

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