By Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo News Editor
TURTLE BAY — You won't find Kraft singles on Wonder Bread at the Melt Shop, a grilled cheese storefront that opened Monday to a long line in the outdoor plaza of the Citigroup building on Lexington Avenue and East 53rd Street.
Owner Spencer Rubin — who celebrated his 25th birthday on opening day — sources his bread from the Upper East Side's artisan Orwasher Bakery, his cheese from Ideal Cheese nearby on First Avenue (named "world's best cheese shop" by Forbes.com), and he serves the very trendy Stumptown coffee.
"It fits with the trend of comfort food," Rubin said, "whether it's cupcakes, burgers or pizza."
The grilled cheese trend seems to be heating up: a food truck called Gorilla Cheese NYC is set to hit the streets next month, too.
"It combines the best of both worlds: the fast food world and higher-class food," Rubin said. "A burger is a burger, though you can get different toppings. I've got 10 different types of cheese. It makes it challenging from an inventory standpoint."
There's aged cheddar with maple-glazed bacon on sourdough, fontina and goat cheese with roasted wild mushrooms and parsley pesto on whole wheat or buttermilk-fried chicken with jalapeno jack cheese on country white.
Rubin spent the last five months developing the project with Katy Sparks, who was named one of the 10 Best New Chefs in America by Food & Wine magazine when she was executive chef at SoHo's Quilty's restaurant. He was pleased when he found the small storefront that opens on the public plaza.
"We were looking for a small spot where we could test out the concept," Rubin said.
So far, people were getting all gooey over their sandwiches.
"It's the best grilled cheese ever," Keith Doran, 23, who works in sports marketing, said of his aged cheddar sandwich.
His colleague Brian Lefemina, "older than 23," also raved about it: "If you don't tell my mother, I'll tell you it's better than hers."
Not everyone was completely sated. Sarah Cullen, 26, who works in the nearby Citigroup building, was disappointed when the bacon and tomato had been left off of her grilled cheese sandwich. The workers quickly added them, but it was only "OK," she said. "I understand it's the first day."
She said she would give another shot, as would her colleague, Christine Schioppo.
"It's delicious," Shioppo, 31, said, rating it an eight out of 10. "Grilled cheese is my favorite thing on earth. It's good this is here on the one hand, but should I really be eating grilled cheese every day?"
