- We are on the streets
today in New York City
to ask other people
what their favorite grilled-cheese place is.
- Let's go.
Does anyone wanna tell me what their
favorite grilled cheese?
Anyone wanna talk about cheese?
Anyone wanna tell me what
their favorite grilled cheese?
What's your name?
- Sam.
- Hi, Sam.
We are filming a video
about the best grilled cheese
in New York City.
Do you have a favorite?
- Murray's grilled cheese.
- Murray's grilled cheese
is your favorite? - Yeah.
- All right, guys, one for Murray's.
- We've been out here
for about 30 minutes.
- And Herrine hasn't asked a single person.
- I have asked a few people. - Nope.
- Excuse me, do you wanna talk
about the best grilled
cheese in New York City?
Do you?
No, it does not.
Do you guys wanna talk about,
nope, that was an immediate rejection.
- My favorite grilled cheese
in New York City is Clinton Hall.
It's like a doughnut with cheese.
I mean, it's sweet and salty,
like, why not?
- Beecher's is my favorite
'cause their grilled cheese
melts in your mouth.
- One for Beecher's.
- Do you have a favorite grilled-cheese spot?
- Melt Shop.
- Oh!
One for Melt, that's right off the bat.
Herrine: After asking the people
of New York where they get
their favorite grilled cheese,
it was our turn to find our favorites.
Our first stop: Murray's Cheese.
- Hi, so welcome to Murray's Cheese
here in the West Village in New York City.
Emily: Murray's Cheese offers
over 300 kinds of cheeses
and a variety of specialty items.
Herrine: At the corner of the store,
the shop has a grilled-cheese counter.
- Our grilled cheese is probably
among the best in New York City
because of three factors.
I think it's the quality and then
the mix of cheeses that we use,
the amount of butter that we use
to cook the sandwich, and then
the flattop griddle that we use
gives it a really nice, even,
golden-brown crust.
So the Murray's Melts are our best seller.
We sell about 150 of those per week,
but then we also have up to 20
other types of sandwiches and grilled cheeses
that you can choose from.
We start by taking two slices
of Orwashers sourdough Pullman.
In our Murray's Melts,
we have New York cheddar,
fontina fontal, and then
a red-wax gouda.
And then we will take
a melted butter,
whole butter, and then
put a little on the bottom
of the grilled-cheese press
and brush it on the
top of the sandwich.
Yeah, we use a lot of butter.
Cut it in half.
Wrap it up, and serve it to the customer.
When the customers take a bite
of the grilled cheese, it's
usually just a big smile.
I mean, it goes back
to the nostalgic factor.
It just makes everyone feel
happy and comfortable.
- For me specifically,
this place has already like a
place in my heart
because this was the best
grilled cheese that I had
when I was in college.
So, but I can tell you that
I haven't had this grilled cheese
since I was in college.
But from what I remember,
it was the best, and I hope
it is still the best.
You know Murray's is really a legend.
It's a legend in the office.
It's a legend in New York City,
in the world,
but I have never had one of
their grilled-cheese sandwiches before.
Generally because I stay away from cheese.
- That smell.
- Take a moment to soak it in.
That's a good smell.
- Oh, my God.
- That cheese melts in your mouth.
- It's better than what I
had in college.
I like how the cheese is still
very mild and not like overwhelmingly
like salty... - Right.
- And it's not...it's not like those cheeses that
have, like, that filmy taste either.
- The whole thing is a very
mild taste I would say.
It's all about the texture I think.
It's the pillowy-ness of the cheese,
the crunchiness of the bread,
and the familiarity of that taste.
It's like your childhood grilled cheese
but times a million.
- And, like, just look at the sheer
amount of cheese that's inside, OK.
That alone makes it the best in my book.
I mean look at that.
- It's gonna hurt so good.
- That was comfort food at its finest.
- Absolutely.
- It was worth every calorie.
- Yeah, it was absolutely worth it.
I would wanna come back here
on a rainy day.
I wanna come back here on a sunny day too.
I wanna eat that whenever I'm having
a craving for cheese and bread.
That will just absolutely
satisfy it for you.
Hands down, that's the one.
- One more bite for the road,
and then we're gonna hit it.
- Oh, that's all you. I'm hurting already.
- Oh, my God.
Our second stop: Clinton Hall.
Clinton Hall is equipped
with fun games to go with
its equally fun food options.
In fact, it's the birthplace
of the Fondue Burger
and the WTF Waffles.
So of course its take on
grilled cheese is just as innovative.
- There's nothing wrong with
a grilled cheese. Everybody
loves grilled cheese.
But we wanted to use a doughnut
and create something really spectacular
and very visual.
A doughnut, I feel, can do anything.
It could be a grilled cheese.
It could be a burger.
It could even be a better bagel.
So we just wanted to use a doughnut
in one of our dishes,
and that's how we came up with the
doughnut grilled cheese.
We use glazed doughnuts, slice them in half,
then we roll them on butter on both slices,
we place them on the grill, we're gonna
load up the shredded mozzarella cheese on top.
Then we cover them with lids so the
cheese gets nice and melty.
This is our homemade tomato soup.
It's a four-hour tomato soup
that just reduces.
This thing is basically a standard banana hook,
and the cheese just starts dripping
down into the bowl of soup.
And basically what it is is
the sweetness of the doughnut plus
the dripping, melting cheese
into Chef Darryl's bowl
of homemade tomato soup is
like a food explosion in your mouth.
- Who do you think is gonna win or lose?
- Oh, Jenga? Oh, I'll win.
- How will it stand up
to the actual classic grilled cheese?
You know? 'Cause, like, you and I both love
the crusty corner of it,
of like...
- I saw some crusty corners on that thing.
- It's a circle.
- A circle is one long corner,
and, therefore, it will have crusty corners
all the way around.
No!
- Oh, it's a showstopper. It is.
- Wow.
- Cheese pull?
- Yeah, let's do a cheese pull.
We're ripping apart our friendship!
Oh, my God.
- Whoa.
- Emily, you are right.
It is one big corner.
I think they specifically
chose mozzarella because
it's a very mild cheese,
and everything else is so overpowering.
But with that being said,
I would've kind of wanted the classic,
like, American or cheddar cheese.
- It's clear to me that the
tomato soup is meant to go with the sandwich.
It's very thick.
- It's like a thick marinara.
- There's a reason this is called
The Famous Doughnut Grilled Cheese
because this is unlike anything
you can find somewhere else. - Yeah.
- It's very unique.
- Beecher's is one of the
leading artisanal cheese
manufacturers in America.
So we are a premium
cheese manufacturer based
in Seattle and New York City.
In New York City, we make
our Flagship cheese.
It's a cheddar Gruyere
that we age out for about 15 months.
So we are absolutely known
for our cheese, just straight up.
But in addition to that,
our World's Best Mac 'n' Cheese
and our famous grilled cheeses.
We offer about six different grilled cheeses.
The most popular
is for sure the original,
just the straight-up cheese.
- This is our two slices
of our sourdough whole wheat bread.
So two slices of our Flagship handmade cheese
and one slice of our Just Jack cheese.
Then we simply just put the top on,
and once this sandwich is assembled,
it goes on the grill.
And we don't use any oil, or fats, or butter at all.
- No butter, no oil because it doesn't need it
simply because the cheese has such a good
fat content to it. It's got so much flavor
that you want that kind of crisp,
you know, simplistic bread to really
embrace the power of the cheese.
When you first take a bite into our
traditional grilled cheese, you're gonna get hit
right away with this kind of sweet, nutty,
salty combination of ooey-gooey savoriness.
- Oh, my gosh, I'm already partial to this
because I love sourdough bread.
That is a West Coast classic,
and you know that because this is
from Seattle, they're gonna be using
great sourdough bread.
- You know what's also pretty remarkable
is that they aren't using any oil or butter,
and they're getting this
beautiful brown crust. - Yes.
So you know that's all coming from the cheese.
This is entirely about the cheese flavor
and nothing else.
- This is like a grown-up, adult grilled cheese
because you're getting, like, notes
of Gruyere, which gives that like
nutty, nutty flavor.
And the younger, like jack cheese kind of
like adds to that fat,
and I think that's the reason why
they don't need any oil or butter.
- The thing about this sandwich to me
is that it's really simply that
there's a real complexity of flavors
and that's just brought out by the simplicity
of the bread, and you know they don't
use too many types of cheese. You can just
taste that handmade cheese inside of there.
- Melt Shop is a fast-casual restaurant.
We serve melted sandwiches,
grilled cheeses, tater tots, chicken tenders,
and milkshakes.
The No. 1 seller by volume's
our classic grilled cheese,
and I think that's because it's the
most approachable option. It's the thing
that everyone's super familiar with.
I like to think it, our grilled cheese
is the best in New York City,
specifically for two reasons.
One, our ingredient quality is amazing.
We use Orwashers bread, one of the
oldest bakeries in town.
And our cheese is incredible.
We use a New York State aged cheddar.
But also our process is really special,
the way we cook our sandwiches.
We get this unbelievable crispy
exterior with this really kind
of pillowy interior, and I think
that's what makes our sandwiches special.
The classic is country white bread,
salted butter, two slices of American cheese
on one side, two slices of New York State
cheddar on the other.
- The pull.
- Wow. - Ohh.
The bread is crunchy on the outside
but fluffy in the middle.
That's what's killer about this grilled cheese.
This cheese combination is
the flavor profile that puts me
right back at home
when I was like 6.
- Right. Because the American cheese is
how I make grilled cheese at home.
It's how my mom made grilled cheese at home.
I love American cheese in grilled cheese.
- But I guess my palate is stubborn
because American cheese... - At the end of the day.
- Is one of the best cheeses.
Especially for grilled cheese.
Cheddar and American cheese,
they just go together.
Like me and you go together.
- Awww.
- OK, one more bite?
- One more bite.
- We visited all four places.
- All four.
- And now we have our verdicts.
- The best grilled cheeses in
New York City.
- We have them written down on our phones,
and it's reveal time.
- I have a feeling ours are
going to be a little bit different.
I think I know exactly what
Herrine's gonna pick.
- I think I know which one you're gonna pick.
- All right, we'll see about that.
- All right, ready?
- Three, two, one. - Three, two, one.
- Murray's.
I knew it, I knew it, exactly.
Herrine loved Murray's.
- Emily loved Beecher's.
Let's explain why.
Why was Beecher's your favorite?
- I loved Beecher's because it
was definitely on the lighter side
of the grilled cheeses.
I think because they didn't use all
that oil and extra butter and all of that,
it really allowed the cheese to shine,
and I like that because,
as someone who's not a frequent
dairy eater, it was just a little
more on the mild side and a little
more palatable for me.
- For me, I loved Murray's for the exact
polar opposite reason.
I loved the fact that Murray's just
really piled on that butter.
Also, that crust, unbelievable.
Emily: It was really, really spectacular.
- And that cheese was exactly
the flavor profile that I ate growing up.
You know that cheddar... - American cheese.
- Yeah, but it's just like kinda
the gourmet version of it.
Emily: Yeah, it was like what you had
as a kid but elevated.
I think both of those could be
the best grilled cheese in New York.
- And listen, all grilled cheeses
at the end of the day just taste delicious.
- All of them, all of them.
- Because it's just bread and cheese
melted together, like, what could go wrong?
- You absolutely cannot go wrong,
and when you're having the best ones in
New York City, it's like the time of your life.
Let me tell you.
- So now that we've revealed our favorites,
we would love to know your favorite
in New York City or beyond.
- Let us know in the comments below.
- Bye.