Upscale Your Grilled Cheese Sandwich

There's nothing like a good grilled cheese sandwich.

Early spring is a confusing time. The buds are out and we have more daylight hours, but ... just as you're getting used to the warmth, the cold comes back. Windy, rainy cold. Chilly damp-to-the-bone cold.

And what better to warm you up on a cold day than a grilled cheese sandwich, with all its brown-butter-toasty-gooey-cheese charm.

So, why not take that classic meal upscale?

Last month, at the Minneapolis Food & Wine Experience, I attended a Gourmet Grilled Cheese presentation by Martial Noguier, chef of Chicago's one sixtyblue, who upgraded the ingredients for the classic grilled cheese sandwich.

He chose local cheeses and brought them to a state of "warm, but not melting." He used a soft truffle and herb butters to flavor the inside of the sandwich, while using olive oil to gain a golden crisp on the outside of the brioche.

Your average chef might wax poetic about foie gras, Wagyu or marrow; Chef Noguier's passion is his grilled cheese.

One sixtyblue has a sophisticated cheese program, two full-time cheese chefs and a complete cheese menu. There's fondue, in addition to warmed cheese plates, composed cheese plates, flat cheese plates and grilled cheeses. Chef Noguier will soon be introducing cheese terrines.

"In the United States, cheese is getting bigger and bigger," said Chef Noguier. "I have the same feeling about cheese in this country that I had about wine."

Hand in hand with the developing American cheese palate arrives the American cheesemaker. Among Chef Noguier's favorite American cheeses are Wisconsin's Uplands Cheese Company's Pleasant Ridge Reserve and California's Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company's Original Blue Cheese.