I love cheese. In my estimation, there are few things in life cheese can’t improve, and there’s no such thing as too much of it. I love cheese so much, I’ve told my long distance Facebook friends that if I suddenly stop posting updates, the cheese I’ve eaten has finally caught up with me. “Nachos will be the death of me,” I wrote.
So when a new mobile restaurant that serves grilled cheese sandwiches rolled through the streets of Chattanooga and stopped at Center Park on Market Street during a recent Fresh Friday, I had no choice: I was going to be one of the first customers of The Muenster Truck.
Alas, circumstances conspired against me, and by the time I arrived, a long line had already formed and was actually crossing in front of the order window at Southern Burger. I took my place behind another hungry looking gentleman and started to wait.
I browsed the menu as the minutes passed: The Tomato Explains It All, The Angry Bacon, and The All That were on the board for opening day. Was I looking at a menu or Nickelodeon’s programming schedule? Owner Guru Shah confirmed my suspicions when he came out bearing sample cups of house-made Gazpacho, a cold soup.
“Growing up, I watched Nickelodeon,” he said. “So I based my sandwich names on my favorite shows.” I thought about the hours I had spent watching Angry Beavers with my children and nodded. It’s a great name for a sandwich.
Shah, a Baylor and Vanderbilt graduate with a degree in industrial engineering, said he also played video games, ate grilled cheese and drank chocolate milk growing up. I took another look at the menu, and sure enough, spotted house-made chocolate milk among the offerings.
When someone pours his or her passions into a business, extraordinary things happen.
I weighed my options as I inched forward in line. The Tomato Explains It contains sharp cheddar, a slice of vine-ripened tomato (Shah uses as many locally grown products as possible), and no crusts. Made of Havarti and containing fresh avocado and slices of bacon, the Angry Bacon seemed like the obvious choice. But then there was The All That, which comes with Gruyere, fried egg, and spicy mustard.
How was a cheese lover supposed to choose? Easy. For me, the bacon tipped the scales. My stomach growled as I watched a group of four simultaneously bite into their sandwiches and stretch their arms to break the strings of melted cheese.
By the time I reached the order window, I had a new best friend in the gentleman in front of me. “There were times when I nearly stepped out of line,” he told me, “but your faith carried me here.”
Opening day can be crazy. But the sandwich was ready in minutes.
When eating something new, first impressions are important. As I walked away with my prize, the Angry Bacon could not have looked more delicious. Two large slices of perfectly grilled buttery toast held a king’s ransom in melted Havarti, two slices of chewy, fatty bacon, and freshly smashed avocado. As I tore one half from the other and took a bite, I knew my first Muenster Truck grilled cheese would not be my last.
It was scary good.
I topped off lunch with a cup of Valencia Orange gelato from Milk & Honey. That meal could not have had a better dessert.
Last week, I wrote about the smothered green chili burritos at California Burrito. This week, grilled cheese stole the spotlight. The food truck scene in Chattanooga continues to surprise and delight with remarkably tasty fare. The addition of The Muenster Truck thrills the cheese lover in me, though. If this column suddenly disappears from the pages of this newspaper, I’ve not quit my job; rather, the Angry Bacons I’ve eaten have finally caught up with me.