I recently spotted a new food truck in town, that (get this!) only serves GRILLED CHEESE! Grilled cheese is one of my favorite childhood comfort foods that I still return to as an adult when I want crave simple pleasures, so I had to try it for myself.
Turns out, Papi Queso serves up so much more than the traditional American cheese on white bread.
Papi Queso's menu features five unique grilled cheese sandwiches, as well as a dessert sandwich with Nutella, strawberries, honey, and toasted marshmallow.
I met up with the food truck on a Wednesday night at Triple C Brewing Co. where the truck parks and serves customers, who can enjoy their goodies inside the brewery. It was a tough decision, but after some consideration, I selected the classic grilled cheese, which is called the Big Cheesy ($5) on their menu. The sandwich features three different kinds of cheese — American, Provolone and medium Cheddar. The cheese was perfectly melted and the the bread was a rich golden brown. I suspect butter had a hand in making my grilled cheese extra decadent.
I brought along a friend who ordered two different grilled cheeses and offered me a sample. He ordered the Pig Mac ($8), which has mac 'n' cheese, Carolina pulled pork and bourbon onions. In theory, this grilled cheese sounds amazing. Who would have ever thought to put mac 'n' cheese on a sandwich? But it turned out to be my least favorite. The mac 'n' cheese plus the bread were just too much starchiness for a sandwich. The pulled pork got lost in the rest of the ingredients.
I also sampled the Leek + Mushroom grilled cheese ($8), which blew me away. Initially, I wasn't very excited about this sandwich, but it was hands-down my favorite. The sandwich is made with Gruyere, truffle Robiola (a soft Italian cheese made with equal parts cow, goat, and sheep's milk), leek confit, and roasted mushrooms. It has just the right balance of rich and creamy cheese and earthy meatiness from the mushrooms. It's definitely my top pick.
If I see the sleek black Papi Queso truck again, I'm going right for The Pimento, which is a grilled pimento cheese sandwich with pickled jalapeno, and green onion. Not ordering it to take home with me was my one regret of the evening.
If you spot the truck yourself, I recommend going with a friend and splitting two different sandwiches to get the full experience. And there's no need for a tomato soup truck. Papi Queso serves a tarragon and tomato soup as well as truffle kettle chips as a side.
But don't leave running into the Papi Queso truck up to fate. To find out where try them yourself, check them out on Twitter and Facebook where they share their upcoming locations.