glenn

It airs tomorrow (4/1) between 5pm and 6pm. They taped today (after dragging me out from hiding under the table.) From what I understand, they'll be showing portions of the interviews (with the chef, customers and me) as well as the cooking scenes throughout the broadcast and they also might be doing some live stuff. All I can say is I'm glad it's over, though Lauren was nice as pie.

I get that question all the time. At first, I had no idea how to answer it and usually came up with a stupid smart aleck remark like, "cheese." It's really a matter of personal preference; that's why I have trouble addressing it, though not so much any more. Lots of people like the fun of building their own sandwich - we have roughly 12 cheeses to choose from and you can choose up to 3 on 1 sandwich. Then we have approximately 20 different toppings (ranging from no charge to $1). There is no limit to the amount of toppings, though hopefully sanity will prevail. So you have a plethora of combos to choose from - I'm surprised all the time by peoples' ingenuity. Then, for those who don't like too many choices and just wanna order and get it over with (hand raised high), we have "suggested" sandwiches - 3 altogether. They range from a classic trio of cheeses with tomato and citrus dijon topping to an over the top peanut butter and cheese combo. We also have a new "suggested" sandwich that'll be going on the menu - it's really dynamite and you're welcome to ask about it when you come in. I always like to keep things fairly simple - one or two cheeses and one or two of the very unique 50 cent toppings (olive tapenade - green or black, or fig jam (regular or orange.) If you like hot, go with the buffalo cheddar. Paired with the sweet mango chutney or peach chutney, it's an incredible sandwich. Last, we generally special 2 "upscale" cheeses daily. Yesterday we had a blue cheese and goat (fourme d'ambert and montchevre.) I think they were both wonderful and are aimed at a more sophisticated palette and are a little more expensive. Please make sure to introduce yourself (don't forget the eglutton handshake!) and I can give you further recommendations. This has now become my favorite part of the job.

Thanks for making the trek! And jeez, I will never forget that afternoon and trying to cope with an avalanche of unsupervised kiddies. I love the kids, but yep, the parents do have to take some control. I did say something to the mom but that didn't go over so well. Oh well. There's quite a lengthy thread on the JC list forum about kid friendly restaurants and Melt was mentioned as not being one because we don't have high chairs. I won't let the Friday experience color my feelings and probably will get a couple of high chairs. I've had lots of kids in and not had a problem - on the contrary, it's a joy having them and having them order one of the bestest sandwiches in the world - american and bacon or american and tomato. Don't knock 'em! However, that buffalo cheddar is among my favorite cheeses -- quite a hot item. And it was incredibly hard to find but my persistence paid off - it's one of the most popular cheeses. You hit upon a good point about the melting. I'm not quite sure from your post, but you simply had mutz and the buffalo? If that's the case, the cheese should have been gooey and melted. Even with the thick bread, those cheeses lend themselves well to melting. I apologize that wasn't the case. It's when people add a lot of toppings or order what I call "unfriendly cheeses" (like feta) that we have a hard time getting the cheese to be gooey. Also, the mutz should have been fresh. At one point we carried an aged mutz, but that was only temporary. I wonder if the chef was using some of the aged mutz on your sandwich which I thought we were out of. Again, thanks for coming.

We came up with the most wonderful special today that, judging from reactions, will probably make it to our permanent menu. I wish I knew more about the cheese though - maybe someone can help. There's no name (we got it from our purveyor who had no name for it either)- it's a Wisconsin Fox River cheese which is creamy and tastes like fontina. It came in a 5 lb. block I think and there was nothing but "Fox River" on the packing. It melts just great, just like fontina. We paired it with turkey and hot mango chutney on thick sliced levain bread - the contrasting flavors, mild and hot, worked great. glenn, melt (jersey city)

Thanks for the mention Owen. I hope the eglutton staff doesn't mind, but I'd like to say thanks once again to everyone for all the helpful suggestions and comments I've received over the past 4 or 5 months. Many of those suggestions have been used, including the name, "Melt." Without the help of many people here, Melt would not have turned out to be as cool as I think it is. I am an accountant and have little imagination not to mention that I have virtually no culinary background. This site compensated for those shortcomings. That's saying a lot! I'd especially like to thank the eglutton staff for allowing this type of discourse. Everyone has been super great, members and staff, and I am super grateful.

dog days good luck!

I forgot to comment on this statement - frankly it sent shivers down my spine when I read it and I spoke to the chef. Indeed, there were walnuts on the sandwich and we did not state so on the specials board. It was a mixup that never should have happened. We made a similar special a few days prior that did have "announced" walnuts. The chef forgot that Sunday's special had no walnuts. Fortunately, no harm came of this, but both the chef and I are well aware that this is a mistake that never should have happened.

Thanks for all the nice comments- I'm really taken aback. Paul and Dee, it was great having you and seeing you again. I went over your comments about the shropshire with Jim and we tried the same sandwich with olive tapenade. It worked great, thank you thank you. That's the type of feedback we love [in addition to "Melt Roolz! :)] Regarding the wasted pastries, I never thought anyone would want them, but thanks to the suggestions, I made arrangements for a homeless shelter to pick them up. thanks again everyone.

I guess you haven't been by for breakfast! Actually, you should stop by around closing and watch me dump virtually the entire Eli's Bread danish order and 90% of my bagels :(. During the week, breakfast doesn't amount to selling more than coffee and an occasional waffle. This past weekend, we did a fantastic brunch but that was mostly waffles and a new breakfast sandwich concoction (brie) we came up with. I was also offering a basket of mini pastries and breads from Eli's, but sold a total of one basket between Sat. and Sun. It's all part of the learning curve, albeit expensive. Either the area can't support weekday breakfast or people need more time to catch on. It's costly buying product every day, not to mention dragging myself out of bed at the crack of dawn, but I'll keep it up for another month or so to see if there's any interest. On another note - and I beg the powers that be not to delete this - the party I had planned for all egluttoneers for the end of this month had to be cancelled. Unfortunately, I misplaced the contact info for one of the people that responded favorably and this is the only way I have of letting that person know. My apologies.

Super! The stranger the better - maybe I'll sell more "ugly americans."

Great meeting you too and thanks for the well wishes. The first week was mostly slow, but I keep forgetting that's what I wanted. I intentionally didn't spread the word to every corner on the planet in order to give us time to get things right. And that's a good thing. I no longer wear every other milkshake and the triple mixer knows who the boss is - most of the time. It was like training a pet (me being the pet.) I also realized there is no way in hell I could work our fancy milk steamer (for cafe au lait and hot chocolate) and get the the temperature right without a big thermometer. And lots of other stupid little things. One of the biggest unknowns when I did my business plan was staffing. I thought that initially I could get by with an apprentice cook and myself. Wrong wrong wrong - I didn't realize the incredible amount of maintenance and constant cleaning that was required; I didn't plan on having full table service until people started sitting down and expected to be waited on; on that note, I never took into consideration that waiting tables in my type of establishment would require more than half a brain cell (new found respect for servers!); I never planned on practically having to beg vendors to take my money and do business with me, particularly paper vendors; I didn't plan on paper menus for in house service - I hired an artist who built an incredibly cool BIG chalkboard shaped like a piece of bread and was going to rely on that instead of menus - while it's an outstanding piece of art, it's not functional. People would stare at it, admire it, and then get lost in all the cheeses and toppings. Again, lots and lots of other stupid things. I'm very fortunate that things have had a way of working out. - I found an all around person who does the cleaning, runs errands, delivers menus and even some cooking. I've also gotten better at waiting tables (and cooking and cleaning dishes). Despite all the small mishaps and catastrophes, I'm thrilled with the way things are going. People seem to love the food, the concept and even the service and nothing is more satisfying than making people happy.

I've been experimenting with shakes for the past 2 weeks (in the interests of science!) and have finally hit on a recipe I'm content with. Holly mentioned Bassetts, a super premium - that's what I use. I definitely don't think using a super premium ice cream is a waste - you actually use a little bit less than you would of a lesser quality ice cream. In my opinion, the ideal thickness is that magic point where its consistency is just before the point that it's not so thick that you develop a migraine trying to suck it up through a wide diameter straw. Chocolate: yield 22 ounces 6 oz. whole milk, as cold as you can get it before it freezes 10 oz. chocolate ice cream 1 pump of fox's u-bet Add half the milk, ice cream and syrup (in that order!) to shaker. Soften mixture with mixer spindle (I use a Waring 2 speed ice cream mixer, which is identical to the Hamilton Beach.) Mix on very low (and manually if necessary) for about a minute then add the rest of the milk. Mix on low for about a minute then on high for about a minute. I find adding vanilla syrup to a vanilla shake or strawberry syrup to a strawberry shake is a matter of personal preference. Personally, I don't like syrup with those flavors.

Thanks, Owen! but you are too modest. Owen is the consummate professional and gentleman. Not only did he amaze me with his coffee knowledge and skills, but he really knew how to talk the talk in the plumbing supply store (while I sat there wondering what the heck they were all talking about.) The "mutz" next door (Gabagoolz) is very good - we tested it today and it will be used for one of our "basic" sandwiches.

Harry, looking forward to meeting you. I forgot to mention that there is no charge.

We're testing the coffee at Melt before opening and would welcome anyone in the area to stop in and give an evaluation. We're also working on the rest of the menu so there's a chance other goodies might be available. We should be here every day (7 days) until we open and the coffee should be hot and fresh from 9 to 3. We're at 581 Jersey Ave. in Jersey City, 201-459-0008. Best to call first, but okay to just stop in. Thanks.

On the contrary, Owen is truly the modest one. Without his expertise in the installation - and he truly is an expert, not to mention all the mostly naive questions he selflessly answered via email and phone, my goal of serving a great cup would never have come to be. Thank you thank you (in case I forgot to say it :) I'll be retailing Terroir coffee in 12 oz. bags in the same packaging and same price that Terroir sells it for. At first I'll just be selling the same coffee as I sell in store.

I haven't dealt with them for a while - they mostly sell to commercial accounts, coffee as well as equipment. Their coffee was nothing special when I last dealt with them. There are better choices, especially on a consumer level.

Do we really think $1.35 is expensive? Sounds pretty cheap. I was finally able to score 20 cases of mexican coke, pepsi, fanta, etc - it cost almost 90 cents a bottle. I know the distributor I got it from is a little more expensive than the others, but not by much. I was thinking of selling it for $1.75. But now you have me worried.

I shamefully missed it - how'd it go? I tried accessing that site with no luck. Is it www.moneytalk1350.com? Is the show archived?

Nice review by Jason in today's Times... I was waiting for the mention of mexican coke :)

I love the stuff! It probably goes well with any cheese. As I noted above, I spoke to Dalmatia and they're sending samples. I'm especially interested in the orange fig jam. Chances are I'm going to carry it as a regular topping, though I don't know if it will be homemade (with Rachel's great recipe) or Dalmatia's. And if Dalmatia's product is as good as it's purported to be and it makes sense economically, I will be retailing it. That way y'all can bypass Whole foods and go directly to melt :)

Congrats on the pr. Excuse my ignorance though - who's Pat Tanner?

101 cookbooks blog?! Curlz, you need a life! :) (uh, kettle black and all that.) Seriously, thanks for the tip. Since first tasting fig jam only a week ago, I'm sold. I got 2 different kinds from Murray's Cheese and my chef whipped up a batch. I think it's a fantastic topping for GC and will go with a lot of cheeses. Plus it's just the kind of item I'm looking to retail. Thanks again, I'm going to contact Dalmatia today.

Sure enough, Murray's Cheese has it. Never would have thought to look in a cheese shop. I'll finally get to taste it, yippee!

Okay, I've read several recipes with fig jam but never tasted it nor have I been able to find it. Is this something that's sold in stores? Thanks for the comments on the site - credit belongs to Phil Marzo of PM Designs.