Del Mar is about to get a lot cheesier as the newest Grater Grilled Cheese location is set to open in early 2017. What started as the Greengo Food Truck in 2011 has already grown into brick-and-mortar restaurants in La Jolla and Mission Valley.
The Greengo Food Truck had a simple mission: to bring a classic comfort food -delicious, high-quality grilled cheese sandwiches – to San Diego. With a menu ranging from a Basic 5 Grilled Cheese (five cheese blend on artisan sourdough) to the Puerto Nuevo Style Lobster (butter-fried lobster, snow crab and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale chipotle aioli), owner and chef Gaston Corbala keeps busy satisfying customers’ cheese cravings.
Now, running a restaurant instead of a food truck “is actually a bit less of a hassle,” according to Natalie Garin, who started Greengo with Corbala and eventually took over the PR, marketing and catering as they expanded. Corbala, she said, is a “stickler for everything” whether it comes to perfecting the five-cheese blend they use or making the perfect playlist for the restaurants.
That attention to detail pays off when it’s time to create delicious grilled cheese with a twist. Corbala’s background – studying at the Culinary Art School in Tijuana and working in restaurants in Mexico and Argentina – helps him come up with new recipes and tinker with each until it’s perfect.
Grater Grilled Cheese only uses local, organic ingredients and everything is made to order. Garin mentioned that some customers have wondered why their sandwich takes longer than expected. “It isn’t easy to melt five cheeses, plus toppings, and have the bread toast to perfection all at once,” she said.
The other bonus of opening the restaurants was that Corbala could add to the menu. In addition to the Grater classics, the Mission Valley location offers more “Chef’s Creations,” including a B.A.T. Grilled Cheese (with bacon, arugula, tomato and pesto aioli) and Cordon Bleu Grilled Cheese (fried chicken tenderloins, French ham and bleu cheese with roasted garlic aioli).
Customers also can dig into salads, grilled deli sandwiches or several varieties of “Pomme Frites au Fromage,” or Grater Cheese French Fries. The Del Mar location’s menu is still being finalized, but it is expected to feature a similar extended menu.
Look for Grater Grilled Cheese in the Del Mar Highlands Town Center complex early next year, and in the meantime, satisfy your cheese cravings in La Jolla or Mission Valley.
Mission Valley: 5618 Mission Center Road, #1002, 619.458.9611. La Jolla: 723 Pearl St., 858.459.0094. gratergrilledcheese.com