Grilled Cheese at The Counter
9:29 PM
Grilled Cheese with Ham and Onion Rings
Put this one in the category of things I miss about Southern California that I never thought I would.
In Pasadena, we had a branch of the restaurant chain The Counter. There are several locations spread throughout the states, but if you’ve never heard of it before, The Counter is a hamburger place I’ve mentioned here before. You have several options such as choosing the type of protein you’d like, the type of bun, cheese, toppings etc., to truly make a customized burger. They also have the best Parmesan fries. I think they add rosemary. Truly insane.
Before we moved to Nevada, we went through and checked on the location of all of our favorite chains to see if they had one in Las Vegas. In most cases, we were pretty lucky including our favorite sushi place, Kabuki, and quick bites like Chipotle, Blaze and Pizza Rev. We also felt we were gaining so many great restaurants on the Strip, we really wouldn’t miss anything.
So imagine my disappointed when only a few months in, we started realizing the things we missed. Chick-fil-a? There wasn’t one, but luckily within a few weeks of realizing this was missing, two were opened.
We knew one of our breakfast favorites, Urth Caffe, didn’t have a location, but then we heard the news that one will be opening early next year.
Then one day I got an email from The Counter, and at the time, I really didn’t think anything of it. A few days later, I looked to see if there was one close by. No. Now I love burgers; I think they should be their own food group, but I had found so many other great burger places, whenever we went to The Counter, I actually began ordering other things off the menu, and that was when I found their grilled cheese. As much as I love burgers, I think I love grilled cheese even more. And this grilled cheese with ham and an onion ring inside with a side of bbq sauce was just life changing. I mean I immortalized it on my phone.
Last week when I was cleaning pictures out of my phone, I found this one, and suddenly all I can think about is The Counter. Unfortunately I would have to drive to Arizona, California or Idaho to visit one, but I kept thinking about this grilled cheese. Obsessed, I went to look at the menu online and found that this particular grilled cheese that has haunted my dreams is no longer on their menu. I probably don’t need a recipe to recreate it, but I have found the cookbook Grilled Cheese Kitchen, and now there could be be much experimentation while I look for my new favorite.
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