Welcome to the Vancouver Foodster Grilled Cheese Challenge. Restaurants from all over the city were invited to enter their grilled cheese creations into this challenge. Each restaurant will be featuring their Grilled Cheese creations on their menu from January 8-31, 2016.

How Does this all Work? For the public challenge, you are invited to go out and order any or all of the grilled cheese creations in this challenge, then you decide who you think has the best grilled cheese creation for the People’s Choice award winners. 

Share your experiences: Tweet (and don’t forget to tweet or instagram your photos) throughout the challenge, our twitter and instagram address is @vanfoodster and the hashtag is #GrilledCheeseYVR please include this hashtag in all your tweets during the challenge.

Voting criteria –  some things to help you judge your favourite grilled cheese creations – keep these things in mind: originality, creativity, uniqueness, traditional, non-traditional, price, value and most importantly taste.

Get some friends together and make a day or night of it, visit 2 places or more to share and taste the different grilled cheese creations or go solo or with a friend– just remember to VOTE for your favourites.

Here are the 9 Grilled Cheese creations in this challenge, listed in no particular order other than when they were received by us.

The Uncommon Café

The Twisted Cheese

Price: $10

Created by: Chef Luc Leimanis

Description:  The sandwich base is a homemade bun spun with spinach, cheddar cheese and jalapeno jelly, then filled with smoked cheddar cheese, house-made ricotta and crispy prosciutto or crispy onions and served with a side salad.

Offered: Mon – Fri 7:30am – 4pm and Saturdays 10am – 3pm.

The Uncommon Café

477 Powell Street, Vancouver

Tel: (604) 254-0477

Web: http://www.uncommonssary.com/

Twitter: @uncommoncafeyvr

 

Dunn’s Famous

Montreal Smoked Meat Grilled Cheese

Price- $10

Created by: Chef Alex Brown

Description: Hand Carved Montreal Smoked Meat with Cheddar Cheese in a white bread. Choose your cut: Lean, Medium or Fat and have a Melt in your mouth experience.

Offered: All day, everyday

Dunns Famous

827 Seymour Street,Vancouver

Tel: 604-682-8938

Web:  http://www.dunnsfamousbc.com

Twitter: @DunnsFamousBC

 

Mom’s Grilled Cheese Truck

‘The Hot Mama’

Price: $11

Created by: Cindy Hamilton

Description:  Spicy sopressatta, sundried tomato feta spread, provolone, mozzarella, hot banana peppers, red onions on olive rosemary bread, grilled with garlic butter, and finished with a handful of arugula.

Mom’s Grilled Cheese Truck

Howe & Robson Street

Web: http://momsgrilledcheesetruck.com/

Twitter: @momsgrilledchz

 

Hopcott Meats

Grilled Gouda & Roast Beef Sandwich

Price: $6.50

Created by: Lisa Mercier

Description: Applewood Smoked Gouda with Hopcott’s Steak Seasoned Rotisserie Beef on Sourdough

Offered: Offered anytime during business hours, 7 days a week, 9am to 6pm

Hopcott Meats

18385 Old Dewdney Trunk Road, Pitt Meadows

Tel: 604.465.7799

Web: http://www.hopcottmeats.ca/

Twitter @HopcottFarms

 

S’wich Café

Bocadillo Del Vaquero

Price: $11.00

Description:  this Spanish style ranchhand grilled cheese is cut lengthwise, pairing mozzarella with an indulgence of aged manchego, layered with the smoky spicy warmth of bacon, paprika and roasted garlic shallot confit. This combo speaks to gratifying a hard days hunger, transforming a hearty mainstay into the luxurious epitome of comfort chow. Paired with Chef Erik’s Fire Roasted Tomato Bisque (with a hint of Espalette pepper so that you never forget!).

Created by: Chef Erik Smith

Offered: Lunch time

S’Wich Cafe

644 Queensbury Ave, North Vancouver

Tel: (604) 973-0133

Web: http://www.swich.ca/

Twitter: @swichcafe

 

Prado Cafe

Easy Cheesy

Price: $6.50

Description: Grilled to perfection on the cast iron panini grill. Perfectly toasted and buttery on the outside, hot and gooey on the inside. Comes with a side of house-made pickled beets.

Created by: Chef Reiko Cunningham

Offered: During regular operating hours

Prado Cafe

• 4208 Fraser Street, Vancouver
• 1938 Commercial Drive, Vancouver
• 100 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

Web: http://pradocafevancouver.com/

Twitter: @PradoCafe

 

Zee’s Grilled Cheese

Mac’N’Mayhem

Price: $9.95

Description: We start with our classic sourdough bread smothered with parmasan butter, then layered with aged cheddar, double smoked bacon, three cheese macaroni, a dash of fiery sriracha sauce, another layer of bacon and one more layer of aged cheddar to finish off our simply decadent entry.

Created by: Zyanna Daya

Offered: all the time

Zee’s Grilled Cheese

#160 – 12420 No.1 Road, Richmond

Tel:  (604) 447-0420

Web: http://www.zeesgrilledcheese.com/

Twitter: @zeesinsteveston

 

Melt City Grilled Cheese

Tradition

Price: $12

Description: Slow roasted lamb and juicy pomegranate join forces in Melt City’s newest creation: Tradition. Conventional Middle Eastern ingredients are paired with double crème cheese and fresh baked sourdough, making this sandwich The Cheese.  Khiar Shoor, a Persian pickled cucumber, completes this food truck’s homage to family, culture, and out-of-this-world flavour.

Created by: Chefs : Yasmin Ghaffari and Elizabeth Carr

Offered: January 20 to 24 – at “Dine Out” Vancouver’s Street Food City- Vancouver Art Gallery

Melt City Grilled Cheese

Twitter: @MeltCitygc

 

Saj & Co.

The Halloumi

Price: $15

Description:  Halloumi, avocado, pickles, red onion, olives, beets, mint, and tomato wrapped in Saj flatbread

Created by: Malek Anouti

Offered: Mon – Fri 12pm – 3:30 pm and 6pm – 9 pm; and Saturday and 6pm – 10pm

Saj & Co.

813 Davie Street, Vancouver

Web: http://sajandco.ca/

Twitter: @Sajnco

 

Make sure you pick up one of the Grilled Cheese Challenge postcards available at each of the participating restaurants. Remember to Vote here for your favourites daily

Our Media judges for this challenge are:

 

Tara Lee

Freelance journalist and unapologetic glutton. Writer for @visitrichmondbc @myvancouver

Twitter: @VanGlutton

 

Benjamin Yong

Freelance writer and journalist for @darpanmagazine and @rpmcanada contributor.

Twitter: @b_yong

 

Rick Green

Freelance writer for BC Brews and other publications

Twitter: @BCbrews