Palmetto festival celebrates grilled cheese sandwiches

It has long been considered the most modest of sandwiches. It’s quick, tasty and filling, but hardly the kind of dish any self-respecting cook would brag about. It was often adorned by nothing more pretentious than a bowl of canned tomato soup

But now the grilled cheese sandwich’s time has come. In the past couple of years, festivals devoted to the sandwich have cropped up all over the country. Tampa hosted one this past spring, and St. Petersburg’s grilled cheese festival in June was a huge success despite sporadic rain showers.

“We had some periods of rain,” Wally Copes said, “but people were still lined up in front of some of those food trucks 50, 60 deep. In the rain.”

Now Bradenton is getting its own grilled cheese festival. Copes, who was one of the organizers of that hyper-successful festival in St. Petersburg, is the executive producer of the Manasota Grilled Cheese Festival, which is set for Saturday in Sutton Park. He says this festival promises to be even bigger than the one in St. Petersburg, with more than 20 restaurants and food trucks offering grilled cheese and other dishes. It also features area artists and crafts people selling their creations, and a full day of live music,

If your concept of a grilled cheese sandwich begins and ends with a slice of American pasteurized processed cheese food between a couple of slices of white bread, the Manasota Grilled Cheese Festival could expand your thinking. Some vendors, including Sarasota’s Tom+Chee, will offer something like the the classic comfort sandwich on their menu. But the bulk of the offerings are likely to be more creative.

Tom+Chee’s menu includes a sandwich with bacon, barbecue-flavor potato chips and American cheese on white bread, and a donut grilled cheese sandwich that has a glazed donut, sliced in half like a bagel, with cheddar cheese inside.

Riverside Rollin’ Smoke, the mobile unit from Bradenton’s Riverside Waterfront Cafe, is getting even fancier. Chef Rick Meyers has created several sandwiches especially for the festival, including one with smoked gouda, portobello mushrooms, zucchini and roasted red pepper on Texas toast.

“When we heard about the festival,” he said, “we started to get really creative.”

Each sandwich from Riverside Rollin’ Smoke comes with a cup of the restaurant’s tomato basil soup, Meyers said.

Sandwiches with meat, seafood and portobellos may not fit most people’s idea of a grilled cheese. But Meyers said he’s made sure that cheese is the centerpiece of all his grilled cheese creations.

“Usually cheese is sort of an afterthought on a sandwich,” he said. “You start with the meat or whatever and you add a slice of cheese. We’re making sure that there’s enough cheese that the cheese dominates the sandwich, and everything else enhances the cheese.”

Of course, one of the joys of grilled cheese sandwiches is that they’re easy to make at home. Both Meyers and Tom+Chee owner Dave Williams have some advice offer for the home cheese griller. Among them:

▪ Don’t get your pan too hot. If the bread browns too fast, the cheese inside won’t have time to melt.

▪ Covering the pan can help the cheese melt, but it will cause steam to build up inside the pan and make the sandwich soggy. “If someone wants to stand there and cover the pan for 10 or 15 seconds, that’s OK,” Williams said. “But not longer than that.” (The grill surfaces at Mac+Chee are 365 degrees, Williams said.)

▪ White bread is “always good,” Williams said, thought he’s recently developed a fondness for wheat bread grilled cheese sandwiches. Meyers serves grilled cheese sandwiches on everything from sourdough bread to pumpernickel. Breads with more flavor are best when the cheese and other ingredients are sharper and stronger-tasting, he said.

▪ Melted cheese tastes good with just about everything, so don’t be afraid to experiment. “Our motto,” Williams said, “is eat what’s fun.”

Each vendor at the festival will offer at least one signature grilled cheese sandwich, and beyond the menus can be wide open. So there should be plenty of food for the vegans and other people who don’t want cheese. Beer, wine and liquor and all sorts of non-alcoholic beverages will be available.

It’s likely to be hot outside, but air-cooled tents will be set up all around Sutton Park.

Live music comes from the Reverend Barry & Funktastic Soul featuring the Hellacious Horns and Jah Movement Reggae Band.

Admission and parking are free, and money from vendor fees and concession sales will go to Wheels 4 Purple Hearts, a Sarasota-based nonprofit that provides custom-built wheelchairs for veterans with disabilities.

Details: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Aug. 20, Sutton Park, Sixth Street West at 10th Avenue West, Palmetto. Free. 941-587-8365, facebook.com/events/674766019341427.

This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Palmetto festival celebrates grilled cheese sandwiches."