Meltdown Etc

I can’t believe it’s closed!!! I haven’t been there in a couple years and I was looking forward to a grilled banana and nutella sandwich. :(

Terrible news that Meltdown has closed. The people that worked there were super nice and friendly.
Not to mention they had amazing grilled cheese! Their three-​cheese with bacon was unbelievably good. They also had really good tomato soup — kind of spicy, and a fitting compliment to the grilled cheese.
Sitting outside on a Saturday afternoon with a Mexican Coke in hand, it didn’t get much better than that.
Here’s hoping they return to Culver City in the future!

They truly have gourmet grilled cheese there. It’s sad to see them go so quickly. :(

so a friend of mine sends me a message to click on their link. turn up your volume before you do, she instructs. i’m greeted by a sizzling sound that soon got annoying. i’ve always wanted to try some kind of gourmet grilled cheese sandwich since hearing adrian grenier’s character talk about preparing one in «the devil wears prada.» (yes, of everything that goes on in the movie, that’s the part that stood out most for me. haha)
i digress… checking out the website, i expected to find the place super busy on a saturday but it wasn’t. it’s been awhile since my last visit so i don’t remember too much about their menu… i do somewhat remember what i ordered.
standard with 3 cheese: i ordered this with tomatoes and apple butter. the apple butter gave it a hint of sweetness. i thought it’d balance with the saltiness of the cheese. it was good and cheesy and i really liked it. eat it quick because it’s best when the cheese is melty.
tomato soup: i absolutely loved this. great to use a dip for the sandwich. best when it is just cool enough to slurp.
brie and apricot: saw it on the menu and already knew that i really wanted to try it. but when we got it, wasn’t really feeling it at all too much. maybe because the brie was not melted.
took M the next time i went and he liked it as well. would go back and recommend to others.

You’re like, what’s so special about a grilled cheese sandwich? It’s bread and cheese. Yeah, it’s good, but it’s nothin’ special. Why would you pay over $ 9 for a sandwich with cheese?
And then you come to Meltdown and you’re like OMG!!! Cuz it’s dang good. This isn’t your typical grilled cheese sandwich, thrown together with Wonder Bread and Kraft Singles. This is goat cheese, swiss, muenster, brie and focaccia, marble rye, sourdough — delicious, grown-​up grilled cheese that appeals to all palates.
I only wish the tomato soup could live up to the yummy sandwiches here. Not in love with the soup. No matter. Shall return for the sandwiches.

This place makes a mean grilled cheese. It’s not the chedder or the Muenster, but the Fontina that they use is delicious. The smoked ham is good also, and together with the quantity is a killer mix. I only had time for a sandwich but if I lived in Culver City and had the time and money I would probably make this a regular stop, not every day or every other day, maybe once a week.. .
I’m a big guy who can handle a lot of food, and this place held it’s own. Yes you can make your own, but when you’re craving a grilled cheese at work and there isn’t a stove this is a great alternative. With a nice outside patio and hip trendy design.
Check it out.
Enjoy.

An Expensive Grilled Cheese Sandwhich That Rocks My World!
First things first. Yes, you can probably make these at home in your kitchen. And yes, these grilled cheese sandwiches are a little bit pricey at about $ 8.50 each. BUT. Oh yes and there is a but.
These are some damn good grilled cheese sandwiches!
Before heading to the Arc Light to check out the much hyped Slumdog Millionaire, bro and I mosied our hungry booties over to Culver City to try out Meltodwn Etc. You walk in and you immediately think, «hey, they did a pretty good job branding this place.» Ok, so maybe you don’t think that maybe I only think that.
You scan the menu and you see things like classic 3 cheese with sharp cheddar, muenster, and fontina on sourdough bread with applewood bacon and tomato. Then you notice they also have 3 cheese quesadillas, caprese sandwiches, reubens and tuna melts. Guess that’s where the «etc.» comes in. I get the 3 cheese and bro gets the cheddar, ham and apple butter sandwich — the top two picks per the owner.
More with pictures:

Yum. A cute little place in Culver City. I’ve never had a restaurant style grilled cheese sandwich and this place did not disappoint. I ordered their half sandwich, classic 3 cheese and tomato soup ($ 6.75). I’m so glad I ordered the half, because I was stuffed afterwards. It was delicious dunking my sandwich in the tomato soup.
The service was very friendly and the place was super clean. The parking is free for two hours in any of the parking garages, so don’t even worry about circling to find meter parking.
A lot of TLC put into the food here.

Meltdown is what it is. It’s a niche restaurant that serves grilled foods and does a great job with those grilled sandwiches. However, because it is only open for lunch and it is such a niche product, and because it appeals to the normal hipster crowd…
Well that is why you have to pay $ 12.50 for a grilled cheese with bacon and a coke when it’s all added up.
Is it good? Yes. Is it worth $ 12.50? No.
Get a loaf of bread, some cheese, and a clue. Put in a little effort with a frying pan and you’ll have the same sandwich for a much lower price. Take the $ 10 savings per meal and invest in a Williams and Sonoma panini maker after a year of doing it yourself. Much better investment.

I must confess that I liked my then-boyfriend’s sandwich better than mine. But, this place is good. I’m a stickler for grilled cheese, seeing as I come from a hilljack background. This place turns the traditional grilled cheese into gourmet. They even have brie! Faaaaancy!
Just come with a friend so that you can order while your friend beats someone over the head for a seat. Just kidding… kind of. They’re always full.

This place is the opposite of Las Vegas. By that I mean, it’s rarely open. I guess that grilled cheese sandwiches are exclusively lunch fare?
Anyhow, after pining away for this place but continuing to miss the narrow window frame of openness, my girlfriend and I finally managed to get here in time. Granted, it was a close call since it’s located off of the main Culver City drag around the corner from Starbucks, and we ended up sprinting (in that LA sauntering way) in just in the nick of time.
We ordered a yummy sandwich (I forget the name) that included pesto, eggplant, roasted red peppers, walnut, and fontina cheese. To call this masterpiece a grilled cheese is to call Pollack Van Gogh. This is pure bliss. It is heaven wrapped in crunchy bread with a much appreciated lightness. So many grilled cheeses feel like a concrete anchor when they’re in your stomach. This one just floats there.
Service is friendly and FAST. We ordered and within 3 minutes, we had our meal.
As a word of warning, Meltdown got the short end of the stick in terms of location. So if you’re a location, location, location person, then you’re going to want to take this to go as the mood on this end of Culver Boulevard is Death Valley dead.

Gossip Girl Here: Come on, fess up. Which one of you cut the cheese? Be honest now. It’s okay I promise because I actually like my cheese cut, especially when it’s from Meltdown Etc.
Forgive me if all my reviews start with, «So, my sister and I…» We just happen to eat together A LOT, and since until recently, she was also my roommate, ’twas with good reason.
So, my sister and I stopped into Meltdown Etc. over the weekend and got an instant laugh upon walking in. When my sister asked if they had a place for her to wash her hands, they invited her into the kitchen. Kind of random, but it was funny. Then she asked whether we could get our sandwiches for free if she washed some of their dishes and they all got a kick out of that. But yeah, no free sandwiches for us — dagnabit!
We both decided to go with the half-​sandwich and salad combo and have those cut in half so we could share. I ordered the ham, cheddar and apple butter one and my sister got the turkey, brie and cranberry melt. We also each grabbed a Calypso Black Cherry Lemonade, which was A-​MAZING! In regard to the sandwiches, mine was great and I’d totally get it again and in theory hers should have been too. But, neither of us particularly cared for hers, so I’ve decided to tell Meltdown Etc. that they should leave the turkey and cranberry combos to Thanksgiving dinner because they seriously missed the boat on this one — the Maria, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.
Next time, I’m up for trying one of the sweet melts because they all sounded fantastic or the tomato soup, which I’ve heard is great. So, it is by no means over between me and the Meltdown, even if their turkey, cranberry, brie «I wish I tasted good, but I don’t and totally suck» sandwich doesn’t cause my heart to melt.

Meltdown is the epitome of the high class grilled cheese.
And yes I will go back… for my grilled cheese with applewood bacon. But sparingly due to the high class-​ness haha.
My recommendations are the grilled cheese and the quesadilla

Mmmm. I thoroughly enjoyed my food here!
I ordered the 3 cheese grilled cheese with bacon and tomato. A friend had a side of tomato so and let me dip… YUM, heaven.
If i could visit LA longer, I’d probably go there again and try the other sandwiches. more specifically the ham, apple and cheddar; turkey melt, and italian deli.
we also got some pb&j as a dessert. but I keep smacking myself in the face for not asking for the nutella and bananas. YUMMMM.
The hours are weird, but I don’t care cause I don’t live there. The food is still great!

I had fairly high expectations of Meltdown before arriving since I’d had coworkers rave about it for so long. We finally made our way over for lunch and while the service was great and fast, and the food wasn’t bad, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit disappointed.
My 3 cheese sammich with chicken was ok, the tortilla soup far better. For me, the menu’s narrow focus on grilled cheese sandwiches is both it’s unique blessing and its bane. sometimes you just don’t want melty cheese. I’m sorry, but you just don’t! (Or maybe it’s the whole I’m lactose intolerant thing…)
If I worked closer to the area, I’m sure I’d stop by on occasion. There’s a ton of great food in the area though, so I suspect even if a 20 minute drive weren’t a factor, I’d probably still only go sparsely. If you’re down with the melty stuff, you’ll probably love the place. For me, it’s more of a once in a blue moon type of thing.

mmm… who can say no to a good grilled cheese sandwich? certainly not i. the melt down is wonderful. that blend of 3 cheeses is amazing, and their other sandwiches sound really good too (i stole a bite of my friend’s italian sandwich and it also did not disappoint)!
my only qualm is their hours… they’re only open til’ 3 and are closed on sundays.

As a child (and currently, as a «young» adult) I could never turn down a pb&j and a grilled cheese sammy. These items are classic childhood staples that I am always down to eat. Lucky for me I was able to indulge myself for lunch today with these items at Meltdown Etc.
The pb&j was good. Better than a Smucker’s Snacker but not better than my own, the pb&j held up. Nutty and fruity.
My grilled cheese with tomato was also good. My favorite part was the thick toasted sourdough bread and the three cheeses. My least favorite part was the oily greasy mess on my plate, napkins and fingers. Oh my!
Overall a decent lunch that could have been made myself if I was ready, willing and able… hmm. which I’m not. So, Meltdown as an alternative was great! Could have done without the oil and grease, but who can say no to a pb&j and grilled cheese sammy???

Fontina, Cheddar, Muenster on wheat (my substitution) = TASTY.
Minus one star for the oil floater on my tomato soup. Clearly I can throw down some cheese and not get all pouty about it. But I order tomato soup to count as a vegetable, not to add 400 calories to the meal.
Great selection of beverages including coca cola in a bottle — which EVERYONE knows is far superior than in its lesser fountain or plastic bottled successors.
This was good but as Sinead says — when put up against grilled cheese night at Campanile, nothing compares. And she should know, she eats her dinner in a fancy restaurant.

A mixed salad, classic grilled cheese with bacon, and a green tea for $ 15 bucks! Holy crap. Though my stomach was satisfied, my soul felt hollow when my wallet was raped by a grilled cheese sandwich. Not to say it wasn’t tasty, but come on, I think they’re using a George Foreman Grill in the back. And I’m not discounting the cheese they use… but really, 15 bucks?
While 20 bucks a month feeds some starving kid in Chile, 20 bucks here will get you 3 grilled cheese sandwiches… so, how does your soul feel now?

There’s just something about comfort food like grilled cheese sandwiches that give me the warm fuzzies. I’m just reminded of growing up as a kid and having my Mom making them as a snack. She even would cut the crusts for me. What a great mom!
But now I’m all grown up and I appreciate that Meltdown offers grilled cheese sandwiches that are grown up as well with cheeses and ingredients that go beyond the American processed plastic wrapped cheese of days gone by.
For my first time meal there, a friend of mine and I ordered a variety of items to share. Let’s talk sandwiches. First up was the Market Melt, which had herbed goat cheese, fontina cheese, grilled Farmer’s Market vegetables, caramelized onions, walnut pesto on ciabatta bread. For this particular sandwich, the vegetables which were fresh, delicious and crisp were the real stars of the show with the other ingredients, including the cheese playing supporting roles.
When you’re able to take advantage of locally grown produce, it doesn’t make sense to overpower those seasonal flavors with too many other ingredients. You really have to find a good balance of flavors. With the Market Melt, the sweetness of the onions, the nutty flavor of the walnut pesto, the slight pungency and saltiness of the two cheeses enhanced and not overwhelmed the vegetables’ natural flavors. That’s how it should be and that’s why this sandwich was such a bit hit with me.
The second sandwich we tried was the Classic 3 Cheese with the Applewood Bacon. The three cheeses were the sharp cheddar, muenster and fontina, all on a sourdough bread. When this sandwich arrived, the cheese was already oozing out of the bread. It was actually a little messy and oily to eat, but I still loved every bite. How can you not love biting off strings of oooey-​gooey cheese from your sandwich?
Along with the savory grilled sandwiches, there are also what Meltdown refers to as «Sweet Melts» and course, we had to try one of those and we settled for the Brie & Apricot Melt. Wow! What a great dessert sandwich! The smooth creaminess of the brie cheese combined with the tart-​sweetness of the apricots and than you throw in the nuttiness of the walnut bread was a perfect marriage of flavors.
Along with the sandwiches, we also ordered a couple of sides. One was the Fennel-​Red Onion Slaw, which I found cool, refreshing and crunchy. My only one little complaint is that there was just too much dill, but other than that, it’s a delicious salad. The other side was a special soup for the day, a cold potato leek soup with spring garlic. The soup had a nice herb flavor to it, but I didn’t really taste any garlic, so that was the only thing I found lacking.
In general, I think the food is fantastic at Meltdown etc and I look forward to returning and trying other items from their menu really soon.
To see pics, go to: