Dee-Lite
24 Washington Avenue
Grand Haven, MI 49417
Name: Grilled Apple-Pesto-Cheese
Ingredients: Smoked Gouda, caramelized Fuji apples, basil pesto, and bibb lettuce on grilled ciabatta bread
Sides: Ruffle potato chips and a pickle
Price: $7.95
Thoughts: I must admit, even now I'm still a bit stumped on this one. (Obvi-I haven't posted in FOR-E-VER. This stop happened at the beginning of June..but I have at least 3 reviews pending, so sit tight, okay?!) This might be one of the strangest grilled cheeses I've tasted yet. The apples are the kind that tasted, if mashed, like homemade apple sauce-sweet and warm fresh from bathing in a bit of cinnamon sugar. Great on their own, for sure, and mushed up would make a delicious apple sauce for babies (or maybe a pie!) but on this sandwich, I think there was WAY too much. The cheese got lost under the apple taste. The few times it did pop out though, the combo was a good match-smoky serious gouda and silly sweet apples. The pesto was neat because it created a whole new flavor in the mix, kind of herbal-y and garlicky. The whole time I think my brain was trying to figure out if it was pretty revolutionary or if I didn't care for it. The lettuce was totally irrelevant and almost took away from the flavors of the sandwich, cheapened it. However, the bread held up pretty well to that floppy mountain of cinna-apples. I think in the end, I didn't really dig it. Much too sweet for a grilled cheese. Perhaps if there was a better balance of ingredients-less apples-then it would probably be decent. I'm sure there are those out there that would disagree.
So, Grand Haven. It was actually my first time there. GH is one of the places to go to the beach in this area and that was one of the first real scorchers of the summer. At least in GR. But by the time I got to the "Third-Coast" of Lake Michigan, it was quite cooler and windy. I ate a lot of sand while determined to develop my tan laying on the beach. All that sand worked up a real appetite so I went exploring to one of the main streets of town. It was your typical adorable, quaint, summer Michigan towns with unique shops and restaurants and a fantastic boardwalk to the lighthouse. I looked at a lot of menus and thought to myself, "spontaneous grilled cheese tour stop!" Sun, breezes, an outdoor patio and Lake Michigan+a GC=a great afternoon.
Score: ◤◤1/2
*Bonus: Holy huge glass of wine! They sure didn't skimp on the Pinot Grigio. To the brim, I say!
(Note to reader: The wine had been sipped already at the time this photo was taken.)
(To the bottom-my thumb, besides my hand above, the only shot of me in this entire review.)
