Time for Cheese
People enjoy second annual Melt N’ Toast event in Troy on Saturday
TROY, N.Y. – Melt N’ Toast hosted its second annual Capital Region grilled cheese festival at Takk House in Troy Saturday.
The event brought out people from around the community and local vendors, all enjoying fun times with grilled cheese, drinks and even a little competition.
“When you look at fall events and different ideas for food, people think about a soup stroll, a wing walk, but there’s never been a grilled cheese festival so Ty [Versocki] and I last year thought, well what a wonderful place to do this in Upstate New York, where you have fun cold weather and who doesn’t love a great grilled cheese sandwich?” Joe Bonilla said of the thought behind the event. “So we were able to work with Takk House in Troy with Heidi and Frank to really make this happen. We’ve had some wonderful vendors, a few that have come back again and we look forward to bring this back here again next year as well.”
“I love the fact that every type of holiday no matter what it is, food is always the main focal point in what brings people together, no matter who
you are, race, gender, no matter what it’s a staple in the community of food and that’s what we try to bring, to try to bring the community together no matter who you are, where you’re from,” Tyleigh Versocki said of the community theme. “It’s a beautiful thing that it’s growing and it keeps growing.”
Among the local vendors in attendance were Slidin’ Dirty, The City Beer Hall, Muddaddy Flats, Pig N’ Whistle on Broadway, C.H. Evans Brewing at the Albany Pump Station, and Ama Cocina.
“Every one of these restaurants is a local restaurant within the Capital Region. We use local vendors from Nine Pin Cider out of Albany, Chatham Brewing out of Chatham, we work with a wine distributor that’s based out of Troy, so everything we do has a focus on local and obviously giving back to the community in that respect,” Bonilla said of the local feel.
“People love the inside venue. Vendors love it because it’s an opportunity to highlight what they provide for their restaurants. It’s feel-good, it’s win-winwin for everybody, for the consumers, vendors and us,” Bonilla added.
Bonilla also spoke about the competition aspect of the event.
“We have two awards, judge’s cheese, and people’s cheese, people’s cheese is voted on by ballots, basically anybody who comes through the door can vote on their favorite vendor and grilled cheese sandwich and then we have a judge’s cheese that’s been organized by our sponsor YELP, they’ll come in and vote for what they feel is the best curatorial sandwich we have here,” Bonilla said of the competition showcasing of area chefs.
“It eats like a meal with all of your major food groups. It’s delicious, it has mac n’ cheese, pulled pork, bacon, pickled onions, avocado, barbecue sauce, and pepper jack cheese on sourdough bread,” Jean Geraghty, the mother of Tim, who owns Slidin’ Dirty, said of their grilled cheese concoction.
“We did it last year too, we knew it was such a fun thing to do around this time of the year. November is one of those months where you need a little encouragement to get out so it’s fun,” Geraghty said of the opportunity to bring people out for a fun event.
Other vendors also discussed why they wanted to participate in the annual event and what they showcased during it.
“Today we’ve got a hoppy grilled cheese it’s a blend of American and Muenster cheese with falconers flight hop which is a seven hop blend. We’ve infused the cheese with those hops with some nice hearty white bread and we paired it with a creamy tomato bisque,” C.H. Evans Brewing Co. Executive Chef Ian O’Leary said of their grilled cheese creation.
“For us it’s something to showcase our talents, Sam’s [Pagano] our new brewer with C.H. Evans and I’m the new Executive Chef there so we’re trying to get out and show people what we do a little bit more in the community,” O’Leary added of being part of the event.
Bonilla said that he is happy to see that people enjoy the event.
“I think the walkability of it being here in Troy and the connectivity to local. People love cheese and to drink in the fall and the comfort feel. It’s something where you tie in together, an indoor venue, grilled cheese, beer, cider, and wine and you have a great time, how can you lose?” added Bonilla.