Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Mad Munch now grills cheeses six days a week on Newport Avenue

OB Farmers Market mainstay gets a storefront to ply its grilled cheese artistry

A peanut butter and jelly mozzarella grilled cheese
A peanut butter and jelly mozzarella grilled cheese
Place

Mad Munch Grilled Cheezer Co.

4871-B Newport Ave, San Diego

It’s been over six years since I started encountered a booth slinging memorable grilled cheese sandwiches at local farmers markets. Back then, Zach Heinz and his then girlfriend Kate Uhle were operating the Mad Munch Grilled Cheezers Co. part time, on top of their day jobs. But in the past few years the now-married couple has made the business their main gig. And effective last summer, Mad Munch got a place of its own, on Newport Avenue.

Sponsored
Sponsored
A baked potato with all the fixins, but in grilled sandwich form

It’s a fitting location for a grilled cheese business that seemed most at home at the OB Farmers market. Just a small counter shop next door to OB Hardware, the fixed location Mad Munch offers two dozen different takes on the grilled cheese, including daily specials and weekend breakfast sandwiches.

A small shop tucked into Newport Avenue

Purists will find a straight up melted cheese sandwich, the O.B. Cheezer (7), blending cheddar, colby jack, and mozzarella, grilled on sourdough with a seasoned compound butter. But what mad Munch is known for kicking this classic version up a notch by adding all kinds of cheese-friendly ingredients, including but not limited to pickle chips, avocado, roast beef, and mashed potatoes.

Just a counter and limited seating, but a step up from farmers markets.

As I learned while visiting the shop, cheese-friendly ingredients can include peanut butter and raspberry jam. At least, they join mozzarella on the After School Special ($7). Mad Munch serves its sandwiches in a sort of small pizza box, cut into four, and the sight of elastic mozzarella strands stretching between quarters while creamy peanut butter and purple jam ooze out the sides of the buttery grilled bread convince the eyes it can be done. What a delicious hybrid of two childhood favorites. I usually prefer creamy, but can't help wonder what crunchy peanut butter could do to this sandwich.

I had another positive experience with Kater’s Taters, a mashed up of a grilled cheese and baked potato. A hash brown patty joins cheddar and Monterey Jack, the potato followed by sour cream and chives. In place of bacon bits, strips of bacon complete the package. It’s impossible to hate this. The PB&J grilled cheese may not be a great candidate to dunk in the house tomato soup ($3), but this one sure is.

So would the roast beef and salami Zach Daddy ($8), the tomato and avocado T&A ($7), or the goat cheese and pesto Totes MaGoats ($7). This is basically a place you can order grilled cheese to suit your mood, then take it out to a picnic table to nosh and take in one of the great OB pastimes: people watching.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Now what can they do with Encinitas unstable cliffs?

Make the cliffs fall, put up more warnings, fine beachgoers?
Next Article

Five new golden locals

San Diego rocks the rockies
A peanut butter and jelly mozzarella grilled cheese
A peanut butter and jelly mozzarella grilled cheese
Place

Mad Munch Grilled Cheezer Co.

4871-B Newport Ave, San Diego

It’s been over six years since I started encountered a booth slinging memorable grilled cheese sandwiches at local farmers markets. Back then, Zach Heinz and his then girlfriend Kate Uhle were operating the Mad Munch Grilled Cheezers Co. part time, on top of their day jobs. But in the past few years the now-married couple has made the business their main gig. And effective last summer, Mad Munch got a place of its own, on Newport Avenue.

Sponsored
Sponsored
A baked potato with all the fixins, but in grilled sandwich form

It’s a fitting location for a grilled cheese business that seemed most at home at the OB Farmers market. Just a small counter shop next door to OB Hardware, the fixed location Mad Munch offers two dozen different takes on the grilled cheese, including daily specials and weekend breakfast sandwiches.

A small shop tucked into Newport Avenue

Purists will find a straight up melted cheese sandwich, the O.B. Cheezer (7), blending cheddar, colby jack, and mozzarella, grilled on sourdough with a seasoned compound butter. But what mad Munch is known for kicking this classic version up a notch by adding all kinds of cheese-friendly ingredients, including but not limited to pickle chips, avocado, roast beef, and mashed potatoes.

Just a counter and limited seating, but a step up from farmers markets.

As I learned while visiting the shop, cheese-friendly ingredients can include peanut butter and raspberry jam. At least, they join mozzarella on the After School Special ($7). Mad Munch serves its sandwiches in a sort of small pizza box, cut into four, and the sight of elastic mozzarella strands stretching between quarters while creamy peanut butter and purple jam ooze out the sides of the buttery grilled bread convince the eyes it can be done. What a delicious hybrid of two childhood favorites. I usually prefer creamy, but can't help wonder what crunchy peanut butter could do to this sandwich.

I had another positive experience with Kater’s Taters, a mashed up of a grilled cheese and baked potato. A hash brown patty joins cheddar and Monterey Jack, the potato followed by sour cream and chives. In place of bacon bits, strips of bacon complete the package. It’s impossible to hate this. The PB&J grilled cheese may not be a great candidate to dunk in the house tomato soup ($3), but this one sure is.

So would the roast beef and salami Zach Daddy ($8), the tomato and avocado T&A ($7), or the goat cheese and pesto Totes MaGoats ($7). This is basically a place you can order grilled cheese to suit your mood, then take it out to a picnic table to nosh and take in one of the great OB pastimes: people watching.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Syrian treat maker Hakmi Sweets makes Dubai chocolate bars

Look for the counter shop inside a Mediterranean grill in El Cajon
Next Article

In-n-Out alters iconic symbol to reflect “modern-day California”

Keep Palm and Carry On?
Comments
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
March 9, 2020
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader