Vegetarian Delights of NYC: Saxelby Cheesemongers' Grilled Cheese Curd Sandwich

Where curds and kimchi meet and mingle.

For those of us who spent a certain portion of last summer consuming Anne Saxelby's grilled cheese sandwiches at the Brooklyn Flea, the news that she would not return for this season's market was cause for, if not mourning, then certainly disappointment. So the cheesemonger's appearance at Sunday's New Amsterdam Market, sandwiches in tow, was a decidedly welcome one.

While last year's sandwiches used Pawlet, a raw cow's milk cheese from Consider Bardwell Farm, and spicy pickles, this year's crop uses cow's milk cheese curds and Mother in Law's Kimchi. Pressed into a length of focaccia, the cheese and kimchi meld together into a spicy, fatty mass. The mild, slightly buttery flavor of the curds makes a perfect consort for the fiery vegetables, with the latter cutting through the fat enough to prevent the concoction from becoming too heavy for a sweltering summer day. Eaten behind a scrim of humidity, it's less a $7 sandwich than a fever dream, and you may not want to wake up.

Saxelby Cheesemongers will next be at New Amsterdam on July 24. The rest of the time, Anne Saxelby -- and a selection of cheese sandwiches -- can be found in the Essex Street Market.

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