FOODlog #336: Open-face Grilled Cheese Sandwich

One of our new items on the menu that we've been doing R&D the past 2 months is a "Croque Madame'. It's a French dish that is basically an open-face sandwich topped with ham, Dijon mustard, bechamel sauce, Gouda cheese and a sunny side-up fried egg.

We are doing a not so traditional one that we replace the Gouda with colby-jack cheese which has a mild and smooth to lightly sweet to sharp and tangy taste. A more complex range of flavor compared to Gouda which is mild.

We also don't serve pork at the cafe so we use beef pastrami instead for the meat of choice. Asides from the meat and cheese, everything is of a traditional Croque Madame and everything paired together is a wonderful medley of flavors and textures that's perfect for breakfast.

It's not a popular dish yet at the cafe but there have been a few customers that we've noticed is their go-to breakfast dish now.

A simple dish to make but has quite a bit of components to it to make it perfect.

One of the failed R&Ds turned out to looked really nice which I melted and toasted some cheddar and Gouda till it was golden brown and broke it up into shards. Topped it on the open-face sandwich which had the bechamel sauce and it looked so good.

What do you think? Failed one or successful one would be your pick for breakfast?