Hi-Ho, The Dairy-O, The Chef Takes The Cheese

One of the best grilled cheese you will ever have. Photo by Carey Sweet.

Chef John Ash was looking for something different when he planned his brand new booth for the Windsor Farmer’s Market. And he found it in a most ordinary food.

At his new Hot Cheese, debuted last Thursday, grilled cheese sandwiches take center stage. As in that molten, melty classic of everyone’s childhood, buttered bread and cheese slapped on a grill.

This being John Ash, however, these aren’t everyday grilled cheeses.  Certainly not the Velveeta-margarine-bargain bread beasts my mother cooked for me when I was a child, plopping the things on a pancake griddle then pressing the heavy lid, meaning the sandwiches emerged flat and brittle enough to slip under a door, and burned nearly black.

And certainly not the horrors my childhood friend endured from her Midwestern-born mother. This cruel woman fried flabby sheets of bologna, then stuck it between slices of squishy Wonder Bread slathered in Miracle Whip, yellow mustard, sweet relish and ketchup. She doused the mess in clouds of aerosol can cheese, wrapped the monstrosity in tin foil, and set it under a clothes iron to steam.

No, with Ash as a renowned chef, author, and food and wine educator, these sandwiches are special, crafted of Petaluma’s Springhill cheeses on Penngrove’s Full Circle Baking Co. bread.

The set-up sits in a simple white vinyl tent, tucked along the main drag of Windsor’s enormously popular (read, packed to the gills) market. You’ll pay a bit more for the honor of munching an artisan melt – a classic cheese is $7 and a specialty sandwich is $9. And you’ll wait a

Clare Dunleavy at the Windsor Farmers Market for some hot cheese. Photo by Carey Sweet.

while – when I visited, the line was deep, and Ash, assisted by chef Ian Christopher, was scrambling. It took perhaps ten minutes from ordering to eating, with the

Grilled cheese shares the stage with a delicious reuben. Photo by Carey Sweet.

chefs assembling ingredients, carefully tending the flat metal sheets resting atop portable grills, then cutting the sandwiches into artistic triangles.

“Did they forget about us?” asked one puzzled customer, brightening when, in the next second, Ash handed her the food.

But prepare to be pleased. The classic is packed so thick that it oozes thick puddles onto the paper plate. It’s a blend of six cheeses, and not only will Ash not divulge the mix, he swears he doesn’t know what it is. True? Doubtful. Though he has partnered with Santa Rosa Junior College instructor Mei Ibach and Park Avenue Catering owner Bruce Riezenman, Ash is in control of his kitchen.

He smiled, beaming beneath his baseball cap and smoothing his Hawaiian shirt over his blue jeans. “Okay. I say that so no can torture the secret out of me.”

The classic comes with a small cup of heirloom tomato soup that’s thick and rich and spicy and topped with a swirl of salsa verde, plus a side of pickled vegetables and some fresh orange. You get a spoon, but Ash said seriously, as he passed me the plate, “You do know to dunk the sandwich in the soup, right?”

Head to the Windsor Farmers Market for a taste of Hot Cheese. Photo by Carey Sweet.

For a sweeter bite, Ash spreads creamy Bellwether Carmody with quince paste and tops it with crunchy applewood smoked bacon. A Reuben is rich, layered with shaved pastrami, Jack, a bit of sauerkraut and a drenching of butter, so the bread sizzles to a crunchy edge finished in whole grain mustard.

Then, there’s a quesadilla ($8.50), the corn tortilla stuffed with cheese, roasted vegetables and avocado salsa. On the side: orange jicama slaw ($3), and a dessert of Bruce’s Famous Brownies ($3), enormously chocolately, fudgy and soft like cake.

Wash it down with Mei’s fresh tamarind-citrus punch, cucumber water ($3), or wine and beer from the market’s vendors.

Details: Hot Cheese is served at the Thursday night market at Windsor Town Green through August 26, from 5 to 8 p.m. Ash is also experimenting with other venues, including the Gravenstein Apple Fair at Ragle Ranch Park in Sebastopol, being held August 14 and 15, plus local jazz festivals. Check his website for details, at thebestgrilledcheese.com.