Five Star Grilled Cheese

Madison, Wisconsin

Thanks to a hot tip, we didn't leave Madison without visiting Café Soleil just across from the state capitol building.

I had to order "Wisconsin's Own Grilled Cheese", which took grilled cheese up a level -- or four or five. Toasty in-house whole grain bread with seeds sprinkled throughout to give it some pop, is grilled on both sides to a crispy, buttery perfection.

Your teeth break through the crunchy toast, passing the buttery flavor on to your tongue first, descending next through the 1-year aged Hook's Cheddar, whose density offers up just enough resistance to send that sharp-salty rich flavor to your brain a millisecond before the soft, warmed sliced tomato follows it with an acid kick - it doesn't get much better than when grilled cheddar meets tomato in this neighborhood.

But wait, there's more, Hook's Swiss and Farmer John's Provolone slathered in sautéed sweet onions - this bite was reminiscent of wonderfully rich french onion soup with a gratin of cheese and toast on top. The sandwich came with a whole grain mustard dipping sauce whose mustard grains were toasted and crushed right before being blended with house made mayonnaise - at least it had the creamy richness and intense mustard tang that I can't imagine you can get any other way.

While waiting for our sandwiches, we tried an herbed goat cheese croissant and said "oh, wow" at the first bite. The herbs were intense, the goat cheese perfection and the pastry did not make any mistakes. I had to follow that up with a rosemary cheddar brioche, in the classic fluted shape. This tasty cloud of perfectly done buttery break melted in your mouth while the rosemary and cheddar sent taste telegrams to your brain.

Clearly, the ingredients were of the highest quality and as fresh as picking them from your own garden, while the talent in putting it all together had to be formidable as well.

My five stars for Café Soleil come from marrying ingredients that were stellar to textures that were perfectly balanced - the brioche was airy and rich, the mustard velvety and saucy -- to flavors that popped like fireworks, concentrated and brilliant. jv