It seems the chefs at Clinton Hall operate under a you say jump, we say how high mentality. They're game to elevate any gastropub classic — say, a burger with fries — into a social media spectacle. Case in point: The fan-favorite Fondue Burger comes with the requisite French fries, they're just arranged like a crown in a pool of melted cheese that fills a hole in the top bun. So when it came time to add a grilled cheese and tomato soup combo to the menu, the Clinton Hall team jumped high — really, really high.
The spot's donut grilled cheese isn't a funny play on words or an ode to a kitschy shape. Chefs actually slice a glazed donut in half, pile shredded mozzarella on top, and heat it on a griddle until you can't tell where the sugar stops and the cheese begins. The whole thing is then placed on a banana holder — the sandwich's hole hooks right onto the peg — so it hangs over a mini saucepan filled with roasted tomato soup. And when gravity takes over, the still-steaming cheese oozes out from between the donut halves and into the soup.
It's the kind of instant hit that breaks the internet and wreaks havoc on a busy kitchen. When Clinton Hall launched the novelty grilled cheese, they consistently sold out within ten minutes of opening and management had to hire a new employee just to answer the phone that was suddenly ringing off the hook. Since then, the sandwich and soup combo has seen multiple iterations, once as a sour cream-and-onion donut over potato soup and again as a habanero-glazed donut stuffed with bacon. But classicists don't need to worry: Clinton Hall's chefs couldn't take the beloved original off the menu even if they wanted to.
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