The Irvine Spectrum outpost of The Melt–a San Francisco-based grilled cheese chain founded by Silicon Valley types and James Beard recipient Michael Mina–was the first in OC. Now another one is planned for the Tustin side of The Marketplace.
As I described in a review of the Irvine Spectrum spot: “The Melt operates in a fast-food-minded assembly line. Three industrial-sized panini presses that resemble repurposed Wall-E robots do most of the hard work. They automatically flip open, beeping, when the sandwiches are done. The sandwiches are then halved, placed into a basket with a fistful of potato chips that taste suspiciously like an off-brand knock-off of Lays, then served in a white room with metal stools. A single spigot dispenses three flavors of cane sugar-sweetened soda.”
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This second OC spot will be located next to Which Wich and a few doors down from where an Piadina, another sandwich joint is also planned.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.
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