SLO Down for This Savory Grilled Cheese Festival

GRILLED CHEESE? It's a tummy-filling pleasure first thing in the morning, when you're craving something like toast, but warmer and meltier with a strong dairy component. At dinner, the grilled cheese is the ultimate comfort food, a day-ender that says, with each chewy bite, that there's no reason to fret over what you could have done differently. But, truly and forever, grilled cheese is a middle-of-the-day staple, a lunchtime, teatime, anytime taste that is quick, satisfying, and as simple as simply saying the words "cheese" and "bread." To honor the grilled cheese's luscious legacy, and to shine some sweetness on local restaurants, there is the SLO Grilled Cheese Festival, a multi-week happening in, you got it, San Luis Obispo. But the charming Central Coast town isn't throwing an old-school, day-long, booth-laden party for grilled cheeses. Rather...

THIS FESTIVAL... is all about grilled cheese lovers calling upon eateries of SLO, in order to help them as they recover from pandemic closures and the challenges faced since the spring of 2020. How to participate in the festival, which marvelously melts right through to the end of June 2021? Simply look on this site, find the restaurants that are grilling cheesy sandwiches, visit and purchase the sandwiches that tempt you, and share your meal on social media (with the all-important tags, of course). Oh yes: And there are categories to vote in, too, including Best Twisted Grilled Cheese. Restorative Partners, which seeks to "... transform lives impacted by crime through healing services and relationships in San Luis Obispo County," is the organization behind the kind, restaurant-helping effort.

THINKING OF A ROAD TRIP... with a stop in SLO? Stop for a grilled cheese, and lend some lunchtime love to a local eatery, through June 30. The delish details may be found here.