Foodie News

The cheesiest sandwich of all: Where to find the best grilled cheese for thisnational holiday

The Grazing Mind
Cheese Sandwich

If you search the Internet, you'll find that every day has been assigned a random food holiday. If you have bad luck, like I do, your birthday falls on something super lame like National Mustard Day (sorry, mustard fans) instead of a holiday celebrating pastries or burgers or doughnuts or, yum, pie.

I'll put National Grilled Cheese Day — celebrated on April 12 — as one of the good food days. What is more simple and more delicious than the combo of melted cheese and toasted bread? That's something to celebrate.

Of course, not all grilled cheese is created equal. Here are our five favorites around town:

5. Shepherd Park Draught House

The mixture of cheddar and Swiss on the Grilled Cheese O.D. really takes me back to the sandwiches of my childhood, with a creamy tomato bisque on the side.

4. Bernie's Burger Bus

It's hard to hit up the bus and not order one of the incredible burgers, but Bernie also offers a grilled cheese dubbed the Recess, made of sourdough bread and cheddar cheese with optional add-ons like tomato, avocado, mushrooms, caramelized onions or a fried egg. Who needs beef?

3. Pinewood Café

If you want a grilled cheese done right, you've got to design the perfect combo yourself, which is why the make-your-own grilled cheese menu at Pinewood Café inside Hermann Park is so genius. I'm partial to a jalepeño cheddar bread with chicken, pico de gallo, pepper jack and cheddar cheese.

2. Max's Wine Dive

Thick brioche toast goes toe to toe with oozy gruyere and provolone in a battle to win over your taste buds, with a hint of heat from red bell pepper pimiento. The cup of tomato soup on the side is great — grilled cheese and tomato soup go together in a comfort food duo like cookies and milk.

1. Ladybird Food Truck

If you are going to name something after yourself, it better be awesome. Luckily the LadyBird grilled cheese, made of cheddar, Texas goat cheese, Brooklyn ricotta, green tomatoes and a side of pickled okra remoulade, does not disappoint. Oh, how it does not disappoint.

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NYT best dishes

Houston Mediterranean restaurant makes NY Times' best desserts list

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen is the only Houston restaurant on either list.

The New York Times included four Texas restaurants among its favorite dishes of 2025. Divided into two lists — The 23 Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 and The 14 Best Restaurant Desserts We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 — the dishes are:

Bad Honey Bunny at Mercado Sin Nombre (Austin)
Ketan Hitam at Yeni’s Fusion (Austin)
Konafa Naama at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen (Houston)
Picadillo Macaroni and Cheese at 2M Smokehouse (San Antonio)

Times food writer Priya Krishna, who authors the entries for all four Texas dishes, traveled to far west Houston to visit Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen. “The konafa, a signature here, arrives with a molten layer of cheese under a sticky-sweet layer of golden, nutty semolina. The craft is evident, the konafa gone in a few bites,” she writes.

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen Konafa Naama Don't skip dessert at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen.KSayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

In Austin, Krishna praises the rice pudding at Yeni’s Fusion. “This barely sweet version, lush with coconut milk, aromatic with pandan and as soothing as warm porridge, is the gentlest way to end a meal,” she states.

Already hailed as one of America’s best breakfast spots by Bon Appetit, Krishna singles out a honeybun at Mercado Sin Nombre. “The coiled honey bun at this semi-clandestine cafe looks almost cartoonishly perfect, and the heady scent of cardamom and honey hits you before you even take a bite. Somehow, it tastes every bit as plush and elegant as it appears,” she writes.

The picadillo mac and cheese at 2M Smokehouse showcases how the San Antonio restaurant incorporates Mexican flavors into traditional Texas barbecue. “Imagine Hamburger Helper, but spicier, punchier and even more luxuriously creamy. It’s not easy to one-up the singular, thickly spiced brisket here, but the picadillo mac and cheese — which runs as an occasional special — holds its own and then some,” Krishna writes.

The New York Times regularly shines its spotlight on Texas restaurants, In September, it named four establishments — ChòpnBlọk (Houston), Isidore (San Antonio), Lao’d Bar (Austin), and P Thai’s Khao Man Gai & Noodles (Austin) — to its list of America’s 50 Best Restaurants.

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