16 must-try melty cheese menu items

The words “melting pot” may sound cliché to describe cheese dishes, but in this case it’s highly accurate. Bubbly, melty cheese menu items cross cultural lines with an ease that chefs find super appealing. Not to mention the way customers crave cheese, too. There’s something about a melting queso dip or stretchy grilled cheese sandwich that beckons like no other.

As winter wears on, menus are warming up with many cool interpretations of menu items that make the most of melted cheese, including queso, nachos, grilled cheese sandwiches, paneer dishes, mac ‘n cheese, kanafeh, fondue, fundido and more. Adding protein, veggies and aromatics shake up the flavor and open a world of possibilities for chefs ready to experiment in advanced melt-ology. To get you started, we’ve found Mexican queso blanco, a Cali grilled cheese with tri-tip steak, mac ‘n cheese with Buffalo chicken, pulled pork nachos with a Tex Mex-NC barbecue fusion vibe, an intriguing Middle Eastern dessert called kanafeh and much more.