The Midnight Special
A perfect Phony White Negroni pairing.
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The Midnight Special
By Paul Hagopian
The bars I like all have the same stuff. Dudes that identify as “aspiring documentary filmmakers.” Elevated densities of dime-sized stick and pokes, eBay-procured NASCAR merch, and blisters (often on the heel, always from loafers). Natural wine. Budweiser. Bottles of anything dark and bitter. And, for reasons I’ve yet to deduce, transcendent grilled cheeses.
Of the half dozen haunts that match the above criteria, there are two whose ability to Melt Cheese Between Bread levitates above the rest—and since one of them (the better one) routinely buys Phony Negroni, we’ll consolidate focus onto Bed Stuy’s Doris.
The too dark, too loud, too crowded bar’s best interpretation of cheese (grilled) slides gruyere, caramelized onion, and whole grain mustard between two pieces of sourdough. It’s decidedly rich, ostensibly French, and—without question—the best bite to have in tandem with a frigid, white Negroni.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the exact recipe for Doris’s grilled cheese. (This is primarily, if not exclusively, because I couldn’t stomach inquiring, “so, um, how many minutes exactly do you toast each side?”) But that’s fine for a few reasons: One, is that, despite its greatness, we’re still talking about a grilled cheese—something even that bozo Nate could get right. If you know the ingredients (see above), you’ll get most of the way there. Two, my grandma can help you.
Seriously. For some reason, at some point in the 20th century, my grandmother transcribed a recipe for what she called, “The Midnight Special,” a grilled cheese loaded with onion, mustard, cheddar, plus dried oregano and dill. Here it is:
Sure, it’s not gruyere. Yes, the onions are raw. But the vibes—the vibes are accessible. Everything you need is sitting in your kitchen. Meaning, you can and should and will actually make The Midnight Special. This week, for professional research, I did.
My review: It bangs. And, much like the one at Doris, it bangs even harder alongside bright, cold, and bitter. In this case, a Phony White Negroni. Cheers.
WATCH: A Garnish Followup
In a followup to pondering how one should garnish their negroni, we blind tasted six “expert approved” methods. You can observe our findings here:
