Grilled cheese vies to be the greatest thing on sliced bread

— -- Perhaps nothing says comfort quite like a grilled cheese sandwich. The classic treat of childhood evokes memories of after-school snacks and Saturday lunch treats.

These days, the humble sandwich has been making its way onto menus of well-heeled restaurants, and it isn't the simple sandwich your mother used to make. Restaurants from Las Vegas to Seattle to New York incorporate ingredients such as truffles, Chardonnay, foie gras butter and fried duck eggs into their fromage creations.

"It's a feel-good thing," says Ashley James, executive chef for the perpetually celebrity-studded restaurant inside Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills.

"There's a lot of psychological things going on when you eat a grilled cheese sandwich. It reminds you of being a kid, of the simple things in life. You feel good all over."

At Ohio's Melt Bar & Grilled, the entire menu is dedicated to nothing but decadent grilled cheeses.

"I have 32 versions," says Matt Fish, who opened Melt in Lakewood, a Cleveland suburb, two years ago. "We take people's basic perceptions of the grilled cheese and blow it out of the water."

His philosophy: Start with a good foundation. In this case, thickly cut Texas toast made daily by a local baker. Then he piles on so much cheese and specialty ingredients that some sandwiches measure 5 inches high.

A favorite is the big popper (inspired by the appetizer jalapeño popper): herb cream cheese and sharp cheddar, "blended" with grilled jalapeños, poured onto bread, then smothered in beer batter and deep fried. It's then topped with powdered sugar and served with a side of blueberry syrup for dipping.

"He does glorious things with cheese and bread," says customer Mike Dainis, who gets a weekly sandwich fix. "It's got just the perfect kick to it."

Back at the Four Seasons, James created his adult-themed grilled cheese only after his celebrity clientele began requesting the kiddie-menu sandwich for themselves.

Now, children still get the white-bread-and-cheddar version. "If it gets too fancy, the kids send it back," James says. But grown-ups get a mix of mature cheddar, Swiss and parmesan emulsified in a few black truffles and truffle oil, served on brioche, grilled, and dabbed with Dijon mustard. The sandwich also carries a grown-up price tag of $19.