Hammontree’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese has been wildly successful up in Fayetteville since opening a few years back, packing ’em in to the point that the wait for a table is often considerable. It’s easy to see why: a restaurant that focuses all its energies on perfecting and elevating the humble grilled cheese to high art sounds like a license to print Bitcoin in a college town.

Now we’ll get to see if a similar cheesy combination will work in Little Rock, with this month’s opening of The Main Cheese, a grilled cheese-centric restaurant coming to a space at 14524 Cantrell Road. Their sign is already up, and they’ve got a target opening date of late February.

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Baby, it’s cold outside, which makes their menu (which can be seen at their website, themaincheese.com) look even better: several varieties of gourmet cheese on artisan bread, griddled to perfection, plus salads, sandwiches (their take on the Cuban pork sandwich sounds tasty), soups, appetizers and desserts. The menu looks simple and easy to navigate, like a good grilled cheese. Bonus: Their storefront will be right next to 10 Fitness, so after downing a golden-brown slab of butter, bread and Fontina, you can go over and sweat out the guilt. 

A press release says that the restaurant will feature locally-sourced breads and other ingredients, and meats roasted in house. The restaurant is the brainchild of five investors, including Randall Van Den Berghe, who said: “There’s not too many food concepts that remind you of being a child, yet go well with wine.” 

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The restaurant will reportedly host several “soft openings” during February, leading up to the grand opening at the end of the month. Those itchin’ to get their grilled cheese on can follow the restaurant on Facebook at facebook.com/themaincheese to keep abreast of when they’ll be offering up those sneak peeks. 

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