The Quattro Fromaggio: $4.49

When it comes to cooking, it behooves a chef to master the basics and build up from there.

In the world of hot sandwiches, the cornerstone is the grilled cheese – not two slices of Wonder Bread smashed down on a flap of American “cheese” for the sole purpose of soaking up the last bits of Campbell’s tomato soup – a cheese sandwich that can stand on its own merits. To be fair to the good folks at the campus cafeteria, who took a hit for their most ambitious sandwich in the first installment of this column, this week it’s the quattro fromaggio sandwich on the chopping block.

The quattro fromaggio is just a grilled cheese sandwich dolled up by the obligatory number of cheeses needed to make something fancy, and a name that’s kind of embarrassing to say, especially when the cooks admit that they don’t know what the quattro fromaggio is. The moral of that story is just to order the “grilled cheese.” The four cheeses are not chosen for their complimentary flavor palates, but simply because they are the four cheeses that are already on hand for the other items on the cafeteria menu. That said, this is a cheese sandwich, and most cheeses play well together. If you are in the market for a $10 artisan grilled cheese sandwich made by a guy with an unnecessary mustache, go to Kezar Pub, or the food cart on Embarcadero, but buyer beware: Those places will probably subject you to their musings on the “fine art of grilling cheese.” The cooks at Skyline will just make your sandwich and skip the hipster propaganda.

The verdict on the quattro fromaggio is that it’s a good enough sandwich. A solid B+. This sandwich breaks even on pretentiousness. They aren’t acting like melting cheese is an art form, but they still make you order the “quattro fromaggio” like Mario Batali’s grandmother is in the back stoking a wood-fired oven. But, as is the case with this column, each entrée requires a beverage, and nothing goes better with hot cheese than cold beer. This is no ordinary hot cheese, though, this is the quattro fromaggio, so this beer has to be special. The quattro fromaggio is best paired with a frosty Miller High Life, the champagne of beers, and a brew that hails from America’s dairy land itself, Milwaukee, Wi.

Final grade for dinner and drinks: A-

Disclaimer, the writer of this column want to keep themselves anonymous for the sake of keeping the reviews unbiased and fair.

Update: the article was replaced with the latest version to fix AP errors. 12:30 p.m. 3/16/2015