More importantly, they published the recipe! Now you don’t have to pay $17/wich to discover greatness. Naturally, there are no magic ingredients, they use the same ‘ol ham, cheese and bechemel sauce recipe as everyone else (though they use all home-made ingredients, other than milk).

Other Croque Monsieur sites:
- Wikipedia’s Entry: did you know it first appeared in 1910?
- The Paupered Chef: what would you do with 10 lbs of ham?
- MidtownLunch: Tuesday is Croque Monsieur Day!

Now repeat the words “crispy outside and gooey center” 10 times!

I split the “Picante,” upon the recommendation from the sandwich ambassador from Spain behind the counter, and the “El Quijote” with my co-eater. Both are served on slightly dusty, delicious bread. They both include a full arsenal of magic Spanish foodstuffs:
Picante (warm): Chorizo picante, Mahon cheese, Basque guindilla peppers, tomatoes and ali oli
El Quijote (cold): Lomo embuchado (dry cured pork loin), Manchego cheese, Quince cream “Membrillo” spread and olive oil

Hands down the warm Picante was better. It was a bit peppery and some of the bites of Chorizo were chewy, but the whole thing was so warm and complementary that I can’t complain too much. The Quijote was too chewy and didn’t have enough fillings and I was sad after eating a few bites. In both cases, I was surprised at how well the sandwiches were balanced; though the bread was a little tough, there was no filling creep! Hats off to these sandwich-masters for realizing that everything inside should be flat.

My Picante, dusy, warm and full of love:

Look inside! See the tasty!?

Mrrhrmrmmmmmm

Readers, this is Quijote. Quijote, say hello: