Grilled Cheese & Co. Opens its Doors in Eldersburg

On Tuesday, appropriately National Grilled Cheese Day, the popular Grilled Cheese & Co. opened their doors to the public in Eldersburg.

With its first location in Catonsville, the company has created a following, all looking for the restaurant's twists on the traditional sandwich.

And customers came in crowds on their first day in Carroll County at 577 Johnsville Road, all wanting to try the famed sandwiches. 

“I’m really excited about the turnout," said Scott Pevenstein, vice president of Sales and Marketing and a partner in the business. 

"We originally had 10 sandwiches now we've added an eleventh, the Smashed Meatball, which is a meatball sub in a sandwich. And of course the Crabby Melt has been all over the news. Everything is absolutely delicious." 

The 1,350 square foot space has 24 seats in the dining room and outside tables. And on their opening day, everyone was enjoying their all-American lunch. 

“The food was really good. The grilled cheese was something different. I think this is great for Eldersburg and we will be back,” said customer Christina Reich. 

“The food is cheeselicious! I live in Owings Mills and work in Eldersburg,"said customer Jeff Geisinger. “We just saw the restaurant…we go to Asian Taste, [next door] all the time.”

“I had the fabulous BCT and it was delicious. I will absolutely be back,” said customer Tracy Cox.  

So how did the idea of a grilled cheese centered menu come to be?

“The actual idea for the company came to me in a dream in 2005,” said Co-founder Vic Corbi in by Patch when the store's location was announced. “I was at a street corner in an RV and I was selling grilled cheese out of the side of the truck.”

Once the timing was right, his mother--a board member for Wine in the Woods festival in Columbia--found a spot for Corbi and his business partner Matt Lancelotta. to start selling their sandwiches in May 2009, making his dream come true. 

“Everyone was asking us, ‘Where’s your store?’ We said, ‘This is it, this is our grand opening.’ It blew us away how well received we were,” said Corbi.  

And after a year and now two locations, the expansion doesn’t stop there. Corbi said he plans to open locations in Columbia, Towson and Baltimore as soon as he finds the spaces. 

And for his next stop? “Later in the year we hope to be franchising. We’re in the planning process of getting everything ready to start franchising by the fall.”