$10 This is the grilled cheese you’re thinking of: American and cheddar between slices of buttered brioche – fancy-ish, but perfect for a cold day, midnight snack or Proustian pleasure from childhood. You are unlikely to miss Cambridge native chef Jonas Beausejour’s burger- and red snapper sandwich-joint, because it’s on Main Street, even if Cambridge’s Main Street is far from the mythical version with white picket fences. There’s overlap between Jay’s and the Everybody Gotta Eat stand down the hall, but the sandwiches at the latter are priced out of snack range, and the closest thing to a grilled cheese at the CanalSide food hall at the nearby CambridgeSide mall is a $15 pimento-sourdough and tomato soup combo – great in its own way but a whole different deal. Jay’s hits a comfort food sweet spot of affordable, good and unpretentious, with ingredients you want prepared the way you expect.
Juicy Jay’s in the Eastern Edge Food Hall, 290 Main St., Kendall Square, Cambridge
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