Tom+Chee

Tom+Chee (pronounced "Tom and Chee") is a restaurant chain started just six years ago by Trew Quackenbush, Corey Ward, and their wives, Jenn and Jenny. They couldn’t afford rented space or even a food truck, so they set up an awning next to the ice-skating rink on Cincinnati’s Fountain Square in late 2009, and started serving TOMato soup and grilled CHEEse sandwiches. Get it? Tom+Chee.

I'd never had Tom+Chee, but had heard great things about it, so on a recent date night with the lovely Robin (who loves tomato soup and grilled cheese), I decided to try it out.

The menu today includes more than twenty-five eclectic grilled cheese sandwiches, three versions of tomato soup daily, and a variety of specials, all made in-house. They even serve "vegan cheese" on request. From vegan cows, I'm guessing. 

I had the creamy tomato soup, and Swiss-and-mushroom-on-rye grilled sandwich. Robin had a cheese-and-ham-with-pickle sandwich and the chunky tomato soup. It was fresh and different and delicious. 

Nowadays, Tom+Chee has opened locations as far west in the USA as Colorado and as far north and east as Boston. I counted locations in sixteen states. 

It's good food with a sense of humor. I liked it.