Everyone has that one McDonald’s menu item they miss. This is mine.

“Go for the burger that goes all out for flavor–Cheddar Melt: our 1/4 lb. all-beef patty topped with the bold taste of grilled onions and real ched­dar cheese sauce piled high on a toasted light rye bun. ”

For some peo­ple, its the McRib or the Arch Deluxe; maybe even the McDLT, which was really just a pack­ag­ing gim­mick. My Holy McGrail is the Ched­dar Melt, McDonald’s short-lived ver­sion of the clas­sic patty melt sandwich.

The Ched­dar Melt made its debut in 1998 and only lasted a short while, then later resur­faced in the 90s which is when it became my go-to McDonald’s sand­wich, even over the Quar­ter Pounder. Sup­pos­edly it also made a brief come­back in 2004, but I some­how com­pletely missed it. Like the myth­i­cal Asian Salad or Hol­i­day Pies, the Ched­dar Melt drifts in and out of the McMenu­verse accord­ing to some unknow­able ebb and flow of McMar­ket­ing space­time. (I’m really just try­ing to see how many McWords I can stuff in this post.)

The com­bi­na­tion of beef, melty cheese, fried onions and toasty rye is a mag­i­cal one. I don’t know why McDonald’s intro­duces awe­some things only to take them away, seem­ingly right at the point when they become famil­iar fix­tures of the McMenu.

You know what sucks? A food crav­ing you can never sat­isfy because the food prod­uct you are crav­ing doesn’t exist any­more. I got 99 first world prob­lems and this sand­wich is one.

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