Okay, we’re into April and up to our fifth week of sampling different styles of macaroni and cheese and this week, we’re going to be trying something really different: A Grilled Macaroni and Cheese Sandwich!

They offer this unusual style of Mac and cheese at Thyme Kitchen + Craft Beer, so let’s head to beautiful downtown Peoria’s Warehouse District to try this week’s unique mac and cheese.

Here we are at Thyme Kitchen + Craft Beer on Washington Street in the Warehouse District in downtown Peoria.

I love the ghosted Sealtest banner on the building and I’m glad they kept that piece of history there!

Okay, let’s go in and start the fifth week of this cheesy tour!

This greets you as soon as you walk in and after Googling it, I found out it’s a quote from a Raymond Chandler novel! You live and you learn!

Now let’s find a table!

There’s the dining room and I chose this table for two to sit at. We have a special guest star coming, but I’m early, so we’ll take some photos in here before he arrives on the scene.

The bar in here is amazing and they have a huge selection of bourbon, rye, scotch and whiskey. They offer three different types of whiskey flights for your sampling pleasure.

And they also have a large selection of beers on tap. This is really impressive!

There’s an upstairs dining area right up the stairs here…

There’s another shot of the dining area up here and an aerial shot of the dining area and the bar from up here.

Meanwhile, back on ground level…

Our special guest star of the day has arrived!

This is Lawrence Maushard and I love the vintage Black Sabbath t-shirt he’s got on!

Lawrence lives here in Peoria and is a co-founder of the Peoria for Palestine Group. They have an event on April 9th at City Hall and you can read about that here.

Great to see Lawrence and it turns out that we both wrote for the Pekin Daily Times back in the day when that was an actual print newspaper. The good old days!

Here’s the menu and there’s the selection for the Grilled Macaroni & Cheese sandwich. It sounds interesting and I’m anxious to see this cheesy creation!

I started off with the soup of the day and I can’t remember the exact name of this but it was an Asian flavored broth with vegetables and a nice peanut after taste. It was really tasty and very hearty!

Lawrence got the cheeseburger and fries and said they were both tasty and delicious!

Here’s the star of the show, this week’s Macaroni and Cheese and this time it’s in sandwich form! It’s garnsied with fried cheese slices that were kind of like crisp and cheesy potato chips.

Here’s the sandwich and the mac and cheese is nestled between two grilled slices of buttered bread that were covered in gouda cheese and then grilled.

I’ve never had anything like this in my life! Let’s dig in!

Wow, this is so rich, creamy and tasty!

The macaroni is paired with American and Gouda cheese and there’s also a sundried tomato aiol and a pimento cheese spread in the mix.

This is so flavorful and it’s borderline decadent! An amazing sandwich and a taste treat!

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MACARONI AND CHEESE RATING FOR WEEK NUMBER Five AT Thyme Kitchen + craft beer

This certainly is one of the most unique and original macaroni and cheese creations I’ve ever seen and tasted! A rich and creamy delight of a sandwich!