You may have seen cotija and queso fresco on restaurant menus or at the grocery store and wondered how they were different.

Because it does not melt, but crumbles easily ... That one extra word is important, as without it, the Mexican cheese ...

It's the freshly prepped edibles, though, that melt our heart -- especially the 20 or so grilled cheese variations, piled onto thick slabs of dense Italian bread, griddled to buttery-crisp ...