FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE) – Meltdown Bistro might be the cheesiest food truck in the Central Valley. Since 2015, owner Pete Ramirez and his crew have been serving crispy grilled cheeses, melts, and sliders.

But Ramirez came up with the idea when a co-worker called him the Melt-King.

“Well, in all the restaurants where I worked, I was always in charge of running the specials. And so, I’d always do some kind of weird melt. I would, you know, try to mix things up,” said Ramirez.

The mix of barbecue and grilled cheese created the Pig Mac. Barbequed pulled pork, mac and cheese, bacon, and barbeque sauce are melted with American and cheddar cheeses between slices of grilled sourdough.

The Cubano Melt is just like a Cuban sandwich, but this version has grilled Swiss cheese. The pork is slowly roasted for 14 hours; the grilled ham is hand-sliced. Add pickles and mustard to grilled sourdough.

Each melt from Meltdown Bistro has one thing in common.

“I think the secret to the cheese is having a fresh, freshly shredded. If you buy the pre-shredded stuff that is mixed with cornstarch or flour,” said Ramirez.

The quesataco or quesabirria craze never died down with Meltdown Bistro. The Beef Birria Grilled Cheese was a limited-time-only special, but it is now available on the menu permanently.

It has slow-cooked beef birria, cheese, onions, and cilantro in grilled cheese with consommé for dipping.

Ramirez pointed out that you have let it soak in the consommé for a few seconds. Many say the Meltdown Bistro consommé is excellent.

Our friend and colleague reporter Viviana Yvonne is a fan of the sliders from Meltdown Bistro, but this was her first bite of the Chicken Caesar Melt.

“Nice. Crunch. The Parmesan cheese on the bread. Ten out of ten,” she said.

The Caesar is loaded with marinated grilled chicken breast, bacon, provolone, and mozzarella. Lettuce and tomatoes are mixed with Caesar Salad Dressing.

But don’t spill the tea from Meltdown Bistro. Their Raspberry Sweet Tea is popular with regulars, but look out for other flavors this summer.

“But we do peach and mango sometimes. So, we cook everything fresh fruit, we cook it down, and then we make it, and then we add it to our fresh fruit sweet tea,” said Ramirez.

It is the perfect combination of refreshing and cool for summer in the Central Valley.

You can find Meltdown Bistro usually on the weekends at Gazebo Gardens in Central Fresno or Enzo’s Table near Clovis.