Breakfast comes in many different shapes and sizes, but the king of them all is the breakfast sandwich. It rules over the realm of morning meals, incorporating whatever ingredients it damn well pleases. The only bounds it knows are its book-ending slabs of carbohydrates.
The breakfast sandwich is thus a powerful canvas for creativity (and bacon!), but also a perfect vessel in which to deliver a concentrated combo of traditional AM ingredients (especially bacon!). To celebrate this great unifier of eggs, cheese, and other stuff, we've compiled a list of the 21 very best breakfast sandwiches in the country. You can thank us after your mid-morning nap.
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The Fancy
You can't go wrong with any of the sandwiches at beloved six-seat Boston institution Mike & Patty's, from the breakfast torta to the sa-té-sauced PBGC to the caramelized Banana OG on brioche (with Nutella!). But our advice is to go Fancy. Multigrain bread is the canvas, painted with two yolk-bulging fried eggs, cheddar, bacon, avocado, red onions, and just the right amount of house-made mayo. It's truly a work of art.
Egg, bacon & cheese bagel
New Yorkers still mourn the loss of the original Gramercy location of Ess-a, but the folks responsible for the city's thickest and fluffiest bagels are thankfully still pumping perfect bacon, egg, and cheeses out of their Midtown sequel. Perhaps the largest BEC in New York, this behemoth comes packed with a double layer of cheese (as all breakfast sandwiches should). Plus, you need not (and should not) toast the bagels -- they're always fresh out of the oven. Even if you go with sesame seed instead of everything, these bagels are everything.
The Reggie Deluxe
Look, we love the PDXWT with duck bologna at Portland Penny Diner and the wonderful breakfast sandwich at Bunk -- but our hearts, or what's left of them, belong to this Stumptown classic. The namesake biscuits don't stand a chance against a slab of fried chicken smothered in sausage gravy, smacked with melted cheese, and crowned with bacon and a runny egg. Is it excessive? Hell yes, it is. But this hangover isn't going to murder itself.
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