Ever wish you could call up a local food writer in an unfamiliar city and get them to spill on their favorite dining spots? Consider this a cheat sheet. Food & Wine polled trusted food writers for recommendations in cities across the country, from Charleston to Seattle. Collectively, these journalists have reported on their local restaurant scenes for decades, and they’ve got the insider recommendations to prove it.
Below, find five glorious breakfast sandwiches that are, frankly, worth building a trip around. In Charleston, start the day with a crispy fried chicken cutlet slathered with pimento cheese and stuffed into a buttery biscuit. Meanwhile, a comparatively polite egg sandwich gets gussied up in Seattle with daikon pickles and squirts of charred onion aioli. The next time you’re in town, add these stops to your itinerary.
Newkirk’s (San Francisco)
Arguably San Francisco’s most popular breakfast sandwich is made at a New York-style haunt in the Mission. Newkirk’s has received boatloads of praise, as well as a cadre of loyal East Coast devotees. Of the fried egg sandwiches, there’s an $11 BEC with applewood-smoked bacon. For a bougier breakfast, try the Horse on the Roof. That sandwich earns its $17 tag with grilled ribeye, provolone and American cheeses, and slathers of house sauce atop a toasted French roll. — Paolo Bicchieri
Millers All Day (Charleston)
The signature fried chicken sandwich at Millers All Day packs some serious heft, thanks to the abundance of butter packed into each layer of the golden-hued biscuit. The weight also comes from the generous portion of Southern fried chicken cutlet that sits between the doughy biscuit halves. Melted pimento cheese adds even more richness, but a sweet-and-spicy pepper jelly slices through the fat and adds extra crunch with diced red, green, and yellow bell peppers. — Erin Perkins
Any Day Now (Washington, D.C.)
Tim Ma’s all-day café Any Day Now in D.C.’s Navy Yard has one of my favorite breakfast sandwiches, a proper hangover helper tucked into a square scallion pancake. With freshly griddled flatbread, supple steamed egg, oozing American cheese, and your choice of marinated tofu, maple sausage, bacon or kimchi, this is not a polite affair. Especially once you pour in the accompanying chili crisp. Commit with a side of fried hash browns shaped into pucks, just like at Mickie Ds. You’ll need more than one napkin. —Gabe Hiatt
B-Side Foods (Seattle)
B-Side Foods, a tiny place inside Analog Coffee on Capitol Hill, has a quintessentially Seattle take on the breakfast sandwich. No New York City-style BEC here: It’s a thin scallion omelet with melted Beecher’s cheddar, daikon pickles, and a charred onion aioli on a toasted English muffin. Smoky, a little sweet, and a bit tart, it’s a perfect little symphony of flavors that’s somehow less than $10, even if you opt for ham. — Harry Cheadle
Loaf Lounge (Chicago)
Kasama’s Pinoy-inspired entry helped to usher a new era of breakfast sandwiches in Chicago, where global flavors like longaniza reign. But, to paraphrase Slick Willie: “it’s the bread, stupid.” Sarah Mispagel-Lustbader’s hoagie roll takes center stage at Loaf Lounge, which offers an assortment of breakfast sandwiches that includes a refined Lenten classic. Loaf Lounge’s Pepper & Egg uses a combo of bell and shishito peppers, plus a healthy dose of Chicago’s favorite fiery condiment, giardiniera. It’s all nestled between muenster and a mix of chipotle mayo and caramelized onion mustard. — Ashok Selvam…