Don't call it a blat: The avocado-enhanced BLT at Washington Park.   (Photo: Ellie Miller)

1. Washington Park Simply put, the best BLT we’ve ever had: thick applewood-smoked bacon, heirloom tomatoes, perfectly ripe avocado, lola rossa, and a double dose of garlic in the form of luscious aïoli and grilled and garlic-rubbed rustic bread. Dangerously unwieldy, but worth a trip to the cleaner’s. ($14; brunch and lunch only; 24 Fifth Avenue; 212-529-4400.)

2. aKa cafe This triple-decker applewood-smoked-bacon BLT with avocado aïoli is as remarkably tidy as it is tasty. House-pickled vegetables are a fitting garnish. ($7; brunch and lunch only; 49 Clinton Street; 212-979-6096.)

3.’Ino A brilliant Italian-tramezzino answer to the BLT: cubes of salty pancetta, peppery arugula, oven-roasted tomatoes, and lemon mayo on soft, untoasted Pullman white. ($6; 21 Bedford Street; 212-989-5769.)

4.’Wichcraft The sandwich geniuses here have a compromise for that to-toast-or-not-to-toast debate: The inside of the sliced country bread gets toasted to avert sogginess, the outside doesn’t. Typical gourmet comestibles—hickory-smoked bacon, Greenmarket Bibb lettuce, homemade mayo, and Eckerton Farm tomatoes—complete the picture. ($7; 49 East 19th Street; 212-780-0577.)

5..Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop Not for the heirloom-tomato crowd, but a textbook-crunchy coffee-shop version nonetheless: snappy iceberg, crisp bacon, utilitarian tomatoes, and gobs of Hellmann’s served on thoroughly toasted white. Simple, unpretentious, delicious. ($4.25; 174 Fifth Avenue, near 22nd Street; 212-675-5096.)

Related:

• Archive: “Top Five”
• Articles by Rob Patronite | Robin Raisfeld
• Table of Contents: Sep 22, 2003 issue of New York | Subscribe!