Best Sandwiches in America 2017: BLT

This year’s Best Sandwiches prove that chefs around the country continue to push the boundaries of the hand-held favorite. See all the winners >>

Winner: Miso BLT

Restaurant: Red Star Sandwich Shop, Brooklyn, N.Y.  

Units: 1

Creator: Chef Gibson Ho

Price: $9.50

Food cost: $2.50

Ingredients: Slab bacon, Caputo Bakery’s demi-baguette, fried egg, plum tomatoes, lettuce, mayo. Thick-cut slab bacon is cured in miso paste, mirin, rice wine vinegar and sugar for two days. After cooking the bacon, the miso becomes a sweet and savory glaze.

What makes it special: A traditional Japanese method to preserve and cure fish using miso paste inspired the creation of this sandwich. But instead of curing fish, Red Star experimented with curing thick-cut slab bacon with miso to delicious effect. Ho said the technique gives the bacon a deep, earthy flavor.

What others are saying: Blogger Little Miss Local writes: “The Miso BLT could send customers (like myself) straight to heaven…my mind was completely blown.” Yelp user Julian W. calls the sandwich “to die for.” And New York Magazine calls Red Star’s menu “a bounty of meat and Asian-American flavors piled up inside two sides of a bun or baguette.”