The Best Breakfast Sandwich in Every State

Koko Head describes itself as a “brunch all day” restaurant, serving the meal daily from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The Egg Handwich, listed on the menu under the heading “Hand Food,” combines two scrambled eggs, sharp New York cheddar, bacon, local greens, and maple Tabasco sauce, all on a sweet bun.

This rustic establishment in the Sawtooth Mountains serves a variety of hearty ready-made breakfast dishes, but its signature breakfast sandwich is this customizable creation. It begins with egg on a ciabatta roll, which customers may then enhance with bacon, sausage patty, ham, chorizo, grass-fed beef sausage, or veggie sausage. Next comes a choice of Swiss, cheddar, provolone, or brie. For an additional charge, tomatoes, caramelized onions, avocado, arugula, and/or roasted red peppers may be added.

Acclaimed Chicago-based Mexican food guru Rick Bayless’s casual Xoco café offers several breakfast sandwiches, but this is the one that tends to get the acclaim. It’s scrambled eggs, pork chorizo, poblano chile rajas, cheese, and avocado on a flatbread-style roll.

This highly original sandwich shop incorporates such ingredients as fried smelt, trout belly, sweetbreads, and duck and turkey eggs in its daily menus. Its prize breakfast sandwich, though, is a riff on Louisville, Kentucky’s famed Hot Brown Sandwich. (Louisville is only about 100 miles south of Indianapolis.) The original Hot Brown is an open-face concoction of sliced turkey, bacon, and mornay sauce. Love Handle substitutes pulled chicken for the turkey and puts it all inside a biscuit.

This neighborhood bar near Drake University serves breakfast on weekends only. One of its specialties is this unusual breakfast sandwich of hummus, fried eggs, and melted havarti cheese on Texas toast.