NYCGuide

The Midtown BEC Power Rankings

The best BECs for your (hungover) morning.
The Midtown BEC Power Rankings image

photo credit: Noah Devereaux

The bacon, egg, and cheese. It’s a simple sandwich, but its importance cannot be overstated. It’s there for you when you had six too many shots last night and can’t feel your face. It’s there for you when you need something to put in your mouth so you don’t scream at coworker Chad. And it’s there for you when you finally give up on your daily routine of hate-eating Greek yogurt.

And while New York is certainly home to the best bagels and pizza in America, we also believe there are no BECs like NYC BECs. But some of them are in a class all their own. We hit the mean streets of Midtown in an effort to find the ones most worthy of your morning.

Here are our (very scientific) BEC Power Rankings.

To check out the rest of the Midtown Survival Guide,click here.

The Spots

imageoverride image

Isadora's Cafe

$$$$
Earn 3x points with your sapphire card

Isadora’s is the prime example of how to succeed at eating in Midtown: don’t judge a restaurant by its neon-signed cover. We can’t vouch for their pizza or tacos or salad bar, but we can vouch for their bacon, egg, and cheese. In fact, we’re crowning it the greatest BEC in Midtown. What makes this thing #1 on our list? Perfectly-cooked scrambled eggs which have been given a lot of love (AKA butter), a squishy roll, and the perfect bacon:egg:cheese:bread ratio. The end result is the platonic ideal of a classic BEC.

BEC Power Points: A fresh (supremely squishy) roll, super soft scrambled eggs, perfectly-cooked bacon, and the right ratios of all ingredients.

Penalties: We wish it was bigger.

Served Until: All Day (+$1 After 11am)


imageoverride image

Angela's Sandwich Shop

$$$$

You can order a regular BEC at Angela’s. But you would be missing out on the real MVP here: The Bobo. It’s a BEC, with the addition of one game-changing ingredient: hash browns. If you’re hungover, stop here on the way to your office, where you can silently wolf it down and pray that no one speaks to you until you’re at least somewhat certain you’re not going to vomit in the trash can under your desk.

BEC Power Points: McDonald’s-style hash browns inside the BEC, the excellent composition makes for even bites and no back-of-sandwich spillage, and it’s giant.

Penalties: Your Bobo can take a while to come out.

Served Until: All Day


If you try to get a Park Italian breakfast sandwich at 10:01am, you will be not-politely told by the old-school guys running this place to come back tomorrow. But it’s worth making a point to get here in time - this is a giant, melty, highly satisfying creation with no bad bites. If you work nearby and aren’t already coming here, we suggest you make it a part of your rotation immediately.

BEC Power Points: This thing is giant (but not unwieldy), stuffed with melty cheese, and on a fresh roll.

Penalties: Not the friendliest people working here (but hang out here enough and it seems like you could win them over).

Served Until: 10am (sharp)


Yes, their name is a breakfast pun, and you know what? It also happens to be accurate. This truck parked on the corner of 52nd and Park serves great egg-centric foods, particularly the breakfast tacos. But we’re not here to talk about breakfast tacos. We’re here to talk about breakfast sandwiches. And Eggstravaganza’s are really good. Our favorite is the chorizo, egg, and cheese - and we actually recommend it over the BEC (the BEC is perfectly good as well). Be sure to ask for their specialty hot sauce and park yourself on some of the best food truck-adjacent seating Midtown has to offer.

BEC Power Points: Nice melting of cheese inside eggs, good ingredient ratios, and pleasant places nearby to sit and enjoy your sandwich.

Penalties: Lines can get long at peak times.

Served Until: All Day


Do you prefer your BECs on a bagel? NY Jumbo Bagel does an excellent one. That said, their breakfast sandwich on a roll is very respectable. This thing is hefty without being ridiculous, and there’s a generous amount of melty cheese.

BEC Power Points: Lots of cheese, and the perfect not-too-big, not-too-small size.

Penalties: It’s a bit remote, on the far northeast Corner of Midtown.

Served Until: All Day


Pickler & Co is one of the greatest discoveries we’ve had in Midtown recently. It’s a “craft deli,” meaning it’s a deli that wishes it were in Brooklyn, but nonetheless stays true to traditional deli values (for example: there is avocado toast, but it’s only $4). They put a lot of care into what they do here, including their BEC. You get to pick your egg (white or regular), cheese, meat, bread - and there are plenty of sauces to spice things up as well. We went classic, and were very satisfied with our sandwich.

BEC Power Points: Lots of choices to customize (because sorry, no one actually chooses American cheese).

Penalties: It could be bigger.

Served Until: 11:30am


D&S is the kind of all-purpose market that makes Midtown more bearable - you can always count on it for a club sandwich, or you can hit the salad bar, or you can get a hangover helper in the morning. Their BEC won’t do you wrong, but it’s also not working miracles.

BEC Power Points: Tons of bacon. And it’s good bacon.

Penalties: Probably a little too much bacon. You almost don’t even notice the egg.

Served Until: 11am


Shake Shack is probably the single best thing to happen to Grand Central in many years. But we’d recommend you save it for your post-work meal needs. The BEC here is definitely good - but the whole time you eat it you’ll just be wishing you were eating a Shackburger. Even at 7am.

BEC Power Points: Lots of cheese, and a little bit of that special Shake Shack magic (drugs?).

Penalties: The egg, cheese, and bacon don’t quite fill up the burger bun. The burger bun really just needs a burger.

Served Until: 10:30am


imageoverride image

Dunhill Cafe Restaurant

$$$$

This is your standard deli BEC - there’s nothing too memorable about it, and it's a little too bready. But if you work nearby and need to put calories in your body, it’s a fast, fine bet in a central location.

BEC Power Points: Accessibility - this one is in a very central location.

Penalties: Too much bread, and very dry overall. BYO mayo.

Served Until: All Day


Chase Sapphire Card Ad

Suggested Reading

The Midtown Chain Power Rankings image

The Midtown Chain Power Rankings

Midtown

Fast-casual options for the all-too-brief lunch hour.

The Least-Bad Irish Pubs In Midtown image

10 Irish pubs where you actually won’t mind getting a drink.

The Best Sushi Spots In Midtown image

All the sushi that’s worth your money in Midtown.

16 Great Healthy Lunch Options In Midtown image

Where to get a healthy lunch (that doesn’t suck) in Midtown.

Infatuation Logo

Company

2024 © The Infatuation Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FIND PLACES ON OUR APP

Get it on Google PlayDownload on the App Store