Cheap Eats 2011: Lovejoy Bakers

This previously cursed Pearl District space seems to have finally found a keeper with baker Dan Griffin’s new shrine to the carbohydrate. In addition to excellent artisan breads and pastries, the bakery-cum-cafe offers a range of made-to-order sandwiches, soups and salads. The sandwich menu features fancy riffs on classics like Cubanos ($8), Reubens ($8.50) and pastrami on rye ($9.50). You can pay $8 for a banh mi if you really want—the extra clams go toward high-quality, locally sourced ingredients and the privilege of dining alongside citizens of Planet Pearl—but for our dough, the all-day breakfast sandwiches are the money. Five bucks gets you soft folds of scrambled egg and fontina cheese stuffed into a buttery ciabatta roll—a sublimely simple combination guaranteed to send you into a blissful tryptophan coma for the rest of the day. Spend the difference on something sweet.