On the morning I ate the best sandwich of my life, I woke up with a massive headache, in someone else's Miller Hall room, unable to see. Without my glasses and with my contact lenses strewn somewhere on the floor, I squinted at the nearest clock.
It was 9 a.m. on a Sunday. Which meant, thankfully, that Magnificent Muffin would be open for another three hours.
I pulled on my jeans, snuck out of the room and began the trek down Curtis Street to Teele Square. I didn't bother stopping back at my dorm to grab glasses. I entered the unassuming blue-awning-ed storefront, which is sandwiched between a convenience store and a Bank of America. I staggered to the counter and ordered bacon, egg and cheese on an everything bagel. I sat down a bench outside, unwrapped the foil container and drenched the sandwich with Frank's hot sauce before taking a mammoth bite.
The combination of bacon, egg and cheese on a bagel or English muffin is life-sustaining. I can't think of any other way to describe it. The word "tasty" or "delicious" doesn't cut it. Crispy, salty bacon, melty cheese and the unique texture of two fried eggs equal pure satisfaction, especially topped with copious hot sauce.
Magnificent Muffin, or "Mag Muff," makes one of the better bacon, egg and cheeses I've tasted. Mag Muff is open daily from 6 a.m to noon, and on weekend mornings after 10:30 a.m. there are lines out the door. The crowd is mostly non-Tufts students, and the spot is especially popular with firemen and women on their way to work at the station across the street.
Somerville residents in the know flood this place, because Mag Muff's take on the bacon egg and cheese is classic and consistent. The same ladies have been crafting the sandwich behind the counter since at least my freshman year, and they have the bacon, egg and cheese down to a science.
With this sandwich, there's no use getting fancy. Mag Muff starts by frying two eggs on a flattop grill. They flip the eggs and cook the yolk through so the sandwich doesn't ooze onto your shirt on the way to work or class or, in my case, on the way to a serious nap. The server then crisps the bacon separately on the flattop. A slice of white American cheese is added to the eggs at the very end and melted just enough. The crispy bacon goes on top of the egg and cheese, and the whole package is placed onto a warm bagel.
Some sort of condiment is necessary to keep the sandwich moist. I top mine with a tangy hot sauce, but ketchup works too. Then, the bacon, egg and cheese must be consumed immediately. The sandwich will get soggy within five minutes of coming off the grill.
Mag Muff's bacon, egg and cheese goes for around $3.50, and it costs around half that to craft this simple sandwich at home in a frying pan. On the morning of the greatest sandwich experience of my life, though, traversing the campus with my head pounding and a powerful hunger in my belly, I craved Mag Muff's version.
I've eaten other sandwiches with more complexity of flavor and texture. I've consumed other sandwiches that take more risks. But the best sandwich I ever ate is as simple as it gets.
Bacon. Egg. Cheese.
Start off a day with those three ingredients and we're ready to take on the world.
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Ben Kochman graduates today with a degree in English. He can be reached at benjamin.kochman@tufts.edu and on Twitter @benkochman. Watch the video version of this column on Jumbo Slice or on The Tufts Daily's YouTube page.
