In this great country of ours, one could eat a different sandwich every day of the year—so that's what we'll do. Here's A Sandwich a Day, our daily look at sandwiches around the country. Got a sandwich we should check out? Let us know. —The Mgmt.

[Photographs: Hawk Krall]

Philadelphia is a legendary sandwich town, but sometimes finding something that that weighs less that three pounds and isn't dripping with pork fat and Cheez Whiz can be a challenge.

Jay's Deli is your basic center city corner grocery that just happens to make awesome sandwiches at the deli counter. Normally I might be sketched out ordering chicken salad from a corner store, but this place is super clean, always busy, and every sandwich is made to order. The combination of slightly sweet cranberry chicken salad, crisp bacon, lettuce, tomato and a smear of mustard on freshly toasted bread was delicious, uber fresh, and just the break from foot-long pepperoni-ranch cheesesteaks I've been looking for.

The rest of the menu consists of standard Italian hoagies, healthy cucumber-avocado-sprout concoctions, Reubens, and a long list of paninis. It's also worth noting they're open late—until midnight weekdays and 2 a.m. on the weekends, pretty rare for Philadelphia, where it's hard to find a half decent deli sandwich past 3 in the afternoon.

Jay's Deli

1228 Spruce St, Philadelphia PA 19107 (map)
215-790-1344