If every culture has its chicken soup, then there must be a sandwich sitting alongside it. Depending on where you live, the torpedo-roll sandwich stacked with a heap of whatever-you-like can be named hero, hoagie, Dagwood, po' boy. It may even have special, inherent ingredients. A muffuletta is not a muffuletta without olive salad. A Cuban sandwich just isn't the same if it's not pressed like a pair of well-starched trousers. Try these sammies on for a stack of big flavor and messy fun.

LEE'S BAKERY (not rated)
4005 Buford Highway, Atlanta. 404-728-1008.

The loaves of bread at this popular Vietnamese sandwich shop look French, but they're not. They're made with rice flour as well as wheat, giving them a light texture and making a mystifyingly thin, crisp crust. Order Vietnam's answer to the sub: banh mi thit: a colorful, jam-packed sandwich with a spread of liver pate on one side of the roll, headcheese and ham and crowned with spicy Vietnamese mayo and fresh cilantro. Lick-your-lips rating: 9

JUST LOAF'N (not rated)
313 Boulevard S.E. 404-525-4001, www.justloafn.net.

Cajun comes in more than a dozen kinds of po' boys at this Grant Park eatery, where the bread is the right stuff for stuffings: The restaurant gets it from Leidenheimer's Bakery in New Orleans. It's the perfect vessel for messy, deep-fried shrimp dressed with the works: lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, mayo and spicy Creole mustard. Lick-your-lips rating: 9.5

Two stars
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3315 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, 404-946-9070,

Few things go together as well as ham and cheese, a culinary fact figured out by the French a century ago, when grilled ham and cheese started showing up on Paris bistro menus (Proust liked them almost a much as he did madeleines). But this puppy is a heart-attack-on-a-plate: a decadent grilled cheese with ham and bechamel sauce topped with broiled Emmental cheese.

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Instructor Daniel Jean-Baptiste reminds students to "measure twice, cut once" while using a hand saw at the Construction Ready accelerated summer program at Westside Works in Atlanta on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. The program provides training for careers in construction and the skilled trades. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com