• Who: Dano
• Where: Somewhere between Boston and Haverhill, MA
• What: The battle of the breakfast sandwiches—Dunkin Donuts vs Sweet Touch Cafe

Nothing beats a good breakfast sandwich when you’re on the road. Crispy, gooey and delicious, the breakfast sandwich combines all the best parts of brunch into one simple, portable little package. One might think that all breakfast sandwiches are created equal—how much variety can there really be in the combination of three (sometimes four if you’re going for the meat, TWSS) basic ingredients? So as we headed from from Boston to Portland, ME on the Downeaster last Thursday we put it all on the line and decided to test out this theory:  Dunkin Donuts, the old school New England staple vs. small, local ‘whatcha want you’se guys ovah theyah’ Cambridge deli. The Battle of the Breakfast Sandwich!

It’s pretty easy to break down the Breakfast Sandwich to its barest components.

Bread: A good bread product makes all the difference in this department. Hearty and substantial without being too bready, toasted without being burnt, flavorful without being overpowering.  Sweet Touch: 9  Dunkin Donuts: 2

Egg:  The egg, typically the star of the Breakfast Sandwich, wouldn’t seem to have much variety. After all, it’s just… an egg. But you want your egg to be buttery without being greasy, soft without being runny and, most importantly, an actual egg.  Sweet Touch: 10 Dunkin Dounts: 0

Cheese: Cheese, again, seems pretty simple. Melted, tasty and, similar to its cousin the egg, actual cheese. Sweet Touch: 9 Dunkin Donuts: 0

Meat: To this one I unfortunately have little to contribute, so this is an unfair category for me to rank. I can presume, however, that you’d want your sausage/bacon to be a) cooked b) real.  Sweet Touch: 9 Dunkin Donuts: 1

Without being a math major, it seems safe to say that there is a clear leader on the scoreboard.  Sweet Touch: 1 million Dunkin Donuts: -50 So why, with a million neighborhood delis up and down the eastern seaboard run by real small business owners with real kids who work there in the summer and real cheddar melted on their unmicrowaved egg, do we still insist on stopping by Dunkin Donuts on our way to the office/grocery store/train station? Probably the same reason that Bostonians set cars on fire when the Patriots win the Superbowl. Or we pay $3 at the ATM rather than get cash back at CVS across the street.