Phoenix, AZSandwiches

Family-owned since 1982 in a building dating to 1950, Frank's is a no-frills New York-style deli on Orange Drive built around the Tony, an overstuffed Italian sub loaded with pepperoni, capicola, salami, and provolone. Pasta salad, cannoli, and New York cheesecake round out the counter.

Chris Bianco's sandwich counter keeps a tight menu built around a market sandwich that shifts weekly with whatever is fresh, layered on bread baked in the restaurant's wood-fired oven. Simple ingredients, precisely handled, on the same dough that made his pizzeria famous.

A New York-style sandwich joint serving the Phoenix area since 1949, Miracle Mile's Straw stacks hot pastrami, melted Swiss, and sauerkraut on rye, a straightforward build that has stayed a neighborhood standby on 16th Street for generations of regulars and their families.

Open on Camelback Road since 1972, Duck and Decanter bills itself as the original sandwich-and-beverage experience, where you can build your own nooner from a gourmet counter that has set it apart from the usual cold-cut lineup for decades, a Phoenix mainstay for a build-your-own lunch.

Set in Mekong Plaza in Mesa, this banh mi counter turns out the sandwich love child of France and Vietnam, including the Mekong Special loaded with multiple pork preparations on a crackly baguette with pickled vegetables. A go-to for Vietnamese sandwiches on the east side.