El Rey Coffee Bar & Luncheonette

El Rey on the Lower East Side is the kind of place that shouldn't work as well as it does. It's too small, too casual, and too focused on coffee to warrant the devotion its sandwich program inspires. And yet the torta is the thing everyone who eats there returns for.

The torta — a Mexican sandwich served on a bolillo-style roll — here contains avocado, jammy soft-cooked egg, pickled jalapeño, black beans, and cotija cheese, with a red salsa that adds the right amount of heat and acidity. The roll is toasted to the edge of its structural integrity. The avocado is ripe, sliced rather than smashed, laid in overlapping layers that stay intact when you bite.

It's the kind of sandwich that looks almost too simple when you describe it and tastes genuinely excellent when you eat it. The coffee program is among the best on the Lower East Side. This is worth a detour even if you're not already in the neighborhood.