The Brooklyn Papers / Greg Mango

Between the bread: At Le Petit Cafe in Carroll Gardens, it may be hard to resist grabbing more than one of their 16 panini sandwiches. This stack (top to bottom) includes panini No. 1 (prosciutto, fontina cheese, marinated mushrooms, oregano and arugula) and No. 2 (roasted eggplant, scamorza, and smoked prosciutto).

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Rhonda, a focus group coordinator with the gravely voice of a Mafia Don, is on the phone.

"Tina" she rumbles. "Do you do sandwiches?"

"How does one ’do’ a sandwich?" I asked, wondering what kind of focus group she had in mind.

"Do you love them?" she growled. "Is a sandwich, like, your favorite thing to eat? We’re looking for total sandwich freaks! People who would rather eat a sandwich than, I don’t know what. Eat a 10-course meal at Le Cirque? Get it on with a hunky stud? Win the lottery?"

"Of course I’m a sandwich freak!" I said with a laugh. "I can’t get enough of them! Love them! LOVE them! LOVE THEM!" (Rhonda isn’t a stickler for the truth. I just fill a seat at one of the groups she books and say, "I love" whatever I’m being paid $100 to love. She gets her commission, I go home happy, and the company paying for our opinions, oblivious to the roomful of liars Rhonda has gathered, is happy, too.)

I’ve attended focus groups with total Dannon Yogurt freaks, total Oscar Meyer hot dog freaks, and have sided with total Windex freaks. (We preferred it over generic window cleaners.)

This time (Rhonda would be amused to know), I answered truthfully. I do love sandwiches. Always have. As a child, I loved toasted English muffins spread with sweet butter and topped with slices of ripe tomatoes.

I vaguely remember my first kiss, but the memory of my first meatloaf sandwich (garlicky with lots of hot gravy) will stay with me forever.

And, oh, the simplicity of the panini I had at breakfast in Italy (they "do" sandwiches for breakfast there) - pressed as flat as a pancake and served hot off the grill: the filling was one slice of prosciutto and a bit of parmesan. It was a sandwich that celebrated the bread as much as the filling. It was thin, rich, compact, elegant - a revelation.

Tom Perez serves a panini at his Le Petit Cafe on Court Street in Carroll Gardens that reminded me of my first panini in Rome. (Eat the panini al fresco, in the cafe’s new garden - which recently opened after five months of renovations that tripled the size of the cafe.) Perez buys ciabatta bread specially baked with semolina flour from nearby Caputo’s bakery. The bread is crusty outside, tender inside and, when pressed, creates a delicate yet chewy panini.

His panini No. 1, from a menu of 16, sports thin layers of prosciutto, fontina cheese, mushrooms marinated in vinegar and a touch of oregano, and a few leaves of arugula. It is that little touch of vinegar that cuts through the richness of the cheese and prosciutto and gives the sandwich an acidic spark.

The panini No. 2: roasted eggplant, scamorza (mozzarella made from cow’s milk), and a smoked prosciutto called "speck," was drizzled with a little fruity olive oil. Both panini, with their perfect balance of bread to filling, make the overstuffed, knife-and-fork sandwiches Americans are used to seem vulgar.

Brian Karp and Chris Evans, owners of Press 195, a sandwich and wine bar that opened this summer on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, could qualify as total sandwich freaks. Stop in on a Saturday and you’ll find them behind the grill, assembling and pressing sandwiches and pitching in when the waitresses get swamped.

Karp purchases his ingredients from small, local purveyors near his weekend home in upstate New York. That means that the honey jalapeno mustard comes from the farm of "a nice guy named Lou," and the maple syrup used in the pesto hails from a farm in Prattsville.

The menu, featuring 16 pressed sandwiches, offers unexpected choices like the No. 9: homemade roast pork, queso blanco (traditional Mexican white cheese), pickled jalapenos, cilantro, red onions and a roasted garlic spread. This pungent, creamy and spicy Mexican take on the panini, made with ciabatta from Park Slope’s Uprising bakery, has big, brawny flavors, yet the sandwich fits neatly in your hand. The more traditional No. 13, with slices of ripe tomato, fresh basil, a slice of creamy mozzarella and a dab of pesto, slightly sweetened with maple syrup, tasted cleanly of summer tomatoes and basil.

Union Picnic, another summer newcomer, which opened on Union Avenue in Williamsburg, offers "everything you’d want in a picnic basket" according to co-owner Aviva Wallace.

Besides fried and rotisserie chicken, Wallace, with partner Suzy O’Brien, offers lunch and dinner sandwiches three ways: cold, grilled or as a hero. Union Picnic’s "It" sandwich, popular with the coffee shop’s hip clientele (the suede jockey hat is de rigueur headwear here), is the grilled avocado Reuben, a spin on the traditional Reuben made with corned beef. Everything - the perfectly ripe avocado, the Swiss cheese and sauerkraut - arrives hot and melted. It’s a delicious mess: It’s Oscar to the panini’s Felix. Try it with a glass of fresh squeezed, tart not sweet, blueberry lemonade.

I’m looking forward to redoing all the sandwiches I’ve mentioned, especially Le Petit Cafe’s No. 1 with its tangy mushrooms and salty prosciutto and Press 195’s roast pork No. 9. I’m a total freak for that sandwich!

Where to eat:

Le Petit Cafe (502 Court St. between Luquer and Nelson streets) offers sandwiches from $4.75 to $5.75 (.75 for each additional topping). Cash only. For information, call (718) 596-7060.

Press 195 (195 Fifth Ave. between Union and Sackett streets) offers sandwiches from $5 to $8. Cash only. For information, call (718) 857-1950.

Union Picnic (577 Union Ave. between North 10th and North 11th streets) offers lunch sandwiches ($3.95-$5.25) and dinner sandwiches ($4.95-$7.95). Cash only. For information, call (718) 387-3800.

©2002 The Brooklyn Paper