Between the Bread

Peanut butter and banana sandwiches and Elvis Presley are forever linked. The King's favorite appears on the diner menu at Graceland, and Peanut Butter and Co. in New York serves an Elvis sandwich that's a PB&B, plus honey and bacon. If you think that sounds decadent, sit down to the tale of Elvis and the Fool's Gold Loaf.

According to The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley, legend has it that in 1976, Elvis hopped a plane from Memphis to Denver and back in a single night just to get his jaws around a sandwich called the Fool’s Gold, served at the Colorado Mine Company restaurant in Denver. He'd been reminiscing about the delicious $50 sandwich when he decided to sate his friends' curiosity by flying them to Denver for a very extreme takeout order.

Serving eight to 10 people and containing more than 40,000 calories, the Fool’s Gold may be the most quintessentially American sandwich ever created. Here's why.

I am allergic to peanuts, but that didn't stop me from stopping by Peanut Butter and Co. in New York's Greenwich Village. Even if I can't sample most of the sandwiches, I couldn't pass up visiting this emporium devoted entirely to creative peanut butter combinations.

The menu includes everything from basic PB&Js to Fluffernutters, peanut butter and Nutella, and the Elvis (PB, banana, honey, and, if you choose, bacon). The cafe also makes its own flavored peanut butters for even more interesting sandwiches: the Cinnamon Raisin Swirl sandwich (cinnamon-raisin PB with vanilla cream cheese and sliced apple) and the Heat Is On (spicy peanut butter with grilled chicken). Andrew, my proxy taster, ordered a special with maple peanut butter and bacon, while I opted for a tuna melt. The results lived up to the high concept.