Aj's Diner and Catering Services, Alcoa

At AJ's Diner & Catering, signature twists give an updated appeal to American favorites. To add zest to the Benton's bacon BLT, for example, the cooks smear it with housemade pimiento cheese as sharp as a block of cheese whittled into a knife. The simple quality of their ingredients also plays an important role: free-range chicken breasts go into a curried chicken salad with cashews, and for the tuna-salad sandwich, chefs smoke ahi tuna that's never from a can.