Bellying up to a tasty new BLT

Given the counterintuitive, '70s-style "renewal" of the Ionic-columned rotunda in the Ritz-Carlton south of City Hall, it shouldn't be surprising that the BLT offered on the lunch menu is restyled as well - sleekly tailored, a sliver of seven-hour-braised pork belly undergirding it, and justifying, one could argue, a portion at least of its rather dear $15 price.

But it

is

a little startling: The classic BLT is a homeboy, and when it travels, it is most often found at the Formica lunch counter, or local diner, its bacon, ideally still sizzling, sticking out like a happy cowlick.

It is not the sandwich you'd pick for a makeover. But Jennifer Carroll, who grew up in Philadelphia's Northeast, knew she wanted one on the menu. She's the new chef at the Ritz's 10 Arts dining space, operated under the brand of Eric Ripert of Manhattan's celebrated Le Bernardin, where for a time (after stints in Manayunk's Sonoma and Arroyo Grille, and in San Francisco) she was sous chef. Le Bernardin, it should be noted, is known for incomparable seafood, not its artistry with pork products.

Her idea was to re-create the BLT from the trimmings from her dinner entree of "Pork and Beans," a crisped block of pork belly from Four Story Hill Farm rendered for seven hours at low heat, paired with a medley of fresh garden beans, and a light apple-celery salad. Ripert was reluctant -

pork belly

? But in the end, he relented.

The classic BLT is a stroke of genius - three ingredients, each ennobling the last, the hand-leafed (never shredded!!) iceberg lettuce providing sweet, juicy crunch next to the mildly acidic, yielding tomato, enhanced by the salty, fatty, crisp hot slices of bacon. It is a devil of a thing to get right: The tomato must not be chilled or too thin (common luncheonette errors). The lettuce should be cool and generous. The bacon, sizzling right off the grill, not precooked, drab, dried, brittle or burnt.

You can procure a decent example ($3) at, for instance, the Snow White diner at 19th and Chestnut, the bacon regriddled to order, though the tomato is nothing to write home about. For less than $4, there's a very credible contender at the Dutch Eating Place, the Amish counter at the Reading Terminal Market: The white bread is nicely toasted, the mayo generous, the lettuce leaves heaped, the bacon a bit chewy, the tomato - this time of year, at least - Lancaster County-grown, sliced thick, and abidingly fruity tart-sweet.

Which brings us to the genesis of Jennifer Carroll's BLT love: her mother's kitchen table in Somerton, Stroehmann's sliced white bread out of the bag, iceberg lettuce, local tomatoes, hold the mayo; "I'm a Miracle Whip girl, and I'm not ashamed to admit it!"

So it has come to pass at 10 Arts, that the chef got her sandwich. The bread is thin-sliced, gently toasted sourdough. The tomato and lettuce makes for a summer salad. The floor of it is the braised pork belly, sweet and tender and porky. The bacon (another part of the pork belly) is layered on top, Nueske's applewood-smoked bacon from Wisconsin, which for my money is in the very top ranks.

The toasts are cut in three, trim Kit-Kat-shaped blocks, and spread with a spicy mustard-mayo sauce spiked with a touch of Tabasco and the paprikalike Espelette pepper long favored over black pepper in Basque cookery.

It is a makeover, indeed, and darn tasty with its side of french fries. As tasty, though, as the BLT classic on toasted white or even a grilled hamburger bun, its hickory-smoked bacon still glistening, its lettuce crisp, the tomato warm from your neighbor's garden? With salt and pepper? And a whole lot of Miracle Whip?

For my money, it's not a real hard call.

Ritz-Carlton Hotel

10 S. Broad St.

215-523-8273