Benedictine spread is a Louisville specialty, a cucumber-chinked mix of mayonnaise and cream cheese, popularized by Jennie Benedict, a caterer and tea room proprietor who made her reputation in the late 1800's.

I've eaten a tub or three of the green-food-coloring-enlivened stuff over the years. But the appeal was as rooted in kitsch as in good taste.

Kathy Cary of Lilly's changed that when she dished me an on-the-fly sandwich of Benedictine that was smeared on wheat bread and crossed with bacon strips. At once smoky and cool, salty and sweet, it's among the most compelling sandwiches that I have eaten.

On the same haute-Southern menu at this linen-draped boite: bourbon and rye cocktails spiked with house-made bitters that taste of anise and citrus, of root and bark.

[Other winners in Mr. Edge's ten picks in America for 2006 included Thomas Keller's Bouchon brasserie and bakery in Yountville, California, for lemon curd donuts; John Besh's Restaurant August in New Orleans for sugar-and-spice lacquered breast of duck; and Ann Cashion's Eat Place in Washington, D.C. for roasted chicken with truffles.]