Baguette Box

First-rate sandwiches until 3 a.m. on weekends? Our prayers have been answered. Though Monsoon owner Eric Banh's much-anticipated sandwich shop has only been open since late May, it's already garnered raves from prominent foodies and Cap Hill pub crawlers alike. Everything that ends up inside the Box's aggressively crunchy baguettes (from Macrina Bakery) has the kind of rich flavor and conceptual rightness that grace each meal at Monsoon, so sandwiches like the Atlantic salmon gravlax ($7.50), the crispy drunken chicken ($6.50), and the veal-beef-sausage meatball ($6.90) are genuine meals, not rucksack snacks. Savvy restaurateur that he is, Banh has kept it simple: seven sandwiches, a few sides, and two wines served by the glass. The decor follows suit: A true box of a restaurant, the place is elegant in its bareness, which only emphasizes the artful cooking happening, in plain sight, in the box-within-a-box that is the kitchen. 1203 Pine St., 206-332-0220. CAPITOL HILL