Regional dishes, like high school quarterbacks, rarely recapture their original glory once they move on.

The newly opened Bagel on Damen--Wicker Park's first legitimate bagel shop--understands that the je ne sais quoi of a classic local dish in its hometown is inimitable. And so they smartly innovated, instead of replicated, when they tackled New Orleans' vaunted muffuletta sandwich.

Bagel's "The Moof" ($7) substitutes a cloudlike smear of whipped jalapeño cream cheese for the traditional provolone, and drops the cappicola and mortadella altogether in favor of a thick, garlicky slab of hard salami.

The nutty perfume of the sesame-encrusted bagel--whisked downtown daily from Lincolnwood's long-loved bagel authority, New York Bagel & Bialy--conjures a heftier version of the famed Central Grocery focaccia-like muffuletta loaf. Add the bitter fruitiness of Bagel's carrot- and olive-studded relish (from the preserving fiends at Michigan's Froehlich's Bakery), and you've got Chicago's best example of the sandwich yet.

Every sandwich loves a little soup, and the vegan-friendly bowl of curried butternut squash--tempered by sweet hunks of roasted Granny Smith apple ($4), made by local small-batch soup maker Delano Crawford of Supa Zuppa--makes a choice companion.

Bagel on Damen, 1252 N. Damen Ave. (at Potomac St.); 773-722-2243