Dear Ari,

In honor of tomato season, I've been experimenting with various forms of the BLT. I've tried adding avocado, hot peppers, cheese, ranch dressing, mustard and other logical players. Do you have any words of wisdom in this department?

—BLTrainer

Well yes, I do have a few thoughts on the BLT. First and foremost, the BLT is nothing without mayo, which interacts with the tomato in a very special way. And my preferred premade mayo is actually fake mayo: grapeseed oil Vegenaise, made by Earth Island.

Imagine for a moment that New Mexico is a sovereign land—a nation similar to the state we inhabit, but one that evolved strictly by its own devices, with no meddling from outsiders. It would be a place with its own official dictionary, wherein “Christmas” is formalized as a verb with several conjugated forms, as in: I would have Christmased my enchiladas, but August is such a green month.

Although this is the big week for romantic candlelit dinners, hopefully you make time for a few of those at other times of the year as well. If not, well, maybe it’s time to start. Here’s a few of our suggestions for places to take your sweetie out to dinner on a special day, even if that special day is just “Friday, and it’s been a long week.” You’ll probably want to make reservations for these ones, and wear your nice shoes.