These New Restaurants Are Waking Up the Breakfast Menu

From a Thai café in Berkeley to a Cuban-Filipino diner in Chicago, these are the 14 best new breakfast spots in the US.
A wide selection a food and beverages from Memoire Cà Phê in Portland Oregon.
The breakfast spread at Memoire Cà Phê in Portland, OR, includes pandan waffles, black sesame cinnamon rolls, and shrimp omelets.Photo by Christine Dong

When I’m scouting for Bon Appétit’s annual Best New Restaurants list (coming soon!), I set my alarm about two hours earlier than I’d dream of waking up back home in New York. My “official” order of business is typically some buzzed-about dinner spot, but my greatest thrills these past few years have often come before noon. As American breakfast morphs and expands to encompass morning rituals the world over, our first meal of the day has become something we seek out and treat with deserved respect.

Though there’s a long and understandable tradition of chefs phoning in the breakfast shift and focusing their energy on dinner, this year was dominated by restaurants approaching the morning meal with excitement and creativity. Even as old-school diners close, taking their nostalgic railroad car facades and bitter-as-bark coffee with them, chefs are revitalizing the genre with an eye for thoughtful sourcing and reimagined breakfast plates. While the restaurants on this list aren’t above French toast and pancakes, they bring something new to even the most well-trodden dishes.

At Tanzie’s, a snug daytime restaurant in Berkeley, partners Krissana Tussanaprasit and Jezreel Rojas season billowy ribbons of soft scrambled eggs with chicken bouillon and serve them alongside hunks of braised beef shank and lashings of the fiery, galangal-heavy Thai condiment nam prik kha—call it Steak and Eggs 2.0. And in a sunny Austin alley outfitted with makeshift milk crate tables, earlybird Texans sip chamomile-maize soda and revel in Mercado Sin Nombre’s dusky masa pancakes. Soaked in syrup made with the unrefined sugar piloncillo, they’re anything but old-hat. In 2025, you deserve more than a bowl of oatmeal and a scrap of toast. These 14 new breakfast spots are sure to get you right. —Elazar Sontag, restaurant editor


Bayan Ko Diner, Chicago

Baby Bangus The Cubano Breakfast Burrito and Puffed French Toast from Bayan Ko Diner in Chicago Illinois.
Bangus and eggs and a ropa vieja breakfast burrito.Photo by Jeff Marini

At the tropically appointed, all-day spot Bayan Ko Diner on Chicago’s North Side, wife-husband owners Raquel Quadreny and chef Lawrence Letrero reimagine diner breakfast through the satiating, sticky-good melding of Filipino and Cuban culture. It helps that they’re already beloved for this brilliant mashup at their Michelin-recognized sibling restaurant, Bayan Ko, about 200 feet away. Expect Cubano breakfast burritos with shaggy ropa vieja; plates of custardy scrambled eggs, black beans, and sweet plantains; and sisig hash. In the hash, tender-crisp cubes of pork belly mingle with shishito peppers and smashed potatoes beneath a sunny egg squiggled with black vinegar aioli. “Garlic rice?” isn’t so much a question as an affirmation that you’ve chosen the correct side for sopping up all that yolk and meaty juice. You’ll want the brioche-like Filipino sweet bread ensaymada for the table, capped with melted cheddar and soused in cinnamon glaze. In typical diner fashion, the coffee will keep coming till you say “enough.” —Maggie Hennessy, contributing writer


Circles, Hudson, New York

Circles is, first and foremost, a bagel shop. Tray Tepper fine-tuned his recipe over years of pop-ups, developing a proudly-sourdough round with a precise balance of crackling crust and just-chewy-enough crumb, before finding a permanent address just off of bustling Warren Street in the town of Hudson. As much as Tepper would like everyone to appreciate the subtle pleasures of a plain bagel shaped by hand, baked each morning, and finished with just a schmear of good cream cheese, Circles is also very much a toppings shop. His signature offerings are as idiosyncratic as they are craveable, and reflect his time working at Diner in Brooklyn and the kaleidoscopic Lil Deb’s Oasis just up the street. Whitefish salad prickling with chile and festooned with great tufts of cilantro. Aioli, avocado, and local bacon under a literal handful of pickled vegetables. Bright, gloriously messy constructions that strike fear into the hearts of napkins everywhere. As much as Circles is a bagel shop and a toppings shop, it also happens to be an unusually lovely place to enjoy those bagels and toppings. Designed in collaboration with the artist Luka Carter, the sunlight-filled space is a riot of textures and color: sculptural tables covered in Dijon tile, amoeba-esque clocks fashioned from painted wood and plexiglass and clay, trippy handmade mugs. Here, the perfunctory “to stay, or to go?” would be more aptly put: “Is there anywhere else you’d rather be?” —Amiel Stanek, contributing editor


Cocina Consuelo, New York

Like many of the best restaurants these days, Cocina Consuelo began as a pandemic project, a way for Karina Garcia and Lalo Rodriguez to conquer loneliness in their neighborhood of Hamilton Heights. The couple started by selling tacos. Then, fueled by a warm reception, they hosted a series of dinner parties serving Garcia’s spins on the cuisine of Rodriguez’s native Puebla. Their brick-and-mortar restaurant, a blue storefront just a few blocks from their apartment, extends the inviting spirit of their more homespun days. Even when the dining room overflows with eager diners (on a Sunday morning: guaranteed), Garcia and Rodriguez refuse to rush anyone out the door. As Rodriguez oversees the teeny dining room, Garcia commands an equally small open kitchen. Homemade, crisped tortillas impressed with paper-thin hoja santa leaves and cradling just-set fried eggs are her loving take on a dish Rodriguez ate as a snack growing up. A single massive pancake, the undeniable star of the breakfast menu, is a symbol of the restaurant’s generosity. When a gluten-free regular showed up craving pancakes—one of the few dishes on the menu that included wheat at the time—Garcia refashioned the recipe just for him. The extra dose of corn flour brought a nice sweetness, and the new recipe stuck. Now every table features at least one order, dripping honey butter and glistening like a glazed donut. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations, but queuing up at Cocina Consuelo brings the same fuzzy feeling as hanging out in a friend’s kitchen while they cook for you. —Elazar Sontag


Comedor Nishi, La Jolla, California

A divine truth: food tastes better near the beach. Seasoned with salt air, even the most lackluster sandwich takes on a glow. But I assure you that’s not all Comedor Nishi in La Jolla, California, has going for it. Chef Panchito Ibáñez is cooking one of the finest breakfasts in California. Ibáñez previously cooked at Pujol, the Mexico City restaurant considered one of the best in the world, and has assembled a star team at Comedor Nishi. This sterling pedigree helps explain why the crackly conchas are homemade, ribbons of salmon are cured in-house, and a procession of enchiladas, tostadas, and other corn-based dishes all feature the most supple masa. The sunny Mexican restaurant is outfitted with cool tiled floors and a cute espresso bar to one side of the open kitchen churns out lattes spiked with horchata. A section of the menu is dedicated to nutritious bowls—would this really be a California cafe without quinoa?—but they share space with considerably more decadent and elaborate dishes. A massive square of brioche French toast is lavished with berry compote and sour cream. Pudgy, tender sopes are piled with mounds of lamb barbacoa. That all of this exists five minutes from the beach feels like some ridiculous gift from the cosmos. —Elazar Sontag


Diane’s Place, Minneapolis

Pouring syrup on french toast with raspberries whipped cream and confectioner's sugar with an espresso martini at...
Thai tea French toast, made with flaky croissant bread.Photo by Connor Siedow

It’s easy to lose yourself in the pastries at Diane’s Place. Black sesame egg tarts! Decadent coconut pandan croissants! Scallion danishes dripping in garlic butter! But Diane Moua does much more than bake at this soulful Hmong restaurant in Northeast Minneapolis. Though the restaurant is open through dinner, the dining room is liveliest in the daytime. During a bustling morning shift, Moua zags between tables as diners lean against bench pillows handstitched with fabric cut from traditional Hmong dresses. She comes bearing bowls of superlative chicken noodle soup with housemade rice noodles, plates of sticky pork belly with mustard greens, and slabs of Thai tea French toast that breathe new life into leftover croissants. Hmong sausage, made in collaboration with neighboring Lowry Hill Provisions, comes with sticky rice and a kicky sweet and sour sauce. The coarse-ground sausage is an ode to the aromatic, tangy version Moua made with her grandparents growing up on their family farm in central Wisconsin. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager


Casaema, Houston

A mushroom tetela from CasaEma in Houston Texas.
A tetela filled with mushroom carrot tinga and served in salsa verde.Photo by Marlen Mendoza

On busy weekends, diners queue cheerfully outside Casaema. As the line slowly snakes inside, they debate whether to order the horchata berlinesa or the hibiscus-dusted concha (both, they’ll decide). Inside an airy, modern dining room flooded with light from tall windows, chef Nicolas Vera and pastry chef Stephanie Velasquez reward patience with a satisfying menu focused on ingredients native to Mexico. For breakfast and lunch, that means thick slices of French toast blanketed with strawberry compote and topped with dollops of spiced hoja santa custard. Savory dishes like the taco de zanahoria are textural wonders: the softness of a sweet confit carrot, the hearty, well-hydrated tortilla made with heirloom corn, and a spray of crisp pumpkin seeds in an enlivening salsa. Take your time perusing the pastry case, where Velasquez shows off a remarkable spread of pan dulce that includes flaky guava queso empanadas and crumbly pecan besitos. —Sam Stone, staff writer


Mémoire Cà Phê, Portland, OR

A wide selection a food and beverages from Memoire Cà Phê in Portland Oregon.
The breakfast spread at Memoire Cà Phê in Portland, OR, includes pandan waffles, black sesame cinnamon rolls, and shrimp omelets.Photo by Christine Dong

Richard Le, Kimberly Dam, and Lisa Nguyen spent years dreaming up a restaurant concept between their sporadic pop-up collaborations. Last year, the three friends finally opened a restaurant shaped by their shared vision. Mémoire Cà Phê is a cozy five-table restaurant in northeast Portland’s Vernon neighborhood. As the name suggests, their menu is informed by fond food memories. An omelette inspired by Le’s mother’s recipe features tender shrimp tucked inside eggs made fluffy with coconut milk, topped with basil, garlic chips, and zippy homemade fish sauce. The salted foam pandan matcha, its vanilla-like sweetness grounded by grassy matcha, is a nod to chè bánh lọt, a pandan jelly dessert that the three owners all remember warmly from childhood. Dishes are hearty and built around big flavors: a salty-sweet slab of thick-cut bacon braised in fish sauce and served on a pandan waffle; furiously spicy đụ má’ hot sauce electrifying a breakfast burrito. Each dish ensures that Mémoire Cà Phê makes a lasting impression. —Sam Stone


Mercado Sin Nombre, Austin

Pouring syrup over masa pancakes from Mercado Sin Nombre in Austin Texas.
Lofty masa pancakes topped with pilloncilo syrup.Photo by Bryan G. Olivas

Blink and you’ll miss Mercado Sin Nombre. Restaurateur Julian Maltby’s breakfast spot is little more than an ordering window in the middle of a sun-drenched alley in East Austin. But humble environs belie the research, care, and craft behind his creative coffee program and inventive breakfast offerings. Inspired by frequent trips to Mexico, where he fell in love with the country’s dynamic coffee and food culture, Maltby imports coffee beans and heirloom corn from Mexican farmers. At Mercado Sin Nombre, that corn is nixtamalized onsite and woven throughout the menu. One morning, you’ll fall in love with an egg sandwich doused with devilishly spicy hot sauce and cradled between two halves of an earthy blue corn masa biscuit. The next, it’ll be the standout masa dessert inspired by a Twinkie, filled with chili-tinged chocolate ganache, and finished with a swirl of toasted marshmallow. To drink, try Mercado Sin Nombre's take on a cortado, the bitter coffee balanced by the subtly sweet flavor of the masa-based beverage atole. More proof, if you needed it, that in the right hands, corn improves most anything. —Sam Stone

This Is the Coolest Dessert in Austin

At Mercado Sin Nombre heirloom masa transforms a nostalgic lunchbox treat into so much more.

Arrow

No Comply Foods, Great Barrington, MA

No Comply Foods is a zine of a restaurant, scrappy, honest, and pure. That’s in line with the general vibe of chef Stephen Browning, an avid skateboarder who built the business alongside his wife, Julie Browning. Together, they’ve transformed a quirky freestanding house into a cozy, lived-in all-day café with art on the walls and the occasional skateboard deck jostled into a sun-filled corner. The hang-loose vibes inspire a menu that is relaxed and inviting, yet executed with precision and remarkable consistency. The food is exactly what the pair wants to eat, which will turn out to be exactly what you want to eat, too. And wow, can Browning cook: He is as good at making a meatball sub as he is at frying falafel, stir-frying rice, or executing crisp-pillowy French fries. At No Comply, named for a skateboard move, unexpected sleights of hand shape each dish. The Turkish eggs hide custardy pockets of Japanese sweet potato, while tangles of fried tortillas sharpen the texture of Napa cabbage and feta salad, and the baked beans in the English-ish breakfast are huge scarlet runners with an unexpected touch of molasses. The menu is constantly evolving, and every visit is a chance to see what else Browning will do to mess with your expectations of brunch. —Chris Morocco, food director


Norm’s Diner, Detroit

Pancakes and butter from Norm's Diner in Detroit Michigan.
A wholesome order of pancakes—pat of butter required.Photo by Justine Castle
The exterior of Norm's Diner in Detroit Michigan.
Photo by Justine Castle

The American diners of yore were defined by a warm sameness—the sure feeling that no matter where you ended up, you’d find familiar decor and omelet specials. Norm’s Diner manages to capture this essential spirit while rooting itself firmly in Detroit. On summer weekends, there are Coney dogs topped with chorizo gravy, and when Michigan cherries are in peak season, they bring a pop of color and sweetness to chicken salad. Owners Elise Gallant and Danielle Norman are lowkey and unpretentious in their approach, quietly imbuing their friendly restaurant with an unwavering dedication to precise technique and careful sourcing. Opened just last year, Norm’s already feels like a neighbourhood institution worn in by years of happy regulars. There are leather banquettes, all-day pancakes, and rotating daily specials like a substantial croque madame on Texas toast. Virtually everything is homemade, and anything that’s outsourced comes from Midwestern purveyors. Greens and tomatoes come from Gallant’s father’s farm in nearby Southfield, and eggs are sourced from Michigan chickens. During a busy morning rush, Gallant and Norman wander the dining room refilling bottomless drip coffee and running plates of food to familiar faces. —Kate Kassin


Pure Quill Superette, Atlanta

The booths at Pure Quill Superette in Atlanta Georgia.
Photo by Ben Nguyen Pham

Breakfast is ingrained in Hudson Rouse’s DNA. In his early days as a cook, Rouse was a staple at Grant Park Farmers Market, slinging breakfast built around each day’s market offerings. Next came Rising Son, where he offered dishes like crispy breakfast dumplings kissed with soy-maple glaze. Pure Quill is his latest take on dawn-to-dusk dining, a modern Southern luncheonette and grocer housed in a circa-1914 brick building. The luncheonette takes its name from one of Rouse’s favorite country acts, Pinto Bennett & the Famous Motel Cowboys. Pure quill is a term used in Western rancher circles to signify something is “the real deal.” He honors that ethos on a menu rooted in Southern classics with twists you might not expect. A hoe cake layered with hearty braised collards and a runny fried egg comes with cane syrup for slathering and a homemade hot sauce that lights up each bite. Fried chicken livers bejewel a rice bowl, beautifully accented with dollops of rich gravy, caramelized onions, and fresh scallions. Down to the last bite, Pure Quill is very much the real deal. —Pervaiz Shallwani, senior staff writer and editor, global foodways


Swadesi Cafe, Chicago

A Side Malai Custard Croissant from Swadesi in Chicago Illinois.
Swadesi's malai custard croissant, filled with rasmalai and pistachio cream.Photo by Kevin White

Sujan Sarkar is the mastermind behind the opulent South Asian fine dining restaurant Indienne, one of Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurants of 2023. Now he’s turned his attention to breakfast. At Swadesi, croissants are filled with butter chicken, topped with chaat, and stuffed with decadent gulab jamun cheesecake. A wholesome breakfast sandwich stands out for its crackly fried aloo tikki patty and custardy masala eggs topped with American cheese and sandwiched between a buttery housemade roll slicked with fiery garlic mayo. Pair breakfast with a proper cup of steaming masala chai or any number of inventive lattes, including a winning salty-sweet toasted peanut version with roasted peanut praline, jaggery, and cold cream. Sip and savor or set up for some laptop work in the spacious dining room where illuminated floor-to-ceiling windows capture the surrounding bustle of the West Loop. —Pervaiz Shallwani

A Day at Chicago’s Only Michelin Star Indian Restaurant

Watch: A day on the line with Akshay Kumar, Chef de Partie at Indienne

Arrow

Tanzie’s, Berkeley

The Nam Prik Kha at Tanzie's in Berkeley California.
“Lava eggs” served over rice with beef shank and nam prik kha.Photo by Madelyn Markoe

Breakfast at Tanzie’s revolves around one very good dish: soft-scrambled eggs, twirled into rose-shaped bundles and draped over steaming white rice in the style of Japanese omurice. Chef-partners Jezreel Rojas and Krissana Tussanaprasit have earned a devoted following for these so-called lava eggs, seasoned with chicken bouillon for a blast of umami saltiness. In a dining room framed by a series of archways that make the low-slung space feel a bit like a beehive, they serve these eggs alongside various proteins: Northern Thai sausage flecked with fiery chilis; ground pork cooked with tomatoes and potent curry paste; pleasantly chewy slivers of garlicky, sweet pork jowl. Early on, Tussanaprasit was nervous that her Thai breakfast restaurant wouldn’t be a hit with American diners. On the contrary, breakfast at Tanzie’s has been such a hit that the couple recently launched a five-course tasting menu. Their dining room now packed and wind in their sails, the couple is digging deeper into the cooking of Tussanaprasit’s native Chiang Mai, serving dishes like khao khan jin, a glistening mixture of rice, salty pork bits, and pork blood steamed in banana leaves. Of course, the eggs that started it all are still on the menu. —Elazar Sontag


Tina in the Gables, Coral Gables, Florida

Squeezing half a lemon over the softshell crab sandwich at Tina in the Gables in Coral Gables Florida.
The soft shell crab sandwich at Tina in the Gables is served on a shokupan bun with pico de gallo and tartar sauce.Photo by Gustavo Marmol

Tina in the Gables captures the thrilling breadth of Miami’s food scene, the small restaurant reflecting the diversity of communities that call this city home. A wholesome seeded arepa dubbed the Coral Queen is stuffed with shredded rotisserie chicken and creamy avocado salad. A towering soft shell crab sandwich comes on a pillowy shoku-bun slathered with tartar sauce and pico de gallo. The Venezuelan-inflected breakfast spot in Coral Gables comes from the team behind the much-hyped New York-style pizza joint Miami Slice and the neighborhood arepa restaurant La Latina. The airy, concrete-floored restaurant is only open during the day, and locals make an event out of breakfast, flocking to the restaurant until it closes. They dig into smashed Peruvian potatoes fashioned into crisp tater tots and French toast fragrant with orange zest, served in a pool of maple syrup that threatens to spill over en route to the table. Show up before 10 a.m. or be prepared to wait in line with anyone else who woke up craving this unique taste of Miami, which is to say, most of the neighborhood. —Kate Kassin