Best Breakfast & Brunch

TripSavvy Editors' Choice Awards 2018

By
TripSavvy Editors
TripSavvy Editors
We’re a team of experienced writers and editors who obsessively scour the world to find the best places, products, and businesses in the world. 
TripSavvy's editorial guidelines
Updated on 06/26/19
Pineapple pancakes at Snooze

Snooze, an A.M. Eatery 

We're confident breakfast is the best meal of the day. When else is it appropriate to wash down eggs Benedict with a Bloody Mary, and to demand an order of table pancakes (pancakes for the table to share) on top of it all? From fried chicken and waffles in Houston to a traditional Japanese breakfast in Brooklyn, here are TripSavvy's favorite breakfasts and brunches for 2018.

Breakfast & Brunch

Bloody Marys at Snooze
 Snooze, an A.M. Eatery

Snooze, an A.M. Eatery: Denver, Colo. — featured in The Best Breakfasts in Denver

For those who subscribe to the belief that breakfast is not just the most important meal of the day, but also the most delicious, Snooze gets you. Snooze exudes a peppy 1970s upscale diner vibe. Here, Bloody Marys are made with a bacon-infused bourbon and pancakes are decadent with a capital D. (Think: blueberry pancakes dressed up with a sweet cream, almond streusel and a lemony cream cheese filling). For those who can’t play favorites when it comes to pancakes, go for the flight and choose a few different creations.Yes, the wait list is long (proof it’s a beloved Denver institution), but yard games like cornhole and ring toss are setup to keep the crowds entertained. With restaurants concentrated in the West, including several in Colorado, Snooze recently announced it will be opening up its first East coast restaurant in Charlotte. –Brittany Anas

Breakfast at Cafe Mogador
Cafe Mogador

Cafe Mogador: Brooklyn, N.Y. — featured in The Best Brunch in Williamsburg

The Brooklyn outpost of Cafe Mogador is known for their first rate Moroccan-Inspired breakfast, brunch, and dinners. The Moroccan restaurant, with its Middle Eastern decor, is a destination, located in the heart of Williamsburg, a block from the main drag, and surrounded by nightclubs, concert venues and hip hotels. Although known for their decadent breakfast, where you might want to order Moroccan eggs served poached with tomato sauce and pita bread, the restaurant has a great lunch and dinner menu, with many options that are ideal for sharing. Dine on a myriad of mezze plates including matbucha and pair it with one of their flavorful tangines. –Alison Lowenstein

A traditional Japanese breakfast at Okonomi
 Okonomi

Okonomi: Brooklyn, N.Y. — featured in The Best Breakfast in Brooklyn

A breakfast restaurant with no pancakes or waffles in sight, the twelve-table Okonomi specializes in Japanese-style breakfasts — savory, multi-faceted, and prepared with the same exacting attention as any other aspect of Japanese cuisine. Open only from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on a quiet residential Williamsburg street, Okonomi serves set meals in the ichiju-sansai tradition (literally “one soup three dishes”). A meal might include rice, fish, miso soup, a small square of omelet, perhaps pickles, perhaps the fermented soybean natto, a delicate “onsen” poached egg; it’s a meal in a half a dozen perfectly composed acts. (The space transforms into the equally acclaimed Yuji Ramen at night.) –Carey Jones

Fried chicken and waffles at the Breakfast Klub
The Breakfast Klub 

The Breakfast Klub: Houston, Texas — featured in The Best Brunches in Houston

If chicken and waffles is your idea of heaven, then the Breakfast Klub might as well be the pearly gates. This Midtown brunch spot is where locals go to get the kind of good, old-fashioned comfort food grandma used to make. The menu is full of all the best Southern breakfast foods: biscuits and gravy, "katfish" and grits and (of course) chicken wings and waffles. On any given day, you’ll see a line out the door and around the block — but don’t let that scare you away. The line moves fairly quickly, and the food is well worth the wait. –Robyn Correll

The Corner
Courtesy of The Corner 

The Corner: Montclair, N.J. — featured in North Jersey's Best Juice Bars

This appropriately named gourmet cafe located on a busy corner in Montclair, N.J. serves the finest coffee, tea and fresh-pressed juices and has a delicious in-house pastry and savory menu full of breakfast classics, sandwiches, salads, soups, snacks and more. Relax at indoor seating, weather-appropriate outdoor seating, or a window-ledge bar to watch the world go by. Don't miss the famous “230 Cookie,” a chocolate chip cookie made fresh every day at 2:30 in the afternoon. –Eric Handelsman

Beans & Barley: Milwaukee, Wis. — featured in Milwaukee's Best Breakfast Spots

As Milwaukee's original farm-to-table restaurant (in business since 1973), Beans and Barley — on the city’s bustling East Side — flaunts a diner-like setting (there’s even a vintage-y counter) with a take-out deli and grocery store to match. This is the perfect spot to linger over breakfast items like challah bread French toast topped with sliced almonds, with local artists’ works hung on the wall and sunlight streaming in through tall windows. Vegans and vegetarians won’t go hungry, thanks to dishes like the tofu scrambler. The weekend-brunch menu expands to include selections like huevos rancheros plus biscuits and gravy. – Kristine Hansen