Favorite breakfast joints [Greater Boston, MA]

Regional Dining Discussions Boston, New England
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Our favorite neighborhood spot for a weekend breakfast is Cafe 12 in Chelmsford Center. Do you have a go-to breakfast place and what keeps you coming back?

Today we feasted on French toast with Nutella and a “wakey wakey” bowl of scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, avocado, sour cream, and salsa over home fries. Breakfasts here have reliably been good or great for a small local place. No table service (you order at the counter and plates are brought to you when ready). The very good hot coffee is serve yourself so you can always keep your mug topped up.

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I would add the Irish Cottage in Methuen. Really well done breakfasts 7 days a week, but the Egg Benedict on their corned beef hash is the best.

And they have a very traditional Irish breakfast on the menu my brother swears by but I haven’t had (blood sausage??)

http://www.theirishcottagepub.com/

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Might have to check out as the Middle Eastern food at Korbani’s Bakery in Methuen is often on our weekend shopping list. Irish Cottage could be part of a combo outing. Thanks!

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OK, I confess that I almost never go out for sit down American style or traditional breakfast (I left out the scare quotes there, but you know what I mean?) in the Boston area these days–not because I don’t like it, but generally because if I’m going to eat eggs or pancakes it’s just easier and cheaper for me to make them myself. But! I like this thread, and so I wanted to say that when I do go out in the mornings on the weekends there are a few places around that I do like to go:

Demet’s Donuts, Medford: this is my favorite old school donut spot, especially with Betty Ann’s and Verna’s long gone. It’s not as cheap as it used to be and it’s maybe not as deeply satisfying as Kane’s et al., but the cake donuts here are still a great morning go to. And they ain’t three bucks a piece, either.

Tenoch, Medford near as I can tell, this is the most popular place in Medford Square. Went to Zam Zam nearby for lunch last Saturday, and while walking around Medford Square noted that though EVERY OTHER restaurant in the Square from Papa Gino’s to Sura BBQ was desolate and unpopulated, at the same time Tenoch was jammed. Mostly I feel like the food here is fine (if unspectacular), but it’s priced right and well run and the breakfast sandwiches are a good, solid way to start the day.

Golden Garden, Malden–I have only been to this Dongbei spot once for dumplings etc in the AM, but it was pretty good even though they really only had 75% of the stuff available on the breakfast menu. Since they have since closed their Belmont operation, I intend to go back soon and see if they have started to do some real specialties that are on their menu that they didn’t offer last time–like the maize flour dumplings.

Cafe de Lulu, Malden–don’t expect to sit down here, because it seats about 6. But if you get lucky or just want carryout, this is the most straight up Hong Kong style diner food you can get in the area. The french toast is great.

Sun Kong, Malden I’ve mentioned before here that I don’t think that Boston really has any top notch Chinese dim sum spots (please school me if you feel otherwise!). But as far as I’m concerned, this restaurant is better’n all the cart service places downtown and the parking is a lot easier. Lots of options and decent dumplings.

Windsor Dim Sum Cafe, Boston–out of all the Chinatown places for breakfast, this is my fave. (Note: if you have a really young child or children and want to go out somewhere without anyone caring if she/he etc throws a tantrum, then go to Hei La Moon. It’s OK food and huge and loud, and no one will care). If you go at peak times at Windsor you might find yourself standing on the stairs and waiting, but imo this is the best morning order-off-the-menu joint downtown.

Shangri-La, Belmont–would link to this place, but its website keeps giving me a malware warning! That said, this is a solid location for Taiwanese brunch. Crullers, dumplings, turnip cake, tendon in chili sauce etc. You might have to wait on the sidewalk to get in, but it’s worth it.

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What a fantastic list, @passing_thru! Breakfast places certainly don’t have to be American-style food. And now I want dumplings.

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Yeah, for dim sum I’m still waiting for Yank Sing to open in Boston :wink:

One place we have breakfast in Tel Aviv from time to time, Landwer, is opening their first location in the US in Boston, near Fenway at Adubon Circle. Decent shakshuka.

Also Cook (Newtonville) has an interesting, slightly offbeat (and very good) take on shakshuka, but only available for brunch Saturday and Sunday.

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cool. I had not heard about this at all. will keep my eyes out for the opening!

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Breakfast is the easiest meal in the world to make. And what I make at home is really better than anything out. Occasionally I do want Eggs Benedict and I want someone else to make the sauce and the eggs. Once upon a time, the Ball Square dualing spots had a good Eggs Benedict, but the last time I went to Ball Square Cafe, the hollandaise was clumpy and didn’t really seem to be even remotely fresh.

If I am meeting friends who don’t want me to cook, we generally choose the Neighborhood. It is nearby. The cream of wheat is still special. There are a wide range of options. The bread is good. The hash is even better. And during the summer, you can eat outdoors.

That said, every Sunday, Mr. SMT wants my buttermilk [Kate’s] pancakes with maple syrup from Northern New Hampshire, bacon from Karl’s Sausage Kitchen, and french style scrambled eggs. And, he gets this nap-inducing meal every week.

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Yum! Not that it’s a breakfast place, but the goodness of Karl’s Sausage Kitchen could deserve a thread of its own. It’s been awhile since I was able to get to Karl’s, though.

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For an American style breakfast, nothing beats The Allston Diner in my book. Perfectly cooked over easy eggs with not a whiff of brown anywhere near them. I either get their excellent in house made corned beef hash, or the wonderful barbecue beef brisket. They also have excellent Italian roast coffee that’s the best I’ve had outside of my kitchen. I make great breakfast as well, but I don’t make corned beef hash or barbecue brisket, so when I’m in the mood for those, to Allston Diner I go. My friend from California (from the South originally) loves their Chicken and Waffles, fried breast meat chicken with corn bread waffles, and a side of sausage gravy. He gets it every time I take him there , about once a year.

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Will have to check out Sun Kong’s dim sum; thanks for the recommendation!

I agree on Shangri-La; and the wait has never been too long when we visited. Wish their brunch menu had more vegetable options; i think the only choices are cold seaweed and a vegetable rice noodle. I’d still take this over the craziness that is Chung Shin Yuan on weekends. The last time we went, we were told by our waitress to hurry up with our food and checks since there are people behind us waiting - and that just soured my impression of the place. (Also, what’s with the place serving crappy American Chinese fare on weekdays? Dim Sum chef only comes in on weekends?)

As an alternative of Windsor since it’s always packed, we like Great Taste Bakery. It fills up quickly too but it doesn’t hurt to walk by and see if you’ll get lucky. Great Taste has a deep fried turnip cake triangle dish with XO sauce; absolutely satisfying when it’s done right with a crackling crust and some hoisin sauce (ask the waitress for it). I also like the egg yolk bun that has a runny egg-y custard center; it’s a popular dim-sum item in HK but surprisingly rare in Boston Chinatown.

On the other hand, Windsor has a great stir-fry turnip cake with xo sauce (and chinese leeks and bean sprouts) that’s not on other menus - it’s hard to say which turnip cake dish I like more but either is better than the plain pan-fried slices at dim sum parlor (in my opinion).

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I like Great Taste too. They have good egg tarts that you can get at the counter that I almost always stop in for when I’m in Chinatown. I’ve only sat down to eat here a couple of times, but I’ve always thought that it was one of the better Cantonese places that I’ve been to down there.

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I like the breakfast items from La Qchara in Melrose, especially since I can have them when I’m there for lunch or dinner. The Venezuelan Benedict is a favorite and the specials are always worth a look. Excellent baked goods too.

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Actually, Karl’s does serve breakfast! They have a small eat-in area. I’ve never tried eating in, but I can’t imagine that it’s not good given the quality of their products.

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I haven’t eaten at Karl’s but visited twice now and at least what is available in the store is very underwhelming, extremely overpriced (even compared to other German shops in the US), low quality selection of German/European products and make sure to look on the expiration date of many of their products as it is often expired. Their cold cuts, e.g. blood tongue sausage, taste old and stale. Being originally from Germany I had high hopes to get some good products and good quality in house made meat products but so far it was a big let down.

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I cannot stop going to The Burro Bar in Brookline for their delicious huevos rancheros or the chillaquiles. Weekends only 11am-3pm. They offer lots of tequila and mezcal as well :slight_smile:

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