While brunch may be for relaxed, sit about weekends, breakfast is the true weekday workhorse. Too often we settle for smoothies or a bowl of limp, cold corn flakes, waiting until the weekend to really enjoy that most important meal of the day. Treat yourself during the week, when you really need it, to a delicious prepared breakfast at one of the many local diners, coffee houses, and even bars. The following is an eclectic selection of some of the most delicious and satisfying ways to start your day.
1. Breakfast Pizza at Hammerstone's
When a night out with friends becomes an early morning with friends, Hammerstone’s in Soulard is a natural choice for not only another beer or cocktail but breakfast as well. A fun place to people watch, the bar tables are taken up by police officers, second shifters, and late night tipplers. Hammerstone’s offers the standard bacon/eggs/pancakes but one of the most popular breakfast options is their breakfast pizza. Scrambled eggs, home made pork sausage gravy, bacon, onion, tomato, cheese, and green peppers are served up on a 9” or 14” thin St. Louis style pizza crust. Order one of the spicy Bloody Marys to drink with your breakfast pie and don’t plan on getting much done for the rest of the day. The pizzas are $7 for the 9” or $10 for the 14”.
2. The Breslin at the Mud House
The Breslin seems like a brunch dish. Rather refined for an everyday breakfast offering, it is a combination of dynamic, forward flavors. Curried green lentils are served with yogurt, cilantro, two soft poached eggs, and a piece of crusty bread with red chili flakes dotting the top of the dish. The confident combination of assertive flavors and distinct, contrasting textures results in an improbably balanced and authentic dish. Wildly popular at the Mud House, the Breslin was inspired by a lentil dish of the same name served at April Bloomfield’s Breslin restaurant in New York. For $9 you can start your day off with this most cosmopolitan of breakfasts.
3. Malted Belgian Waffle and Buttermilk Hotcakes at Olivette Diner
Breakfast at the Olivette Diner is not for pokey eaters or for frittering away your morning over coffee. With a counter and only a handful of booths and tables, seating is limited and there are always a few people clustered together, waiting near the entrance, anxiously eyeballing the next available spot. It’s the straightforward menu of items like house-made hollandaise and from-scratch batters and baked goods that keep people coming back. The malted Belgian waffle, crisp on the outside and with an extra toastiness from the malt and the fragrant, downy hotcakes are both a comforting and delicious choice and not to be missed. The service at the Olivette diner is genuine, friendly and gracious, and the prices can’t be beat. The malted Belgian waffle is $5.49 while a stack of two hotcakes is $3.75 or you can get four for $4.99.
4. Carne Adovada at Southwest Diner
Breakfast at Southwest Diner is a guaranteed great meal. During the weekends the line of people waiting for sustenance flows out onto the sidewalk. During the week, however, finding an available table is a much easier task. Inside, customers dig into plates of buttermilk cornmeal pancakes, New Mexican breakfast burritos, and slingers topped with red and green chile. One of Southwest’s tastiest breakfast specialties is the generously portioned, deliciously porky, carne adovada. Local pork shoulder is braised low and slow in spicy red chile and served with two eggs, home fries, and warm flour tortillas. The best way to tackle the dish is to chop and mix up everything on your plate wrapping the delicious red mess in a tortilla. It won’t look pretty but I promise you won’t care. The adovada is an even $10.
5. Johnny Cash at Kingside Diner
While there is an Elvis sandwich on the Kingside Diner menu, it’s the Johnny Cash breakfast sandwich which reigns supreme. An indulgent combination of maple cashew butter, thick cut bacon, and banana is layered between two hefty pieces of French toast. The resulting sandwich is surprisingly harmonious. The maple cashew butter melts a bit into the French toast, the salty, crunchy bacon adds necessary texture and the banana adds a mellow, soft sweetness. Each bite brings a different array of flavors, keeping the generously sized breakfast from becoming a snooze to eat. The Johnny Cash, served with fries or hash browns, is $9.
