Diner on the Square

Wauwatosa Square. Proper Midwestern diner breakfast done exactly right. German-influenced egg dishes reflect Milwaukee's heritage. 15 minutes from American Family Field — go before a Brewers day game.

German farmer's breakfast + coffee

Open 7 AM daily

A 28-foot spaceman on Route 66 since 1965. The drive-in still serves burgers.

Lou Mitchell's

Jackson Blvd since 1923. A Chicago institution older than most Wrigley Field renovations. Double-yolk eggs, homemade marmalade, complimentary Milk Duds while you wait. Cubs and Sox fans both claim it.

Double-yolk omelette + fresh OJ

Open 5:30 AM–3 PM Mon–Sat

Five colorfully painted 1960s Volkswagen Beetles stacked on top of each other in a pawn shop parking lot in Defiance. A mannequin climbs out of the fourth one. This is art.

West Side Market

Ohio City since 1912. The greatest market hall in the Midwest. Over 100 vendors — pierogi, kielbasa, fresh bread. Grab breakfast from multiple stalls and eat in the main hall. A Cleveland essential.

Fresh pierogi + kielbasa + bread from multiple stalls

Open 7 AM Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun

The only road in the world that passes underneath the Erie Canal. Beep your horn inside the tunnel. It's tradition, and the echo makes it worth it.

Frans Restaurant

Toronto diner institution since 1940. Open 24 hours. The full Canadian breakfast with back bacon, eggs, toast, and homefries is the essential pre-Blue Jays morning. Multiple downtown locations.

Full Canadian breakfast + coffee

Open 24 hours

A fire-breathing steel sculpture rises from a field beside Route 20 near East Bethany. Private property, but clearly visible from the road and absolutely baffling.

Down Home Diner

Reading Terminal Market since 1987. Jack McDavid's Southern-inspired diner inside the greatest indoor market in America. Scrapple, eggs, grits — the Philadelphia breakfast you're supposed to eat.

Scrapple + eggs + grits

Open 7 AM Mon–Sat

Chick and Ruth's Delly

State Circle, Annapolis since 1965. Every morning the staff and customers recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The sandwiches are named after Maryland governors and local legends. A perfectly weird American institution.

Governor's club sandwich + milkshake

Open 6:30 AM–11:30 PM daily

A massive legal graffiti mural wall in Baltimore's Station North arts district. Blocks of paint on brick that changes constantly. The city funded it. The art never stops.

Attmans Delicatessen

Corned Beef Row, East Baltimore, since 1915. The last great Jewish deli on what was once Baltimore's deli corridor. Corned beef sandwich before an Orioles game is a rite of passage.

Corned beef on rye + pickle + coffee

Open 8 AM daily

Frank's Diner (Laurel)

Maryland. The crab cake sandwich that bridges Baltimore and DC. Simple, proper, worth the exit.

Crab cake sandwich

A massive legal graffiti mural wall in Baltimore's Station North arts district. Blocks of paint on brick that changes constantly. The city funded it. The art never stops.

A massive legal graffiti mural wall in Baltimore's Station North arts district. Blocks of paint on brick that changes constantly. The city funded it. The art never stops.

Pamela's Diner

Multiple locations. Obama ordered here on the campaign trail. The hotcakes are thin, buttery, perfect.

Crepe-style hotcakes

Eat n' Park

Washington, PA. The smiley cookie is a Pittsburgh-region institution. Get one for the road.

Smiley cookie + breakfast

109 concrete ears of corn arranged in rows like Arlington National Cemetery outside Columbus. Each one weighs 1,500 lbs and stands 6 feet tall. There is no satisfying explanation.

Price Hill Chili

Price Hill neighborhood. Cincinnati chili for breakfast is the move — a 3-way at 8 AM has no business working and yet it does. Open early for the pre-work crowd.

3-Way chili + coffee

Open 7 AM Mon–Sat

Five colorfully painted 1960s Volkswagen Beetles stacked on top of each other in a pawn shop parking lot in Defiance. A mannequin climbs out of the fourth one. This is art.

Lou Mitchell's

Jackson Blvd since 1923. A Chicago institution older than most Wrigley Field renovations. Double-yolk eggs, homemade marmalade, complimentary Milk Duds while you wait. Cubs and Sox fans both claim it.

Double-yolk omelette + fresh OJ

Open 5:30 AM–3 PM Mon–Sat

A 28-foot spaceman on Route 66 since 1965. The drive-in still serves burgers.

Goody Goody Diner

St. Louis breakfast institution. Pancakes and biscuits-and-gravy have anchored pre-Cardinals mornings for decades. No-nonsense diner that has stayed exactly itself while the city changed around it.

Pancakes + bacon + coffee

Open 7 AM–2 PM daily

A million-gallon water tower shaped like a giant peach on the South Carolina border along I-85. Featured in House of Cards. Debated endlessly for resembling something other than a peach.

The Civil War's deadliest prison camp, and the only Confederate officer hanged for war crimes.

The Silver Skillet

Atlanta institution open since 1956 on 14th Street NW. The most authentic Southern breakfast left in Atlanta. Real grits, biscuits made from scratch, country ham. Not changing for anyone.

Country ham + red-eye gravy + biscuit + grits

Open 6 AM–2 PM Mon–Fri, 7 AM–2 PM Sat

The Civil War's deadliest prison camp, and the only Confederate officer hanged for war crimes.

Normas Cafe Dallas

Dallas institution since 1956. Multiple DFW locations. Chicken-fried steak at breakfast is a Texas sacrament. Scratch biscuits, real gravy, pies under glass domes. Pre-Rangers game fuel done right.

Chicken-fried steak + eggs + scratch biscuit

Open 6 AM daily

24 mammoths who died together in a Texas flash flood 67,000 years ago. Still in place.

Breakfast Klub

Midtown Houston since 2001. The wings-and-waffle combination redefined Houston breakfast culture. Line goes around the block on weekends. Worth every minute. One of the great American breakfast institutions.

Wings and waffles + fresh-squeezed OJ

Open 7 AM–2 PM Mon–Fri, 8 AM weekends

550 million gallons a day, 80-foot visibility, and 300 wild monkeys from a 1938 Tarzan film.

A million-gallon water tower shaped like a giant peach on the South Carolina border along I-85. Featured in House of Cards. Debated endlessly for resembling something other than a peach.

Hells Kitchen

Downtown Minneapolis basement, open since 2002. Lemon ricotta hotcakes and house-made peanut butter are extraordinary. Dark, atmospheric, excellent coffee. Perfect before a Target Field day game.

Lemon ricotta hotcakes + house PB + espresso

Open 7 AM daily

A 134-foot thermometer built to honor the 134°F record set in nearby Death Valley. Visible from I-15. The Alien Fresh Jerky shop next door is its own category of American roadside experience.

Du-par's Restaurant

Open since 1938 at the Farmers Market on Fairfax. Pancakes made from scratch that have been ordered every morning for 85 years. The butter and maple syrup situation is serious. A Hollywood institution.

Buttermilk pancakes + coffee

Open 6 AM daily

Belgian artists dragged massive sculptures into the Mojave Desert in 1984 and just left them there. A ghostly Last Supper. A pixelated Venus made of cinder blocks. Forty miles from Death Valley. Free, open 24 hours.

Mama's on Washington Square

North Beach since 1964. The line wraps around Washington Square. Monte Cristo French toast, fresh pastries made daily. One of the legitimate great American breakfasts. Bourdain ate here.

Monte Cristo French toast + fresh OJ

Open 8 AM Tue–Sun, closed Mon

A Santiago Calatrava-designed pedestrian bridge that is also a working sundial — the largest in the world. Looks like it landed from another planet. Free to walk across. The Sacramento River runs below it.

Snooze AM Eatery

Born in Denver in 2006, now a regional icon. The pineapple upside-down pancake is genuinely one of the best things you will eat at breakfast anywhere. Bloody Marys and patio seating.

Pineapple upside-down pancakes + Bloody Mary

Open 6:30 AM–2:30 PM daily

150 tons of concrete Bible scenes and a glass-coffin mausoleum built by one farmer.

Town Topic Hamburgers

Midnight diner on Broadway since 1937. Open 24 hours. The burger is the point but the breakfast menu has fueled Kansas City's night owls and early risers for 85 years. Order at the counter.

Eggs + hash + coffee

Open 24 hours

A fire-breathing steel sculpture rises from a field beside Route 20 near East Bethany. Private property, but clearly visible from the road and absolutely baffling.

Flour Bakery and Cafe

Joanne Chang changed Boston breakfast. The South End original is the pilgrimage. Sticky buns that GQ called the best pastry in America. Egg sandwich on house bread is the move.

Sticky bun + egg sandwich on house bread

Open 7 AM Mon–Fri, 8 AM weekends

Blackie's Hot Dogs

Roadside hot dog stand in Cheshire, CT open since 1928. A Connecticut institution on the I-84 corridor. The natural-casing dog with brown mustard and relish is the right move halfway between Boston and New York.

Natural casing dog + brown mustard

Open 10 AM–8 PM, closed Tues

On January 15, 1919, a 2.3 million-gallon molasses tank burst in Boston's North End, flooding streets at 35 mph. Twenty-one people died. A small plaque marks the site. Locals say you can still smell it on a hot summer day.

Russ and Daughters

Houston Street since 1914. The essential New York appetizing shop. Smoked salmon on a bagel with cream cheese and capers is a religious experience. The fourth generation of the family still runs it.

Nova lox + hand-rolled bagel + cream cheese

Open 8 AM daily

Edison's actual lab, with the Black Maria film studio and 10,000 books he read.

Barney Greengrass

The Sturgeon King, Upper West Side, since 1908. Possibly the best smoked fish in America. Eggs scrambled with Nova and onions is the only reasonable order. Perfect before a Yankees or Mets day game.

Scrambled eggs with Nova + coffee

Open 8:30 AM Tue–Sun

A million-gallon water tower shaped like a giant peach on the South Carolina border along I-85. Featured in House of Cards. Debated endlessly for resembling something other than a peach.