The Best Breakfasts in Portland
The singular cao lȃ̀u at Rose VL.
Plenty of praise has been heaped on Portland’s killer brunch scene (for good reason), but what about that oft forgotten meal before brunch? Not every day allows for a leisurely morning meal with mimosas and espresso drinks. Sometimes, you need something quick, delicious, and available before 9am. These mornings happen, even in Portland, and the city’s culinary creativity extends to early hours. Read on for fried egg sandwiches spiked with local hot sauce, honey-topped mini doughnuts, and the millennial-defining avocado on toast.
The veggie sausage at Balong Panaderia gets just as much love as its porky version.
powellhurst-gilbert
Though it started life as a pop-up, Balong Panaderia now serves its fan-favorite Filipino American breakfast sandwiches in a brick-and-mortar on SE 82nd Avenue. You’ll have to navigate the back hallways of the Fubonn Shopping Center to find it, but chef Justin Dauz’s take on a breakfast sando is worth the minor trek. House-baked pan de sal serves as the foundation for the gooey fried egg and melted cheddar, but what really sets it apart from other breakfast sandwiches are the housemade longanisa and its veggie sausage counterpart. Dauz puts equal care into both versions, giving each the same blend of peppery-sweet spices. A smear of roasted tomato aioli brings it all together with a tart richness. —Alex Frane
eliot
Located in a brick building near the historic Widmer Brothers brewery, Bernstein’s vies for the best bagels in the city, each of them sporting a glossy crust and pleasantly chewy interior. With such a solid base, it’s impossible to go wrong when selecting from the menu of breakfast sandwiches, but my go-to is the Popper. Mama Lil’s Peppers add a bit of sweet heat to the schmear, and are set off by creamy avocado, fluffy scrambled eggs, and tangy sweet onion. When it comes to choosing a bagel, follow your pleasure, but I favor salt. —AF
Broder’s æbelskivers have wowed diners for nearly 20 years now.
Æbelskiver at Broder
multiple locations
Broder’s æbleskiver—colloquially known as pancake balls—have stolen the hearts of Portlanders since the restaurant opened in 2007; there are now three Broder locations across the city, plus outposts in Astoria and Hood River, and for good reason. After all, these spherical dough babies sit right between two of the city’s favorite breakfast treats: pancakes and doughnuts. The golden-brown crust has a delicate crisp to it, the interior eggy and fluffy. There’s an option to add maple syrup, but you couldn’t ask for better than the included lemon curd, buttery and bright, to wake you up. —Katherine Chew Hamilton
downtown, king
Along with purple sprouting broccoli and every heirloom tomato under the sun, the Portland Farmers Market is also home to the city’s finest breakfast burrito, a New Mexico–style number that draws steady lines. The menu at Enchanted Sun is no-nonsense, as every burrito comes with fluffy green chile eggs, crisp-edged potatoes, and melty cheddar; add bacon, sausage, or both (our rec). Getting extra green salsa inside the burrito is a must, but you can also add the red for a festive Christmas-style burrito—and asking for an extra container on the side never hurts. Pro tip: The line at the much smaller Sunday market in the King neighborhood moves considerably faster than its PSU equivalent. —KCH
Egg, cheese, sausage, and love at Fried Egg I’m in Love.
multiple locations
Believe the hype—this is the breakfast sandwich that helped this punningly named breakfast spot catapult from a single food cart to a mini institution, now with two restaurants and a Pioneer Courthouse Square food truck. There’s no arguing with buttered sourdough bread, toasted golden and layered with a generous smear of pesto and a housemade pork (or veggie) sausage patty, plus the requisite fried egg. But take the menu’s suggestion to add Aardvark aioli and a hash brown, which hoist this sandwich into the breakfast hall of fame with a whisper of heat and the satisfying crunch of fried potatoes. —KCH
La Osita’s breakfast tacos are some of the best in town.
mill park
Bacon lovers, eat your heart out: Each breakfast taco at this little cart comes loaded with an entire strip of crisp, thick-cut applewood bacon. But it’s not the taco’s only draw—a toasty corn tortilla, zippy pickled red onions, a frilly-edged fried egg, gooey Tillamook cheddar, sweet strips of bell pepper, and cilantro-loaded pico de gallo leave no stone of flavor or texture unturned. —KCH
vernon
It’s technically a sandwich , but don’t expect to be eating it in your car on the way to work: The breakfast sando from the impossibly cool Mémoire Cà Phê is a bit of a beast. The textural variety is on point, with a super spongy toasted milk bun, fried egg, gooey American cheese, and crispy hash browns. For proteins, the fish sauce bacon is your best bet, but don’t overlook the mildly spiced curry mushrooms for a vegetarian option. —AF
Pip’s mini doughnuts are a Portland institution.
cully
For more than a decade, Pip’s Original Doughnuts has seen lines out the door at its Cully café for its compact treats, spiced with cardamom and nutmeg. The smaller size means more of the dough is exposed to the hot oil, giving each doughnut a super crispy shell around a pillowy interior. Mix and match flavors with toppings like Nutella or candied bacon, but don’t skip the flagship version with raw honey and sea salt. Also not to be missed: one of the five house chais, brewed and spiced to complement the doughnuts. —AF
Who needs to own a house when you have Proud Mary’s avocado toast?
vernon
The source of countless memes around millennial spending habits, avocado toast’s popularity has faded a bit since its 2010s highs. Luckily, Proud Mary—the Australian-founded café and coffee shop on NE Alberta—is keeping the love alive. A slice of sourdough supports a garden’s worth of produce, including what appears to be an entire avocado. Things get seasonal from there: Summer might bring figs and stracciatella, fall may see pickled butternut squash with harissa goat cheese and cannellini beans. Add-ons include eggs cooked your way, pork belly or strip bacon, potatoes, and kale. Enjoy it in the bright and cheery café or order ahead and grab it from the pickup window. —AF
Cao Lȃ̀u at Rose VL
Pozole at Sahuayo Taqueria
north tabor
Seven days a week, this taqueria nestled in the back of a convenience store serves up one of Portland’s most potent and delicious hangover cures: pozole. Will it be the red pozole loaded with pork, its broth full of rich bone flavor and a heat that rests on your tongue and builds up slowly? Or does this morning call for the tangy green version, your choice of chicken or vegetarian? Either way, the hominy is perfectly toothsome, the generous toppings of lettuce, cucumber, lime, and radish add freshness, and just a flick of extra chile powder on top will leave you sweating out last night’s festivities, ready to face the new day. —KCH
Breakfast is served at Sweedeedee.
humboldt
We at Portland Monthly have been singing the praises of Sweedeedee’s corn cakes for the better part of a decade, and now, after a brief hiatus, they have returned to the menu—let us rejoice. We called them the best pancakes in Portland way back in 2017, and nothing has changed: The Platonic ideal of griddle cakes, they achieve remarkable height and lightness considering the cornmeal that bolsters them, adding texture and satisfying savory notes. They also master the salty-sweet two-step, especially if you get the full plate with bacon and a textbook sunny-side up; you’ll go from dunking a bite in a sunrise-orange yolk to luxuriating in a syrup-saturated mouthful. Eat it in a sun-drenched window seat, vinyl spinning from its perch on the counter. —Brooke Jackson-Glidden
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