20 Delicious Breakfast Spots in St. Louis

Half & Half

It's not as if you couldn't find a decent breakfast in town before Half & Half (two locations, including 8135 Maryland Avenue, Clayton; 314-725-0719), but there is no question that Mike and Liz Randolph's beloved restaurant shifted the notion of what daytime dining could be. When it opened in Clayton in 2011, Half & Half brought to breakfast and lunch the same level of care, quality and service typically reserved for evening restaurants — and fine-dining ones at that. In the process, they showed us that there was a real demand for elevated breakfast in St. Louis, even in the middle of the week. Though the acclaimed chef is known for sometimes-edgy cuisine at his other restaurants Público and Privado, at Half & Half Randolph keeps it approachable with classics such as biscuits and gravy, French toast and blueberry pancakes — only they're the best versions of each you'll find anywhere. Add to this top-shelf coffee offerings and thoughtful service, and it's no wonder why we've seen so many others follow his lead.

Café Osage

Since 2006, Bowood Farms has been an oasis on the gritty edge of the Central West End, providing a revitalizing touch of green in the midst of the urban environment. Its companion restaurant, Café Osage (4605 Olive Street, 314-454-6868), draws upon the farm, quite literally, using produce grown in-house whenever possible, allowing diners to feast on vegetables mere feet away from where they've grown. Rising star chef Scott Davis (Elaia, Three Flags Tavern) took over the café operations last year and has created a menu of elegant daytime offerings that hint at his background in upscale evening dining. Davis focuses on the little details: The strawberries on the French toast are roasted, classic breakfast sausage comes from bison and pancakes are made with tart sourdough. The result? Breakfast and lunch offerings that are familiar, yet have a touch of refinement that sets Café Osage apart from basic daytime dining. The setting doesn't hurt either.

Taco Circus

The term "chef-driven breakfast restaurant" may not be the first phrase that comes to mind when you think of Taco Circus (4258 Schiller Place, 314-320-8884), the quirky south-city love letter to Texas taco counters. However, owner Christian Ethridge does not allow the casual and irreverent vibe to keep him from bringing the same level of care to his cooking that you'd find in the city's finest restaurants. For his Tex-Mex specialties, Ethridge uses the highest quality ingredients he can find, including humanely and sustainably raised meats from local farms. He grinds his own sausage, prepares his own spice blends and makes as much as possible in-house, a degree of effort that you wouldn't necessarily expect from a borderline greasy spoon slinging breakfast burritos. Taco Circus proves, though, that we should.

Rise Coffee House

Not much more than a year ago, Rise Coffee House (4176 Manchester Avenue, 314-405-8171) was a cozy coffee shop in the Grove whose food offerings consisted of a small selection of baked goods prepared by local artisans. That all changed when owner Aaron Johnson moved the café a few storefronts down Manchester. The much bigger new home didn't just double Rise's seating but also gave it a full-service kitchen and the opportunity to offer real-deal, housemade breakfast and lunch fare. Much credit goes to chef Scott Davis, who, in a stint between more permanent jobs, helped Johnson develop a food program that would be appropriate for the casual café-goer but still has enough edge as to make Rise a bona fide dining destination. His deft touch can be felt on such thoughtful dishes as a nettle-and-mushroom frittata or a seasonal vegetable hash with sweet-potato puree and carrot hollandaise. And to those who see avocado toast as a passing millennial fad, Rise's version, complete with a poached egg, cucumber, fresh herbs and pickled onions, will make you a believer in its staying power.

Egg

At first, Egg (2200 Gravois Avenue, 314-202-8244) started as a Sundays-only pop-up inside Lassaad Jeliti's North African-inflected taco-and-barbecue restaurant, Spare No Rib. But Egg became so popular, Jeliti expanded service to Saturdays and then, overwhelmed by hungry customers, eventually decided the concept needed its own standalone spot. Rather than move Egg, he packed up Spare No Rib and moved it around the corner on Jefferson, converting its former home into a dedicated breakfast-and-lunch restaurant. Once you have a taste of Egg's delightful dishes, you'll understand the demand for more. Like the quirky Spare No Rib, Egg draws inspiration from a variety of food cultures. There are elements of Tex-Mex, borne from Spare No Rib's influence; classic Southern Americana in the form of cornbread and hotcakes; and even a shout-out to Jeleti's Tunisian heritage, which comes via the lovely chakchouka, a North African tomato-and-bell-pepper stew baked with eggs on top. It's a transportive start to the day.

Winslow's Home

When Winslow's Home (7213 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-725-7559) opened its doors ten years ago, it was meant to be a general store first and a restaurant second. Over the years, the game plan has flipped as St. Louisans have gotten a taste of this delightful restaurant's farm-to-table fare and have begged for more. Perhaps it's because the Lipton family's use of the term is literal — much of what is served at Winslow's Home comes from their working farm in Augusta, Missouri. The result is a seasonally focused menu of fresh ingredients that reflects the simple pleasures of breakfast fare: avocado toast with sunny-side-up eggs, buttermilk pancakes, an egg sandwich with local cheddar cheese on a housemade roll. Some of the city's top chefs have graced Winslow's kitchen (Ben Poremba, Cary McDowell), yet the restaurant still has the feel of an under-the-radar neighborhood spot. Which it is — and which is one more reason it's such a delight.

Rooster

A conversation about St. Louis breakfast spots is incomplete without mention of Dave Bailey's beloved daytime café, Rooster (two locations, including 1104 Locust Street, 314-241-8118). As one of the first to double down on weekday, daytime service, Bailey's restaurant paved the way for the boom we are seeing today, and in the process helped to define the genre. The answer? A mix of approachable and innovative, with mouth-watering favorites like savory crepes and slingers mixed in with enough creative dishes (think Finnish pancakes or smoked sirloin crepes) to hold our interest. The perennial favorite has maintained its place at the top of the city's breakfast game for more than a decade now by consistently delivering what we like to eat in the morning — no small feat in an ever-saturated industry serving customers with a short attention span. Rooster's staying power (and wildly successful expansion into south city) is directly linked to Bailey's talent as a restaurateur, and our daytime dining scene owes him a debt of gratitude.

Kingside Diner

Kingside Diner (4651 Maryland Avenue, 314-454-3957) may be chess-themed, but dining at this gem of a restaurant is far from black and white. At this Central West End riff on the classic American diner, chef Aaron Teitelbaum of Herbie's fame paints in Technicolor with bold flavors and creative takes on traditional breakfast fare, like his egg sandwich, called the "Three Little Piggies," which piles as much breakfast meat as you could possibly stack onto a piece of bread. His slinger is equally impressive, subbing out overplayed beef chili for a version that is filled with chorizo and topped with succulent pulled pork. Kingside is unique in that it is able to provide the satisfaction of a quintessential greasy-spoon diner even while somehow managing to seem upscale at the same time — the sort of place where you could down limitless cups of coffee over bacon and eggs or come dressed in your Sunday best for quinoa pancakes. It's a balance that only a culinary grand master like Teitelbaum could pull off.

Turn

David Kirkland, the chef and owner of Turn (3224 Locust Street, 314-240-5157), used to be a DJ, and he likes to describe cooking as being a lot like spinning music — the physical movements, the energy, the constant pressure to be on top of what comes next. At his delightful Grand Center café, Kirkland may as well be Beethoven, concocting a symphony of flavors that has us dancing in our seats. Drawing upon his experience at Bowood Farms' Café Osage, Kirkland is an expert at infusing his dishes with local, seasonal ingredients. He shows a restrained hand on even traditionally heavy offerings like biscuits and gravy or chorizo-covered arepas. His flavors are classic, but they are refined and impeccably presented in a light, airy eatery that looks like a modern museum café. It's a fitting setting for such artful food.

Yolklore

Mary and John Bogacki are veterans of the culinary industry: she, a former pastry chef at the Four Seasons; he, a cook who counts the city's most prestigious country club as a former employer. Together, they could have done just about anything in the food world, but they chose to focus on breakfast and lunch for their first restaurant, Yolklore (8958 Watson Road, Crestwood; 314-270-8538). You'll see the same thought given to bacon and eggs as you'd see in an entrée special at a trendy evening bistro. This results in innovative dishes, such as Yolklore's signature "Nest Egg," a biscuit-like shell filled with eggs, bacon, cheese, pickled onion and preserved lemon, and a frittata with goat cheese, mushrooms and tomato jam. Don't let the innovative menu items fool you, though. Yolklore is equally the place to go for the old-fashioned comfort of biscuits and gravy or a slinger. And no matter what you choose, you can be in and out in a flash — or simply head through the drive-thru for the best fast food you can get.

Taco Buddha

The building on the corner of Pershing and Jackson was thought to be cursed, as restaurant after restaurant failed to take off in the space. Then came Kurt Eller, a native Texan with ties to New Mexico. Returning to restaurants after years outside the industry, Eller transformed part of the storefront into the wonderful, Southwestern-inspired Taco Buddha (7405 Pershing Avenue, University City; 314-502-9951) and, in doing so, gave the city some of the best breakfast tacos we've seen. Taco Buddha's breakfast menu is small, typically limited to four offerings that range from potatoes and eggs to chorizo, egg and cheese. What it lacks in breadth, however, it makes up for in depth of flavor, thanks to the fiery Hatch green chiles that can be liberally applied to every dish. Not that you need any additional flavor when you're having the signature "Migas Scramble," a tortilla stuffed with eggs, tortilla strips, pico de gallo, green chiles and an optional choice of meat. And if the barbacoa is on offer during your visit, don't hesitate; have Eller pile it on and then bask in this little taste of New Mexico in the heart of U City.

Colleen's

Over the past few years, Colleen Thompson has been quietly transforming the storefront housing her decorative-cookie business, Colleen's Cookies, from a quaint coffeehouse into an under-the-radar spot for imaginative daytime comfort fare. You'll still find Intelligentsia coffee and a seeming endless array of baked goods at Colleen's (7337 Forsyth Boulevard, University City; 314-727-8427), but now they are only part of an edible story that reads like a love song to breakfast and lunch. Dishes like soft scrambled eggs with prosciutto and arugula, or biscuits smothered with spinach-and-tomato chutney, are so elegant they'd be equally at home at a white-tablecloth bistro, and Thompson's quiche is easily the best version in town. Unexpectedly, you'll also find a spectacular huevos rancheros and smothered breakfast burrito at Colleen's — Thompson lived in Colorado and perfected her recipe for pork green chili during her time there. It's just one more unexpected dish from a delightfully unexpected bastion of upscale morning cuisine.

Southwest Diner

Southwest Diner (6803 Southwest Avenue, 314-260-7244) is that rare place that fits as easily on a list of the city's most beloved greasy spoons as it does on one of elevated breakfast fare. Its charming vibe, after all, is less upscale dining room and more truc- stop diner in the middle of the New Mexico desert. However, this edge also makes the food interesting, one reason why you're hard-pressed to find an empty table in this beloved spot. As its name suggests, Southwest Diner exists as a Midwestern version of the sort of places you'd find in points far to the south and the west. In this spirit, you'd be a fool to walk out without having tried the mammoth breakfast burrito smothered in green chiles, huevos rancheros or the "Fiery Scramble," an egg dish so hot it will give you the hiccups. Even the quintessential St. Louis diner dish, the slinger, gets the Southwest treatment here with the addition of spicy green or red chiles. It's such a perfect rendition of the favorite, you'd wonder if it wasn't invented in Santa Fe. With morning fare this good, you might be asking the same thing about breakfast itself.

The Shack

It seems like a lifetime ago that the Shack (multiple locations, including 13645 Big Bend Road, Valley Park; 636-529-1600) was a greasy diner for hungover college kids called Shack Pub Grub. These days, the daytime eatery is more a hangout for people who get up, not go to bed, at 6 a.m., a shift in concept that has made the Shack one of the most popular breakfast-and-lunch spots in the area. The success is deserved: The Shack may have "grown up" over the years, but it has not lost the sense of joyous, youthful energy that comes from sharing a platter of s'mores pancakes with friends after tagging the walls — yes, you are encouraged to decorate the place, so long as you refrain from profanity and University of Kansas shout-outs (aren't they basically the same thing?). It's this lighthearted approach to everyone's favorite meal, as well as good ol' comfort food that is both delicious and creative, that has turned the Shack from a solo location in Valley Park into a growing brand with regional, if not national, ambitions.

Whitebox Eatery

In a part of town known for its sleek, trendy restaurants, Whitebox Eatery (176 Carondelet Plaza, Clayton; 314-862-2802) is just that — only instead of an evening bistro, this modern spot is dedicated to putting a polish onto breakfast and lunch. The bright, modern aesthetic bespeaks the restaurant's approach to food: You'll recognize classic dishes, but they will be dressed up for today's diner, as with the fontina cheese fondue that tops poached eggs, ham and an English muffin for the "Eggs-on-a-Box." A simple egg-and-cheese sandwich is anything but when paired with avocado and herbed goat cheese, and the "Matzo and Eggs," with its house-smoked salmon, sautéed leeks, fried onions and sour cream, is a contemporary Jewish deli on a plate. Whitebox Eatery even dabbles in mixing genres with its "Breakfast Salad," a fun brunch hybrid that makes the case for moving your power lunch up a few hours.

Tree House

If vegetarian food calls to mind sacrifice for you, then you haven't been to Tree House (3177 South Grand Boulevard, 314-696-2100), the wonderful South Grand restaurant that just so happens to be plant-based. Tree House isn't just a celebration of vegetarian cuisine — it's a celebration of cuisine, period, appealing to plant-eaters and omnivores alike with its joyful, satisfying fare. Whether it's house-cured tomato "lox," tempeh bacon or scrambled eggs with vegetarian chorizo, Tree House's breakfast dishes give the satisfaction of the classics, only without the meat. Not that you would notice any missing ingredients — just order the slinger smothered in black-bean chili and cilantro and see if you think anything has been left out. You'll be too busy devouring every last bite.

Soulard Coffee Garden

If breakfast spots were judged on their environs alone, Soulard Coffee Garden (910 Geyer Avenue, 314-241-1464) would take the cake. This delightful neighborhood café has the sort of quintessential Soulard courtyard you want to linger in all day over a cup of coffee and a great book. However beautiful the setting, however, it won't distract you from the delicious, classic comfort dishes coming out of its kitchen. Soulard Coffee Garden keeps things traditional with platters of eggs, breakfast meats and potatoes, overstuffed omelets and a variety of benedicts. It's the kind of breakfast fare that can turn even the most mundane workday into a little slice of a lazy Sunday.

The Barn

Set in the historic Sappington House complex in Crestwood, the Barn (1015 South Sappington Road, Crestwood; 314-966-8387) is a cozy breakfast-and-lunch spot that harkens back to a bygone era of general stores and the cooking you'd find coming out of Grandma's farm kitchen. In that spirit, the Barn keeps things classic with its menu of breakfast and lunch dishes. Biscuits and gravy, hash browns, bacon, eggs and grits might provide the sort of morning comfort you'd want from a restaurant in such a pastoral setting, including a lovely outdoor patio that looks out over the historic site's grounds. It's a scene that will transport you back in time — with food befitting the old-time country feel.

The Clover and the Bee

If Olive + Oak is the poised first-born child, the Clover and the Bee (100 West Lockwood Avenue, Webster Groves; 314-942-1216) is her whimsical, free-spirited little sister. At this fast-casual Webster Groves eatery, co-owner Mark Hinkle and chef Jesse Mendica translate the magic of their wildly successful freshman effort into a more low-key concept, without sacrificing the thoughtful food that has made their reputation. Out of the warm corner storefront, the pair have pushed the limits of what quick-service dining can be, with elegant daytime fare like an egg cup with parsnip puree; a plate of roasted asparagus drizzled with almond pesto and romesco and then capped with a poached egg; or a pearl-sugar bubble waffle. It's as elegant as breakfast can be — heck, it's as elegant as evening dining can be, too — all with the ease of counter service. Hinkle and Mendica have managed to do the impossible: They've captured lightning in a bottle twice.

Milque Toast Bar

If your idea of toast is simply a slice of crusty bread used as a canvas for butter and jam, Milque Toast Bar (2212 South Jefferson Avenue, 314-833-0085) will blow your mind. Using toast as a jumping-off point for culinary exploration, this charming McKinley Heights café does more with bread than lesser restaurants do with an entire pantry of provisions. Savory apple and white cheddar or mushrooms and goat cheese sprinkled with truffle oil are just a few examples of Milquetoast's "Spiffy Toasts," and there is always a rotating selection of special offerings — if you happen to be there when the blue-cheese toast is on offer, do yourself a favor and order it. Then again, if your sweet tooth is dominant, the s'mores with Nutella is the way to go, though we won't fault you if you can't choose between that and the restaurant's namesake, a crockpot-style bread pudding with notes of vanilla. Why not order both and revel in the delight of such delicious comfort?