Top 6 Breakfast Experiences in the Twin Cities

Well damn. A big article just got posted today by Racket all about my former employer, MPR. To say it is a spicy meatball is an understatement, frankly, it’s a meatball of epic spice proportions. Previous spicy meatballs citations need to be reclassified as tangy meatballs occurrences or TBOs.. I’ve got all the thoughts, and all the feelings, and I’ll tell you what they are when I’m cold and dead! What I will tell you now is that I think that the author Jay Boller did an incredible job with the reporting and that I am really impressed with my former co-workers who spoke on the record about their experiences with MPR. Today, instead of speaking truth to power I’ll be speaking breakfast to blogs.

A couple notes before I get started:

1 - These breakfasts are currently available. If we were doing the historical best breakfasts in the Twin Cities I would just share a photo of the menu from Sunny Side Up on Lyndale. Do you think things will ever swing back to a restaurant like Sunny Side Up making a go of it in the Twin Cities. I think basically no. I love that place.

2 - I made a mistake early in life. I went to Al’s Breakfast in Dinkytown and ordered the grossest shit imaginable. It was a shrimp almondine omelette. When I tell people this they look at me like I am an idiot. Yes, I am an idiot. An idiot who loves shrimp. But it was so foul that I haven’t gone back ever. Everyone says “Al’s is the best in Minnesota” you know what they don’t say “try the shrimp almondine omelette”.

No. 6 - Pumpkin Pie Pancakes from Hope Breakfast Bar

Have you been to Hope Breakfast Bar? It’s amazing. They will make you feel like a monster for not having made a reservation. Even on a Tuesday at 9:37am when you imagine that not that many people could want breakfast. But they do a brisk business. They bring you coffee you can pour yourself. That’s key. And the pumpkin pie pancakes are spectacular. After the first bite you’ll think, “those don’t taste a ton like pumpkin pie”. After the third bite you’ll take a sip of coffee and you’ll realize you are getting the perfect amount of pumpkin joy. If you get the short stack you’ll even be able to do something resembling work later in the day!

No. 5 - Day by Day Cafe’s Earth Breakfast

Have you been to the backroom of Day by Day Cafe? With the books and wood booths? Did you cut school there with Bill Caperton while he was wearing overalls and a Dave Matthews band t-shirt in 1997? Stay with me. Did he order the Earth Breakfast and you thought he was the coolest human on earth? Absolutely. Do you always order it now unless the special sounds great. Amazing, what a coincidence. The Day by Day Cafe feels like the definition of what a breakfast spot should be. No distractions, it’s ran by recovering alcoholics and they don’t serve alcohol. They just do good breakfast in an amazing environment. Their back patio is such a gem. It’s this peaceful energy and if you can convince a couple friends to go there before the workday starts, you’ll be walking on cloud 9 all morning.

No. 4 - The Sausage and Cheese Swing Omelette at Mickey’s

You’ll note that most of my choices are located right in the fantastic city of St. Paul. St. Paul is a better breakfast city than Minneapolis. These are facts and the sooner you can confront them the better. What the hell is going on with the Mickey’s in downtown Saint Paul? I have no idea. But besides for two weeks when they served burgers out of a window in 2021 they’ve been closed since the top of the pandemic. But the Mickey’s by the airport is still killing it and that sausage and cheese (your choices include American and go f yourself) omelette is still classic. They drop the eggs in a milkshake blender which is both gross and spectacular. I am never getting a milkshake at Mickey’s but I am always getting that omelette. DO NOT GET ANYTHING ELSE. And don’t use your fork until you have to. Use the toast as your fork. Tell them Sean sent you, they definitely don’t know me.

No. 3 - The Uptown Diner in Minneapolis Tex-Mex

I would read a 4500 word oral history of the Tex-Mex breakfast. This is not a regional dish, this is a Minnesota thing in my estimation. And a lot of it derives from one family of restaurants that used to seem wildly aligned, like maybe even the same ownership. I’m talking about the Louisiana Cafe, The Grandview Grille, The Uptown Diner Minneapolis and a couple others. It seems like the influence of their menu expanded beyond their ownership and the Tex-Mex became a feature of many a breakfast spot in the Twin Cities. But the ultimate experience involves a spot that really feels like Grandview Grille (R.I.P.), Louisiana Cafe and the others used to feel: a little too bright, unexplainably uncomfortable padded booth seats, prompt water service and embarrassingly large servings. I am not a half-order kind of dude, but I have grown to become a half-order dude here, which by the way is still like 2/3s the size of a full one.

No. 2 - Petey’s Cajun Prime Rib Breakfast at Spring Street Tavern

I’m going to be 100% honest with you, I could take or leave the actual prime rib. That’s a lot in the morning. I don’t need all that. Plus, if I am at Spring Street Tavern I’m likely helping myself to a drink or three with my breakfast and steak doesn’t need to compete with all that. So I usually sweet talk them into getting the amazing cajun breakfast that is lying beneath that prime rib. CLARITY: The prime rib is good, I’ve had it. But what I’m after is the particular way they rock their cajun spices, their hollandaise and their potato set up. Bar none, best Cajun breakfast in the state. I would read a 2400 hundred word essay about the Cajun breakfast.

No. 1 - Maria’s Cachapas Venezolanas

This is it. This is the dish that you have to try when you’re getting breakfast in the Twin Cities. Corn pancakes with cheese and syrup. It doesn’t look great on paper, but thankfully we don’t eat paper. We eat these. I have so many fond memories of bringing friends to this place from out of town and tell them they must order the Cachapas Venezolanas. And they of course order something more savory cause people never listen to me. And then I give them a bite of my pancakes and they give me that face like they wish I was a person who was into splitting food with them. But I’m not. Sorry. So they miss out on great pancakes. Maybe this blog will stop that.