Bagel Oasis in Ravenna is the best bagel shop in town. No need to set alarms or wait forever in line like at other spots—just stroll in and grab an exemplary bagel on your own time. (What a concept.) And for the folks looking for a carbon copy of something you’d find on the East Coast, this is it. Bagel Oasis makes extremely basic but foolproof New York-style dough circles in a space that smells exactly like a Long Island deli.

Despite Ludi's new Downtown location, this Filipino spot we love for its sticky ube pancakes still has the same family-run diner vibes. The coffee never goes cold, a sizzling blacktop is the morning soundtrack, and breakfast is served all day. Ordering the combo silog is a necessary rite of passage. Just get here when they open at 7am, because by 7:30, a line already forms underneath the iconic yellow and blue sign.

If you’re a Libra or just struggle with indecision, getting breakfast here is a great way to work through that and eat something fantastic in the process. The name says it all—they serve bagels and burritos, and both are excellent. The bagels have a great doughy chew, a crackly crust, and are perfect vehicles for lox and globs of black truffle cream cheese. The burritos are loaded with big chunks of roasted potatoes and other things, like celery root “al pastor” and maitake mushrooms.

B-Side is a little Capitol Hill corner cafe that operates out of Analog Coffee. They also happen to serve the greatest breakfast sandwich in town, a.k.a. a toasty english muffin stuffed with scallion-folded egg, Beecher’s cheese, country ham, pickled daikon, and charred onion aioli which you can (and should) doctor up with hot sauce. There are other non-breakfast items like cashew butter-topped toast and grain bowls, but be real—you're here for this sandwich.

North Star is the coolest diner in the city. It’s open from 10am-10pm, and has gold glittery booth cushions as well as an entire wall dedicated to framed portraits of real astronauts. Most importantly, their food—like textbook-example buttermilk pancakes or a chimichanga stuffed with carnitas, hash browns, and scrambled eggs—is simply restorative after rolling out of bed. The best part is, you could come back to their adjoining bar, which has karaoke four days a week and the full diner menu.

This tiny roadside coffee shop specializes in exceptional Mexican breakfasts, in addition to the best bacon breakfast sandwich in town. They use fluffy Macrina buns as vehicles for a crackly-edged fried egg, chunky grilled onions, a swipe of aioli made slightly sweet by red chile sauce, white cheddar, and the crowning glory: a fistful of extremely well-done bacon. The sausage version is loaded with two paper-thin patties and nutty provolone. We're also fans of their breakfast burritos.

Seattle doesn’t have too many weekday breakfast places that’ll also work well to impress an out-of-towner or a date, but that’s where Sabine Cafe in Ballard comes in. This counter-service operation serves everything from avocado toast and griddled pastrami egg sandwiches to shakshuka and apple butter oat pancakes with hazelnut dukkah. As for drinks, they range from fresh-pressed green juice to an espresso martinis that blows much of the competition away.

When the best bakery in town starts making bagels, it turns out those bagels are going to be really damn good. Oxbow is a new Montlake breakfast operation from the team behind Sea Wolf, and their boiled and baked circles might just be as good as their bread. Fresh from the oven at 7am, the bagels have a crackly, Magic Shell-like exterior, complete with a dense chew and slightly sour tang. Our favorite combination of the bunch is a garlic bagel spread with spicy calabrian chili cream cheese.

Burrito Express on South Cloverdale in South Park exclusively serves Mexican breakfast from 7am-11am, and we’re huge fans. The tortillas are tightly wrapped like a swaddled newborn baby, the eggs have pristine curds without being overcooked or runny, and their salsas (get the smoky) have a tremendous acidity-to-spice ratio. You’re in great hands with anything involving their tangy chorizo, but the best burrito on the truck is their Sauced Pig.

Perhaps you endured a 7am jog around Green Lake because endorphins are supposed to make you happy. Kitanda serves the post-workout breakfast of our dreams. It’s a Brazilian cafe just east of the lake, and is our favorite spot for what is essentially sorbet that is socially acceptable to eat in the morning. Their açaí mix is refreshing on a hot day, and their pepita granola is crunchy, not overpoweringly sweet, and delicious in the same bite as a rogue banana slice and spoonable smoothie.

On Saturday mornings, the lines at this boathouse-turned-bakery look like a game of Snake played by somebody who’s really good at Snake. To avoid the big groups of people, we endorse swinging by Saint Bread on a weekday instead. Among the excellent lineup of buns and loaves in the pastry case, there are more substantial breakfasts available, like olive oiled za’atar avocado toast, an Okonomiyaki-style tortilla with sweet potato and bulldog sauce, and a sweet-and-salty BEC on Japanese melonpan.

The reimagining of this northern Capitol Hill classic is a home run simply based on the new pastries alone. And yeah, we’d eat sugar for breakfast on the daily if we lived in the neighborhood. We’re talking about things like savory tahini caramel bars, New York-style crumb cake muffins, and buckwheat chocolate chunk cookies. But that would be ignoring their BEC, a stack of paper-thin egg folds, bacon cooked just before it gets crispy, and american cheese, all on a homemade toasted poppy roll.

This is a bakery that serves pastries that are so beautiful, you almost feel bad to take a bite and destroy the artful creations. It’s hard to go wrong with their jammy caramelized shallot croissant with nutty gruyere, an also-nutty pistachio schnecken, cake donuts with campari icing, or just a handful of macarons.

Bebop Waffle Shop is, thankfully, a really great place for waffles. Their belgian-style wedges are fluffy and yeasty on the inside, with a golden crust that still stands up to maple syrup and their phenomenal salted cinnamon butter. Their breakfast sandwich, layered with a thick patty of egg, cheddar, bacon, and a zippy turmeric mustard aioli, is also a terrific morning meal route to take. Pair it with a cold brew banana smoothie or an iced mocha topped with Cocoa Puffs.

Most spots serve egg sandwiches with sausage, but the McMainstay Muffin at Mainstay Provisions in Phinney Ridge is essentially a sausage sandwich with egg. The pork here is casually the size of a hockey puck, savory and juicy with soft bits of onion throughout the mix. And despite its burger-like girth, the sausage’s flavor is just subtle enough to support an over-medium egg and gooey cheese, all on a homemade, aioli-slathered buttermilk english muffin.

This Madrona breakfast spot was once a house. And even though no one lives here anymore and restaurant tables have taken over, it still feels extremely cozy. The menu here is great across the board—like pancakes, customizable scrambles, and avocado toast. But you’ll find us elbows-deep in their hefty breakfast burrito. Scrambled eggs, black beans, and sautéed vegetables are wrapped into the size of a newborn and served with a side of breakfast potatoes, tomatillo salsa, and sour cream.

The Fat Hen is a corner cafe with a great brunch, which naturally means it’s packed on Saturday and Sunday mornings. During the week, though, it’s actually pretty easy to get a table and eat homemade scones, beastly ricotta toast, and/or the camicia egg skillet with tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil, a.k.a. a crock of bubbling margherita pizza.

If you’re in the University District early enough, you’re probably either a student, professor, or you know about the excellent biscuits at Morsel. This counter spot serves their huge biscuits with spreads like strawberry balsamic jam or chocolate hazelnut butter, but also in sandwich form—the best is the Spanish Fly, which has a fried egg, prosciutto, manchego, arugula, and pickled pepper aioli.

We love Empire Espresso’s made-to-order belgian waffles, whether they’re topped with blueberries and powdered sugar or maple syrup and butter. You should order one of these and a homemade date-sweetened cashew milk latte at this Columbia City coffee shop. And if you’re in need of a gluten-free and/or vegan waffle, they serve those, too.

The Flora Bakehouse has a very aesthetically pleasing rooftop that's perfect for spreading out at a picnic table with an iced cardamom rose latte and a croissant that will flake all over the place. If you're hungry for something larger, this vegetarian bakery also serves breakfast sandwiches, frittata, and vegan burritos.