Breakfast is too often a throwaway meal. Granola is best left to the birds. GMO-laden cereal pellets should not be ingested. Eggs are delicate things and, even when left to a short-order cook, can be found with sadly broken yolks, burned edges and too much grease. So all praises are due to those chefs and cooks who find it in their hearts, minds and hands to crank out loving takes on old breakfast favorites, stunning renditions you've never seen the likes of before. And just when you think you've seen it all, they up the ante just a notch more. This seventh annual Vita.mn Breakfast Special is dedicated to those restaurants that are not content to serve you another overly cheesy omelet or tight, overcooked poached egg. No dry toast served here. Not even plain old scratch hollandaise or that now-ubiquitous housemade sausage is good enough for these guys. Instead, you'll find breakfasts that are given the extreme thought, creativity and attention to detail that the evening meal receives. Go over-the-top for your first meal of the day. You deserve it.
Bacon
Winner: Billionaire's Bacon ($5) at Muddy Waters Bar & Eatery
2933 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls. • 612-872-2232
Good thing this isn't being served in NYC, 'cause Giuliani would surely have put the smackdown on it. What appears to be about a full package of bacon gets piled up, Lincoln Log-style, as a $5 "side." It's glazed in a maple reduction, the end result being nothing short of luscious pork candy. Servers set it down with a relatively straight face, as if it weren't a crazy-train gesture, as if it weren't as addictive and ill-advised as the Class II narcotic it might as well be.
Runner-up: Bacon Confit at the Bachelor Farmer
50 2nd Av. N., Mpls. • 612-206-3920
With bacon being the incredible substance that it already is, it can be tough to up the ante. So, how about drenching it in its own fat, then slowly cooking it in the technique known as confit? The result? Bacon, squared. Genius.
Breakfast burger
Winner: Fully Loaded Breakfast Burger at Band Box Diner
729 S. 10th St., Mpls. • 612-332-0850
When your mind and body are clanging from hangover and you're rendered incapable of decisionmaking, there is only one thing left to do: Order it all. Piled on top of one another, a burger, bacon, egg and cheese are the perfect thing to ground you, to make you feel centered and whole again, to steady the swish. Nobody does it better than the Band Box, where the environs are charmingly rough about the edges, the beef is conscientiously sourced and the cooking is impeccable.
Runner-up: Royale With Cheese ($12) at Barbette
1600 W. Lake St., Mpls. • 612-827-5710
We give Barbette points for being among the first (via Haute Dish's Landon Schoenfeld when he was Barbette's chef) to give the burger top billing at breakfast. Theirs is grass-fed beef with Frenchified accompaniments of caramelized onions and brie.
Chicken & waffles
Winner: The Waffle at Birdhouse ($9)
2516 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls. • 612-377-2213
The thing about brunch is that it can often leave you reeling with food coma, rather than offering fortification for the rest of the day. When you want decadence but have no time for napping, consider Birdhouse's take on the chef's breakfast darling, chicken and waffles. A substantial multigrain waffle gets paired with an indulgent creamed chicken -- think the fricassee that your mom used to make, along with an essential side of maple syrup.
Runner-up: Chicken & Waffles ($17) at Haute Dish
119 Washington Av. N., Mpls. • 612-338-8484
The original, the go-to, the pimp-daddy. Two massive, tempura-battered chicken pieces are fried and set upon a waffle bed -- which is what you will feel compelled to crawl right into upon completion.
Coffee
Winner: Boone's Beard at Bull Run Coffee Bar
3346 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls. • 612-545-5972
One of the linchpins of the Twin Cities' ever-growing sophisticate food scene is third-wave coffee, in which the beans are immaculately sourced and cared for, the extraction is exacting and the flourishes are compelling. At Bull Run, a perfect cappuccino gets paired with house-made vanilla syrup, coriander and Hawaiian black sea salt, for a study in sweet-meets-spice cabinet, with a pop of seasoning to make it all blast away on your palate.