Breakfast

The business has expanded to outposts in Midtown and Buckhead, but we remain loyal to the bustling original. Grab a signature cinnamon roll if you’re in a hurry, but it’s worth sticking around for a sit-down meal.

Founded in 1953 in Portland, Oregon, and with 120 locations—mostly franchises—across the country, the OPH is an anomaly: The menu boasts crave-worthy specialties made with more skill and consistency than many of its independent counterparts.

It may be discreetly tucked into a nondescript strip mall on Peachtree Road, but it is well known to the local elites, who keep the restaurant busy until it stops serving breakfast at 2:30 p.m. Look to the dishes with Greek influences to give your morning a little opa.

The eclectic decor looks like the handiwork of your artiest friend. The kitchen is still finding its footing, but count on the flaky, fluffy biscuits and a couple of Vize­thann’s more inventive plates to please.

Settle into a table and immediately ask for a cup of the unusually fine coffee supplied by local roasting company Counter Culture.

Small details impress: Spiced honey butter served with the waffle delivers a wallop of cinnamon and mellow sweetness, and fried green tomatoes stay crisp even while wrapped in a whole-wheat burrito with scrambled eggs.

A wonderfully eccentric Poncey-Highland stalwart since 1994, Java Jive serves a side of droll irony with its eggs and coffee.

The flagship Thumbs Up on the Old Fourth Ward’s Edgewood Avenue—a pioneering business when it opened in 2000 along this now-booming restaurant row—attracts the city’s most egalitarian breakfast flock. Whether black or white, in designer jeans or in sweats, customers huddle amiably at the curving counter and in booths surrounded by exposed brick walls.

This comfortable, meandering space is one reason to visit the community of Kirkwood; it’s easy to grab a seat for a quick early breakfast or a languorous, hours-long brunch.