I’m a morning person who typically skips breakfast. All I need to start the day is coffee and a long walk and I’m good until noon. Even on most weekends, I’m likely to have only a green juice and a bowl of berries and yogurt. Sometimes toast.
However, while I’m traveling, I look for hotels where breakfast is included. I stack up pancakes and home fries, try all the sausages with poached eggs.
I’ve noticed in recent years that buffets are favoring local cuisine in place of generic omelets, pastries, and fruit salad.
I was tickled by the cavernous breakfast buffets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi serving couscous, tomato and green shakshukas, curries, and stews. Their laminated pastries were filled with chocolate and pistachio cream, and baklava was drenched in local honey. In Seoul, the Dutch ovens displayed jiggly eggs, fried rice, and dumplings.
I’ve watched fellow hotel guests pass by the French toast sticks, instead spooning up tamales and tacos in Mexico and choosing callaloo and saltfish in Jamaica. The diversity of hotel breakfast reflects how chefs cater to tourists’ everyday tastes while connecting them to local culture, making the hotel a destination for nonguests.
Last year I visited The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia, the quirky 48-year-old restaurant run by chef Patrick O’Connell filled with antiques and George Washington ephemera. O’Connell serves a glorious eight-course tasting menu that starts off with carnival snacks.
For guests spending the night, the meal continues with an equally stunning breakfast, where smoked salmon rosettes are stacked upon crunchy potato galettes that I’m still dreaming about. The Inn makes its own yogurt, served with berries and house-made granola. My green juice had company: a flight of freshly squeezed fruit juices from other Virginia farms.
This issue travels to some other places for unforgettable meals. We tuck into Mexico City’s most alluring gorditas, which might have you booking a plane ticket. We pass through a Wyoming truck stop that’s incongruously an emerging epicenter of Indian cuisine. And the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen brings you 10 spring-break-ready dishes.
To the Market for Breakfast
ATLANTA
Start the day with The Little Tart Bakeshop at farmers markets citywide and cafés at Krog Street Market and Grant Park. Don’t miss the veggie quiche or the vegan strawberry iced scone. littletartatl.com
SAN FRANCISCO
The Ferry Building Marketplace houses the new bakery Parachute, which specializes in innovative breakfast pastries. Try the laminated passion- fruit-and-vanilla-filled cube and the Wagyu pastrami Reuben croissant. parachutebakery.com
CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA
At the Calgary Farmers’ Market, the Gemstone BELT features grass-fed beef and egg salad. It’s big, sloppy, and enough to share. Grab plenty of napkins. calgaryfarmersmarket.ca
