Here's where to find San Francisco's best breakfast

This Asian-American bakery and cafe on Clement Street started out as a pop-up from chefs who worked at top spots like Atelier Crenn, Coi and Mourad and who were inspired by their travels throughout Asia as well as their Chinese and Filipino-American heritage. The breakfast offerings include kaya toast (seen in the luscious photo above) covered in coconut jam and sea salt, a breakfast sandwich made of smashed biscuit, black pepper pork sausage, American cheese and charred scallion chimichurri— and constantly evolving pastries like one made with poached Smyrna quince and Van Deman membrillo paste, shaves of young manchego and pinenuts.

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If you're looking for a classic San Francisco diner experience, look no further than Sears Fine Food in Union Square. You'll find everything you're hoping for: high ceilings, black-and-white checkered floors, nostalgic photos and quintessential American breakfast fare. The restaurant dates back to 1938 when Wilbur and Ben Sears opened shop and gained a reputation for their delicious Swedish pancakes, an inherited family recipe. Sears is still best known for those pancakes made from the original recipe. You can order a dish of 18 of these beauties—thin, silver dollar-sized and served with butter and syrup.

With several spots across the city, this bakery and cafe is exquisitely French. Its croissants take three days to get from the mixer to the oven to you, made with long fermentation, natural levain, local butter, freshly ground flour and farm eggs. Every pastry is made by scratch in small batches. We recommend the Ferry Building site with its Grande Crȇperie serving traditional Breton-style sweet crêpes and salé galettes made with farine de sarrasin, organic buckwheat flour. There’s also a Mission/Castro site and one on Sutter Street, but the latter is for coffee and bakery only.

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A lot of San Francisco's beloved historic spots haven't managed to survive over the years, but luckily, Pork Store Cafe is still here to fill you with chicken fried steak, omelets, and its signature dish: pork chops for breakfast. The restaurant is the oldest free-standing restaurant on Haight Street. Its story began in 1916 when a Czech couple opened the Pork Store butcher shop. It turned into a cafe in 1953 (known as the Triple Coin Cafe), then changed hands over the years. It eventually became the Pork Store Cafe in 1979. It's maintained a loyal following over the years for its big portions, friendly service and reasonable prices. Despite its name, it's also great for vegetarians! A second location is on 16th Street in the Mission.

This Scandinavian-inspired cafe on Market Street offers “scandwiches” on hearty sprouted rye buns, three grain porridge, tunnbröd (Swedish flatbread) and pickled herring by the scoop. The Scandi sampler includes a soft boiled egg, yogurt cup with rye and oat granola, bread and butter and jam and Havarti cheese for a shareable healthy brunch.

A family owned diner near Golden Gate Park, Art’s Café serves American breakfast and lunch and Korean cuisine. Along with the typical Denver omelette, try the Samurai omelette made with teriyaki beef. There’s grilled banana French toast, teriyaki beef hashbrowns and the tofu bibimbap with rice, egg, five vegetables, kimch and hot paste with tofu.

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Breakfast is served all day at both the Fillmore and Larkin Street locations of Jane (there’s also a bakery on Geary and a tiny location inside CalMart). Along with quiches and pastries, you’ll find Jane’s dragonfruit smoothie bowl, a riot of dragonfruit, pineapple, banana, ginger, coconut water, blueberries, raspberries, hemp seeds, flax seeds, cocoa nibs, goji and mulberries. For a more savory breakfast try the warm quinoa bowl with chili roasted sweet potatoes, kale and black beans in a cilantro lime dressing.

Tartine Manufactory is open from 8 until 4, welcoming diners on a first-come, first-served basis (there’s also dinner service Wednesday through Sunday but this is a breakfast story). You have to start with the warm housemade country bread and butter, or see that same beautiful loaf in the form of a bread pudding or breakfast sandwich. Tartines (a French open faced sandwich) change seasonally. The airy space is so comfortable that you may find yourself lingering until lunch rolls around.

Although there are locations all over the Bay Area, San Francisco’s is the only one that serves weekend brunch. There are several pita options, an Israeli breakfast (two eggs any style, Israeli salad, goat cheese with olives and roasted peppers, tahini and matbucha), traditional shakshuka and a variation on a theme with hummus benedict. Sweets like baklava and challah toast fill out the menu.

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This Haight spot draws hordes of bike commuters each morning—it’s conveniently located just off the Wiggle. The breakfast menu starts with lighter fare, like an acai bowl (topped with house-made granola and bee pollen) and a coconut chia pudding finished with apricot compote and a date crumble. But it’s the heartier morning offerings that are worth the wait. The generous breakfast bowl layers two eggs, avocado, carrots, cabbage, kale, green tahini and hot sauce over a bed of brown rice, quinoa and lentils. And the warming shakshuka is two poached eggs over a spiced tomato sauce and levain, drizzled with yogurt sauce and herbs. The Haight location also has weekend brunch.

Ryan Blumenthal opened this breakfast and lunch joint as an homage to his East Coast roots—it’s even named after his New York-bred grandma. Everyone’s here for one thing: The oozing, piping-hot fried egg sandwiches, made with eggs cushioned on buttered poppy kaiser rolls. Build your own stack, with eggs, cheddar, pastrami or applewood smoked bacon, or splurge on specials like the Twenty Five (egg, avocado, tomato, cream cheese and black olive) or the Horse on the Roof (grilled steak, eggs, provolone, American cheese and special sauce). Don’t miss the housemade fermented jalapeño and habanero hot sauces.

Escape the Ferry Building’s tourist throngs in this refreshingly refined eatery. Lighting designer Lindsey Adelman’s branching chandeliers glow overhead and the gleaming open kitchen is pristine. The breakfast fare is as upscale as the digs. The menu changes daily, but you can expect fare such as your choice of cow, sheep, or goat milk yogurt topped with berries and plum sauce. Heartier dishes include smoked wild king salmon, piled on Meyer lemon toast with a dollop of crème fraîche, and poached eggs served atop cranberry beans and tomatillos, topped with queso fresco and purslane. Boulettes is open at 11am Tuesday through Friday, but early birders can arrive and start nesting Saturdays at 9:30am (Sunday is lunch only).

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For all its multicultural prowess, San Francisco had never done a Jewish deli successfully. All that changed in 2012 with the opening of Wise Sons – you could hear the echo of a million Jewish mothers shouting “mazel tov.” Evan Bloom and Leo Beckerman have not only nailed it, but done so in a uniquely Northern California way with reinterpreted classics such as house-smoked pastrami on rye with handmade pickles, just-salty-enough chopped liver, and rich, veggie-filled matzo ball soup (self-deprecatingly described as “not as good as your bubbe's”). For breakfast, choose from a curated variety of bagel flavors, then snag a shmear. Or go for the gold with one of their stacked bagel sandwiches, like the bodega egg and cheese with the added option of crispy pastrami.

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With its ample outdoor seating, wood-fired pizza oven and gorgeously wild floral arrangements, this quaint Italian spot brings a little European charm to the Marina. The stars of the morning menu are the breakfast pizzas, whether laden with smoked ham, fontina, and eggs or smoked salmon and creme fraiche. All the bread is made daily in-house—a clear vote for any dish served with toast—as are the pastries. Neighborhood regulars pop in on the way to work for the baked goods like fruit focaccia and sour cream coffee cake.

This teeny Outer Sunset bakery has a perennial line snaking out the door for shortbread shark cookies (because of course), cinnamon buns, limited-edition pies and the ultimate morning-after breakfast. Though the spot serves an assortment of baked goods and sandwiches, the unequivocal highlight is "The Special” breakfast sandwich: two eggs, pepper jack cheese, applewood-smoked bacon, avocado and lemon-garlic aioli served on a homemade buttermilk biscuit. There’s minimal seating inside, so dress prepared for chilly weather.

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With locations in the Marina and Potrero Hill, this cozy spot offers up comfort food regulars like chicken and waffles and lemon/ricotta pancakes, as well as newer offerings like Nasi Goreng (Indonesian fried rice with cabbage, garlic and onion, topped with eggs and fried chicken) or a Memphis fried chicken breakfast burrito. The house specialty is a fluffy, thick crispy Belgian waffle topped with berries and butter.

The Richmond district Hard Knox Cafe still thrives (you may remember chef Tony Hua’s original Dog Patch restaurant which has closed, as has an offshoot in SoMa). Southern style soul food is happening here, as in fried chicken and waffles. Plus you’ll find benedicts, French toast with fruit topping, Southern tea, hash browns, Po’boys, crab cakes and cornbread muffins. Yes!

At Home Plate, when you sit down to breakfast, a complimentary house-baked scone is set down before you. Ahhhhh. Combining two extraordinary forces, the fried chicken and waffle benedict sounds like we should all just eat here every morning. There are also breakfast boards, omelettes, frittatas and scrambles and a “croffle,” a homemade French croissant pressed in a waffle machine, served with Nutella, banana, almond and berries. “Beyond” sausages and patties are also served.