Dining Guide | Rise and Dine: 6 of the best spots for breakfast in Scottsdale

You’ve likely heard it your whole life and for a time paid marked attention to the belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. With busy lives and the bounty of convenience foods at the ready, some of us have lost sight of this adage. With the entire month of September devoted to breakfast, this is the ideal time to get reacquainted with some of best spots for breakfast in Scottsdale. While breakfast at home or on the go may be a monotonous cycle of cereal, whole grain bars, scrambled eggs or toast, these Scottsdale breakfast spots are making it worth rolling out of bed a little earlier. Some local favorites are serving up imaginative dishes that will make breaking the fast more exciting and enjoyable than any frosted flake or lucky charm ever could!

6 of the Best Spots for Breakfast in Scottsdale

Alma wxsw Cuisine
8989 N. Scottsdale Road | Scottsdale, AZ 85253 | 480.621.5254
Alma wxsw Cuisine is the newest neighborhood addition on this list and has now garnered a reputation for their unique array of Western, Southwestern and Mexican inspired dishes. The décor embraces their Western/Southwestern theme with animal hide adorned booths, dark wood accents, and animal skulls throughout the dining room. We love how their breakfast entrée items are split into The West and The Southwest, helping to guide you to the best choice for your tastes. The Overworked Cowboy is a fun (and spicy) take on chicken fried steak. Besides a savory and peppery pork sausage gravy, you’ll get a slathering of green pork chili atop your crispy steak. The slight heat of the gravy melds with that balmy pungent heat of the green chiles making for an eye-opening experience. In the mood for pancakes? You have a choice between lemon ricotta, apples and cinnamon, granola raspberry, bacon and blueberries, pumpkin and cajeta or a combination of any two.

Arcadia Farms Café
7014 E. 1^st Ave. | Scottsdale, AZ 85251 | 480.941.5665
For over 25 years Arcadia Farms Café has been bringing neighbors together over specialty pastries, signature omelets, and Arcadia blend coffees. The Cafe has the vibe of a refurbished farmhouse; the interior is warm, cozy and familiar. In the cooler months, their patio is vibrant and abuzz with locals filling up the tables and enjoying a leisurely morning breakfast. If you’re short on time, they still have you covered. Their pastries are foolproof for an early daylight jolt and readily accessible with a line that moves pretty briskly. They also have a marketplace in which you can pick up sustenance on the go. If you’re able to linger a little longer, grab a table and settle into their Crepes Croquet Monsieur. The obvious twist here is the use of crepes which hold up surprisingly well to the abundance of ham and cheese and the creamy bechamel will have you wanting to lick your plate clean.

Benedict’s
5555 E. Bell Road | Scottsdale, AZ 85254 | 602.992.3337
Even though Benedict’s is only open for brunch on Saturday and Sunday, this is a spot worth anticipating all week long. The charming café’s simplistic interior allows for the focus to be all on the food and its pretty impressive. Obviously, with a name like Benedict’s you would expect them to have an array of options when it comes to the classic breakfast offering, and you will not be disappointed. There are 5 different benedict’s varying from the traditional to some options with a little more flair. The Arizona comes with a base of a corn biscuit, some spicy chorizo, poached eggs and an avocado tomatillo sauce that packs another layer of heat to the dish. Feeling like start off the day with something lavish? Their Bread Pudding Waffle is an intoxicating sequence of caramel and vanilla custard-soaked bread that is griddled until golden and crispy. The aroma alone will let your stomach know you’re in for an indulgent treat.

Chez Vous French Creperie
8787 N. Scottsdale Road | Scottsdale, AZ 85253 | 480.443.2575
breakfast in ScottsdaleChez Vous Crepes offers Scottsdale residents subtle sophistication, exemplary service and extremely reasonable prices for the quality of food you receive. The space itself is charming and colorful and the staff and owners, who are frequently on hand, are courteous and accommodating. You’ll find all manner of daybreak delights like light, flaky and buttery croissants, an assortment of hearty omelets and delectable breakfast sandwiches. But what about the crepes? This creperie has a menagerie of sweet and savory options all tucked within their organic buckwheat flour crepes. Their Forestieres Crepe from the savory side has a consolidation of ham, melted Swiss, mushrooms, and a creamy béchamel. The lusciousness of the béchamel and the woodsy flavor of the mushrooms marry perfectly with the saltiness of the ham and cheese. On the sinful side, the Damnation 2 is an indulgent merger of toothsome chestnut cream and melted dark chocolate. No matter your choice, you’ll be saying “ooh la la” in no time!

Egg N’ Joe
23271 N. Scottsdale Road | Scottsdale, AZ 85255 | 480.265.9968
Egg N’ Joe is part of the Elmer’s Restaurant group, and those familiar with Elmer’s know that their restaurants serve up great food and excellent service. It has long been rumored that some of the dining groups recipes are locked up in a vault, and with good reason. The food here is familiar enough but you also sense that there is something a little extra that you can’t quite place. The brightly colored dining room evokes a fun, easy going vibe and provides an excellent backdrop for a great start to your day. There is a healthy mix of old-fashioned and modern items on the menu. Not to be missed are the famous German Pancakes. The pancake is huge, dwarfing your plate and arrives light and airy, almost like a crepe. They traditionally come with lemon wedges, whipped butter and a dusting of powdered sugar, but you can add an array of fruit toppings, depending on your tastes.

Photo by Debby Wolvos

The Hash Kitchen
8777 N. Scottsdale Road | Scottsdale, AZ 85253 | 480.947.3214
Chef Joey Maggiore knows a thing or two about creating a venue and menu that locals crave. He’s been a part of seven successful restaurants in Arizona and California, with no plans to slow down. He and his wife have created an eclectic and vibrant eatery, sought out by locals and visitors alike. The popularity of this spot means that you might have to wait a bit to be seated, but you’ll quickly forget all about that once you embark on the DIY Bloody Mary Bar (not recommended for work days, of course). You can’t go wrong with any one of their six different hash combinations. The Herb Fried Chicken variety comes with crispy leeks and a maple reduction that will make you contemplate why you were anti-onions as a child. For those with a sweet tooth, the Coconut and Almond Encrusted French Toast with caramelized bananas and that hot maple reduction will remind you of Sunday mornings waking up late and eating with the whole family, but better.

Where do you go for the best breakfast in Scottsdale?

This article, written by Taryn Jeffries, originally appeared in the September 2016 issue of So Scottsdale Magazine.

© Taryn Jeffries 2016