Top O' the Morning

39 ways to rise and shine and start the day right at the best breakfast spots in town!

Edited by Kathryn RobinsonWith contribution from Wilson Diehl, Stefan Durham, James Ross Gardner, Carolyn McConnell, Steve Wiecking, and Naomi Zeitlin

The Spread

Calcutta Grill

Atop the Eastside world sits the Golf Club at Newcastle, anchored by a chateau with a sprawling dining room—all elegant box beams and gleaming mahogany in the British colonial style. It has to be enormous: Brunch alone fans across several rooms.
CLAIM TO FAME This brunch has the “everything” factor: a beef-carving station, made-to-order crepes and omelets, salmon and salads and breakfast meats galore, the usual carbfest of pastas and potatoes, glistening fresh fruits and desserts, a kids’ section with chicken nuggets and silver dollar pancakes…even a complete spread of hand-rolled sushi and fresh sashimi.
BEST-KEPT SECRET To the west you can see Russia. (Or is that the Olympic Peninsula?)
POURING Tully’s Madison blend drip and espresso
BREAKFAST IS SERVED Sun brunch 10am—2pm
Calcutta Grill, 15500 Six Penny Ln, Newcastle, 425-793-4646; www.newcastlegolf.com

Salish Lodge

Generations of locals came of age celebrating graduations and grandmas’ birthdays at the storied Snoqualmie Falls Lodge, home of waterfall vistas and whopping four-course breakfasts. Now it’s the Salish—and since its star turn on Twin Peaks, more glossy than folksy—but weekend breakfasts still pack ’em in.
CLAIM TO FAME Order the Country Breakfast; they’ve been making it since 1916. It’s fruit, steel-cut oatmeal, eggs, bacon, shoestring potatoes, and a buttermilk biscuit, and then, yes, buttermilk pancakes. Pace yourself.
BEST-KEPT SECRET Remember Honey from Heaven? Say the word and your server will indulge your nostalgic wish to have your honey poured onto your biscuit from above, the way they did it when you were a kid. (Your server, however, wishes to remind you that target practice was not a formal part of his training.)
POURING Starbucks drip and espresso
BREAKFAST IS SERVED Mon—Fri 7—11am; Sat & Sun brunch 7am—2pm
Salish Lodge, 6501 Railroad Ave SE, Snoqualmie, 425-888-2556; www.salishlodge.com

Salty’s Seafood Grills

It’s a classic Seattle word association: Say “all-you-can-eat brunch” and nine out of 10 locals will shout “Salty’s!” Hard to say which is the more eye-popping spread: the groaning board of breakfast savories and desserts, or—at Alki—the Seattle skyline unfurled over Elliott Bay. Mother’s Day nirvana.
CLAIM TO FAME A burgeoning seafood display, including local oysters shucked to order and huge galvanized buckets overflowing with peel-and-eat shrimp.
BEST-KEPT SECRET Puyallup Fair scones all year round.
POURING West Seattle: Starbucks Guatemala Casi Cielo blend drip, Starbucks espresso. Des Moines: Seattle’s Best Henry’s Best drip and espresso
BREAKFAST IS SERVED West Seattle: Sat brunch 9am—1:30pm; Sun brunch 9am—2pm. Des Moines: Sun brunch 8:30am—2pm.
Salty’s Seafood Grills, 1936 Harbor Ave SW, West Seattle, 206-937-1600; 28201 Redondo Beach Dr S, Des Moines, 253-946-0636; www.saltys.com