Rev up your mornings: 9 great breakfast plates in the 818

The San Fernando Valley is full of many great places to get breakfast. There’s the greasy spoon diners, the mom-and-pop chilaquiles parlors, and those creative takes on classic pancake houses. The Valley has its share of trendy cafes and influencer-endorsed brunch spots, but much of this list is more unassuming. The kind of place you’ve been going to with your family for years, the coffeeshop for early morning meetups with old friends, restaurants that simply serve the community tasty meals. This is by no means a definitive list, just a collection of some of the places you can get great breakfasts in the SFV.

Myke's Cafe (Pacoima)

Myke's Banana Split Pancake goes all in

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Courtesy Myke’s Cafe

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You can get a straightforward breakfast, sure, at Myke’s Cafe, the legendary Northeast valley breakfast spot with garden seating. They have huevos rancheros, benedicts, or the classic two-eggs-any-style-with-a-side-of-bacon-and-potatoes — but people really come here for their “mad creations.”

Like reimagining a pancake breakfast as a banana split, complete with bananas, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, lemon curd, and of course sprinkles. Or the Wafflechera, which pours lechera condensed milk, graham crackers, strawberries, and whipped cream over their signature Belgian waffle. And if you’re coming in crudo after a long night, the Little Man Hangover Cure comes with fries, cheddar cheese, black beans, cilantro, tomatoes, onions, red sauce, one sunny side up egg and asada. If you need that hair of the dog they serve beer and bottomless mimosas. Breakfast is served all day. If you end up staying for lunch, they’ll put a Snickers bar on your burger.

Con Sabor Salvadoreño (Reseda)

There are a number of places to get great Salvadoran food in the Valley. Pupusas, panes rellenos sandwiches stuffed with turkey and vegetables, crispy pastelitos, and all those great soups. But first thing in the morning, you know I’m craving a traditional desayuno salvadoreño. The ones they serve at Con Sabor Salvadoreño in a strip mall on Tampa and Roscoe hit the spot. Their traditional breakfast comes with eggs over easy or revueltos scrambled with tomatoes, onions, and peppers. It's served with fried plantains, crema salvadoreña, queso duro, a salty hard cheese, thick tortillas, and frijoles licuados, a refried black bean or casamiento, a mixture of rice and black beans. Of course they’re also known for the aforementioned breadth of Salvadoran cuisine, and those delectable pupusas that you can also eat anytime.

Brent’s Deli (Northridge) 

Grab a traditional breakfast or order a pastrami sandwich and a bowl of matzo ball soup if you're feeling crazy

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Josh Heller

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LAist

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I think that Brent’s Deli s probably the best deli in Los Angeles, and they make one of the best breakfasts in the Valley. We often meet my wife’s family there early on Sunday mornings before the rush. If you come any later than 8:45 you can expect a twenty minute wait. I sometimes get delicatessen breakfast favorites like salami and eggs or matzo brei. Another favorite is American Dream Breakfast which comes with your choice of french toast, pancakes, or waffles topped with a red, white, and blue patriotic trifecta of strawberries, whipped cream, and blueberries. My wife’s family always orders a round of mini latkes and blintzes for the table. Grab a traditional breakfast or, heck, it’s totally okay to order a pastrami sandwich and a bowl of matzo ball soup for breakfast. Get there when they open or expect a wait.

Goto At Silog (Panorama City) 

Breakfast including tocino, a cured meat and bangus, also known as milk fish

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Courtesy Goto at Silog

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For a great Filipino breakfast go to Goto At Silog. In Filipino, “Silog” is a portmanteau for sinangag, meaning garlic fried rice, and itlog for a fried egg. The word can get even more portmanteaued when you combine it with your favorite proteins like a sweet and garlicy sausage longganisa which makes a dish called longsilog or tocino, a cured meat which becomes tocilog. They also serve Spamsilog and Hotdogsilog. Another popular dish is their sizzling sisig, made from crispy pork jowl, served in a skillet with eggs on top and of course a side of rice. You can also go with their namesake Goto, a savory rice porridge made with ginger and beef tripe. Breakfast is served all day.

Western Bagel (10 locations including the Van Nuys Factory)

There are some great places to get bagels in The Valley, like Hank’s in Sherman Oaks and Burbank. But it’s hard to beat Western Bagel — the “bagel that won the west” since 1947. Their factory in Van Nuys makes around five million bagels per year.

(I got a tour of their operation last year. Bagels galore gliding by on conveyor belts on their way to be baked.)

They make the dough at the HQ but each retail location boils and bakes their bagels on-site. You can bring home a dozen with appropriate lox and schmears. Or order their popular jalapeño cheese bagel or their famous Egg Ala Bagel with scrambled eggs, cheese, and your choice of bacon, ham, sausage, or turkey. Their horchata latte hits the spot every time and if you and a few friends want to get extra caffeinated, you can order the 96 ounce containers of coffee for a good time.

Big Art’s (Mission Hills / Chatsworth)

Carne asada breakfast burrito at Big Arts

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Courtesy Big Art’s Tacos y Burros

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There are so many contenders for the best breakfast burrito in the valley. You can go to fast food joints like Big Fat, whose griddle produces some hearty breakfast burritos, or new school places like Taqueria Nopal who work out of a modern trailer on Balboa in Northridge and also have an impressive specialty latte program.

But a place that’s been holding it down specifically for the breakfast burrito for the last few years is Big Art’s. Art and his team have been in a tent on the corner of Devonshire and Sepulveda slinging those warm flour blankets wrapping a combo of cheese, egg, tater tots, pico de gallo, and avocado salsa. The OG style comes with asada. You can also get one with bacon that’s called the "when pigs fly” burrito. (You can also omit the eggs and get the vegan soyrizo version). They also serve cafe de olla and a coffee cake that rivals the classic LAUSD recipe. Big Art’s Tacos y Burros recently opened a brick and mortar location in Chatsworth on Devonshire in the plaza behind The Munch Box.

Mel’s Drive-In (Sherman Oaks) 

Like the Mel’s Drive-In on Route 66 in Santa Monica that LAist food and culture writer Gab Chabran recently wrote about, the Sherman Oaks location originally started as a 24 hour Googie-style diner. It originally opened in the Spring of 1953 on Ventura Boulevard and Kester Avenue as Dyles Restaurant (and later Kerry’s Coffee Shop.) Back then you could order breakfast 24 hours a day, with menu items like the advertised steak and eggs for $1.75. These days you can order it but you’ll be paying closer to $29.99.

It’s been a Mel’s Drive-In since 1988, a part of the iconic chain of California fifties diners that were featured in the coming-of-age movie American Graffiti. The Sherman Oaks location still has a jukebox at the table and you can sit at a booth beneath Wolfman Jack, and new school heroes like Guy Fieri. You can get your classic diner fare plus specialties like their The Elvis Scramble, with chorizo, green chiles, monterey jack. Or the Yuppie Joe’s scramble with ground turkey, spinach, mushrooms and onions.

Garcia Bros Cafe (Van Nuys)

Garcia Bros Cafe Breakfast sandwich

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Courtesy Garcia Bros Cafe

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Whenever I’m driving down Victory Boulevard west of Van Nuys Boulevard, I see a long line forming in front of Garcia Bros Cafe. People say they don’t mind standing in line for up to forty-five minutes, because they love their made-from-scratch food and extremely friendly staff. This popular Van Nuys destination is known for their hearty breakfasts.

Their house specialties include avocado toast, chilaquiles, spicy chicken omelettes, and matcha berry pancakes keep the crowds coming. They’ve got a Brunch Burger with American cheese, arugula, onions, bacon, thousand island, and a sunny side up egg. The Victory Breakfast Sandwich comes stacked with two scrambled eggs, goat cheese, hashbrowns, avocado, and tomato. Their full coffee menu includes signatures like cafe de olla and matcha lattes. Come hungry, the wait is worth it.

Lady C’s, formerly CiCi’s Cafe (Tarzana) 

The breakfast diner in a strip mall on the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Wilbur recently renamed itself. Since it opened in 2006 it had been known as CiCi’s Cafe but now it’s called Lady C’s. Everything else is exactly the same, including the ownership, staff, recipes, and having perhaps the “Largest Menu In The World.” Long lines of customers keep coming into Lady C’s for their classic diner breakfasts and tiramisu soufflé pancakes. Allow 45 minutes to an hour for their 80+ soufflé pancake options, and only one order per table to accommodate their tiny kitchen.

When you look deeper into the menu you can find some of their Thai fusion specialties like the shrimp fried rice, Thai beef benedict, and the beef panang curry and lava omelette. The orangeish red curry is served among the Japanese-style viral cream runny egg dish that erupts “lava” when it’s cut into.

Honorable Mentions

I know a list of great breakfasts can be controversial, especially in the the things we may have omitted. Why not include the Ranch Style breakfast at Joyce’s Coffee Shop in Northridge? Or the steak and eggs at the iconic Norm’s of Van Nuys? Where’s the cheese beorek at Taron Bakery in North Hollywood? Or the tamale lady at the corner of Saticoy and Reseda? These are all certainly great meals that hit the spot early mornings, but alas we’re limited by space.