Breakfast Beat: A Luxe Scottsdale Spot with Churro Waffles

The Spot: Breakfast Kitchen Bar
15147 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale
480-361-6698

The Scene: Humming away at the west end of Scottsdale Quarter, Breakfast Kitchen Bar — one of the Quarter's newer residents — has a luxe vibe. You'd never know it from the outside, but looks deceive. Ceilings soar. A tiny bar commands the room's focus. Bright lights hang and illuminate cut glass shades with a glow more suited to Tempranillo than omelet. Below, regulars casually fuel up early on weekday mornings. Weekends, the room can get louder, more hectic, and packed.

The Goods: The menu at Breakfast Kitchen Bar is wide-ranging, with so many conventional and novel options that there's bound to be something for you.

Do you want something more robust and harder to execute, maybe chilaquiles rojo or French toast made from almond croissants? Or do you want something low-maintenance and more traditional, perhaps pancakes or a yogurt mountain jeweled with fruit?

The restaurant serves some heartier morning meals, benedicts and a bunch of bowls, at least one of the bunch being questionable. (I'm looking at you, Philly cheesesteak bowl.)

Breakfast Kitchen Bar's value, too, is as a place to fuel up on lighter morning fare. You can pick from egg-and-grain bowls, yogurt, smoothies with gluten-free protein powder, and even a house-made protein bar. If you treat food as fancy diesel fuel and your body as a Ferrari, this is the kind of spot for you.

The yogurt with berries is sweet, the fruit quotient intensified with a raspberry puree. One of the bowls features house-made cauliflower cakes and a monster scoop of smashed avocado. The cakes are interesting — veggie-burger-like in texture and with the warm, toasty flavor of cauliflower. They soak up egg yolks (if you've ordered the bowl's eggs runny, that is) in the best kind of way, and leave you feeling good after.

The Bottom Line: Breakfast Kitchen Bar is a posh-leaning morning eatery with wide appeal. People who eat for fuel and people who eat for fun will be happy.

Special Something: If you're looking for a sugar rush or kicks, check out the churro waffle. Nutella and vanilla ice cream come with this one, stretching the meaning of "breakfast food" pretty impressively. 
Hours: Every day 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Price: $$
Coffee Options: Drip coffee, chai lattes, and espresso-based creations, some on the fun side.
Drinking Before Noon: A robust morning drink menu will be hard not to order from. We're talking a handful of flavored mimosas, a Bloody Mary with a bacon-honey rim, and Irish coffee. And that's just the beginning. This breakfast-and-lunch den even has a happy hour, starting an hour before close.