America's Most Original Brunch Dishes

Brunch might be the only good reason to put on real pants on a weekend morning, but when's the last time you had your mind blown by any dish served with a side of bottomless mimosas? As the old adage goes, breakfast is as breakfast does, and veggie scrambles, while filling, are just about all this late-morning ritual has to offer. Right? Wrong.

The country is full of original dishes that will have you craving brunch all week and turn even the most stubborn brunch hater into a Bloody Mary-sipping devotee. You might even have to swap those real pants for the stretchy kind to make room.

Here are America's most original—and delectable—brunch dishes.

Portland, OR

To call any breakfast spot an institution in a city as brunch obsessed as Portland is quite a claim, but Tasty n Sons, with lines that stretch around the block every day of the week, lives up to its grandiose reputation. The first dish of note—it's near impossible to pick just one—is the Burmese red pork stew, a simple yet rich blend of tender pork shoulder and belly swimming in their own braising liquid, short-grain rice and two eggs—one is pickled and stirred into the mix while the other, fried sunny, sits on top. The second standout, sugar-dusted chocolate potato doughnut balls served in a pool of crème anglaise, can serve as the ultimate pregame or post-feast palate cleanser (or both).

Brooklyn, NY

Though almost every item listed on this Brooklyn hot spot's inimitable brunch menu could be considered original, we're giving out two gold medals here. First off, the kung pao chicken wings and waffles. There's something about sinking your teeth into a fiery fried drumstick, sticky with sauce and dotted with crunchy peanuts, you just can't replicate. Add a few perfectly crisped waffles and douse the whole thing in coconut brown butter syrup, and you've got yourself one memorable meal. Sharing the spotlight is the hangover-squashing breakfast ramen, in which an archipelago of honey-glazed bacon, noodles and a six-minute egg float in a soothing, buttered toast-infused broth. Give in to temptation and just order both.

Austin, TX

It's not always easy to track down a refreshing vegetable dish in a town ruled by tacos, doughnuts and BBQ brisket. But after a few days of nonstop chorizo and beer, this bright tangle of roast carrots, house-made carrot-top chimichurri, pickled currants and toasted quinoa, dressed with an invigorating cardamom-white mountain yogurt, will literally give you life. We know, we know—salad? For brunch? But, hey, think about it this way: With all those healthy veggies in your system, you can definitely justify that second (OK, third) margarita. Note: This one's a permanent fixture on the lunch and dinner menus, but is sometimes offered as a special on the weekends (though we totally condone playing hooky on a Tuesday).

Washington, D.C.

Brunch at Tabard Inn is something of a rite of passage in D.C. Sleepy-eyed folks from all over the country flock here each weekend just to say they've tasted the 95-year-old hotel and restaurant's legendary doughnuts and, of course, its most unique option: qatayef. This traditional Syrian-style breakfast dish consists of two melt-in-your-mouth pancakes, stuffed turnover-style with either velvety ricotta and orange zest or sweet honey and toasted walnuts, then covered in a fragrant layer of rosewater syrup.

Philadelphia, PA

Not all breakfast sandwiches are created equal. The culinary geniuses behind this Philly mainstay have managed to break the mold with the Forager, an over-the-top mound of braised kale, seared king oyster mushrooms, nutty Swiss cheese and a silky fried egg, painted with a thick slab of black trumpet mayo, all cradled inside a poppy seed-encrusted kaiser roll (baked in-house, of course). It comes with a side of house-fermented eggplant and okra chowchow, a Southern-style pickle relish with a pronounced spicy kick to balance out all that richness. Tearing through this masterpiece feels like tromping through a lush forest after a hard rain, your senses enveloped in a verdant bouquet of textures, flavors and aromas. Trust us.