Champaign-Urbana Breakfast Spots of Note

These are some Champaign-Urbana breakfast spots of note (as in people should hear of them, if they haven't, as alternatives for eating breakfast out). They are in no particular order. Some places are deliberately excluded, since they better fit into a different category (such as 24-hour diners, bed-and-breakfasts, bakeries (which would include donut/bagel places), although this line is hardly strict). However, if you feel that there is a significant oversight, please do comment.

Pekara (116 N Neil St, Champaign): Although Pekara has many lunch and dinner options, it is first and foremost a bakery. It features an array of pastries and breads, as well as the best breakfast coffee in town (which I understand to be a variety at Columbia Street Roastery, although I've never followed that up). Wifi is also provided. If you're looking for a danish and a coffee while you surf on your laptop and wait for lunch, this is a great way to go. Pekara is always trying out new dishes, so take a careful look and ask what's new. It's a friendly but experimental place, with changing art exhibits.

Courier (111 N Race Street, Urbana): Courier is an Urbana mainstay. It's build to resemble it's precessors, having many antique relics adding a great ambiance to the place. As for breakfast food, it's fairly undersampled by me, but I love what I've had. In particular, the morning addition, which is a croissant, sausage, and egg sandwitch on which I put orange marmalade. Dang tasty. The only reason I don't go more often is because it is a pretty far walk from where I live. The coffee is pretty decent. Courier is a nice, intimate place, but get a booth or it's loud.

Todd and John's Bar and Grill (next to the Jolly Roger, which is at 118 W Water St, Urbana): Evan Donahue turned me on to this place: skeezy bar by afternoon and night, but mornings transform it into a breakfast specialty place, with five specials. Last time I went, I had this great spanish omlete with chorizo, twice-baked potatoes, and coffee. The twice baked potatoes were spectacular. The coffee isn't that great, though. This place will only become a more popular breakfast spot after the new smoking ban. I don't think it will ever lose it's friendly bar ambience, though.

The Originial Pancake House (1909 W Springfield Ave Ste B, Champaign): this place is a favorite of Sarah's (my girlfriend), and I really like it too. The coffee is astonishingly good, and at one time was my favorite in town, although I find now that it gives me headaches for completely unexplained reasons. The cinnamon french toast is a stand-out, although the Farmer's Scramble, which comes with pancakes, is the dish to pick if you want all around favorites. They have fresh squeezed orange juice, too. This place is strictly breakfast-lunch only. The place has a very deliberate homestyle-country ambience.

Le Peep (2215 S Neil St, Champaign): A breakfast-lunch only place. I really like the skillets, but I've been told that people have had the best omlettes they've ever had here. Sarah is more lukewarm about this place. The coffee is good, and comes by the pot. Water also comes by the caraffe. I like this place a lot for the ambiance, where they are trying for a fresh feel.

Flat Top Grill (607 S. Sixth Street, Champaign): This place just opened. They do breakfast-lunch-dinner. The breakfasts are an all-you-can-eat affair, where you select what dish you want using a system of sticks, and choose the toppings you want (say fruit and butter for French toast, and a simply astounding array of vegitables, with a few breakfast meats, for a scramble). You can make scrambles, omlettes, eggwhite-only omlettes, pancakes, and frenchtoast. with a wide variety of vegitables. Fresh fruit and muffins are provided for between-course snacking. The coffee is quite fine. The ambiance is preppy yet respectful.

Radio Maria (119 North Walnut, Champaign): Radio Maria is in the breakfast list on the merits of the Sunday Brunch alone. However, the merit is substantial. They provide omlettes equal in quality to anywhere else for a price that's just as good, if not better. Plus, their upward range is difficult to limit. Their coffee is great, and they have a Mexican coffee that has too much cinnamon for me, personally. People who want to venture out into great, new foods will find the opportunity here, while the brunch affords some more conservative options to those who might normally not want to venture into the Radio Maria wilds. In terms of atmosphere, it has a legendary 1930s meets Latin American Voodoo feel that would leave Gomez Addams feeling quite at home.