:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/These-Incredible-Hotel-Breakfasts-Wont-Cost-You-a-Penny-FT-BLOG0125-The-Inn-of-The-Five-Graces-5380736f9b304f5e964491434dedd53d.jpg)
For many Americans, breakfast has become a grab-and-go ordeal, where smoothies to-go and no-fuss toaster meals are the daily norm, if we don’t skip it altogether. Sadly, many American hotels have taken this to mean that we don’t care about breakfast anymore, replacing our freshly brewed Americanos with in-room K-cups and swapping complimentary made-to-order omelets with tin-pan eggs and plastic-wrapped pastries.
What those hotels are missing is that a true American breakfast has always been more of a celebration than a regular meal; a ritual even, where fluffy stacks of pancakes signal the start of a weekend and buttery eggs with wompy crisps of bacon are symbols of special occasions. A great breakfast changes how you take on the day. Most Americans don’t eat lavish breakfasts on a daily basis, but who doesn’t treat themselves on vacation? Even among weekday breakfast skippers — like myself — the idea of a big breakfast on a weekend or while traveling adds a sense of eager anticipation.
Complimentary breakfasts, in a non-continental format, have become a rarity in American hotels these days, as few are willing to go all-in on the morning meal, or, if they do, only offer it as an out-of-pocket expense. Thankfully, the hotels that get it, truly get it. They’re the hotels that understand travelers want something to celebrate; we want a reason to get excited about waking up early in a new destination. We want breakfast — breakfast that beats haphazard attempts at home. These are the hotels in America that are refusing to give up on the art of breaking fast, instead offering free, highly worth-it — and highly memorable — reasons to set that alarm just a bit earlier.
SingleThread Farms (Sonoma, California)
Courtesy of John Troxell / SingleThread Farms
Michelin-starred chef Kyle Connaughton is a culinary educator, hotelier, and cookbook author — and he makes a mean stack of Japanese pancakes. Kyle and his wife, farmer Katina Connaughton, own and operate SingleThread Farms, a five-guestroom inn with a three-Michelin-starred restaurant, where guests get the rare Michelin-starred treatment for breakfast as a complimentary perk for staying in the couple’s luxe wine country hotel. Kyle’s multi-course breakfast includes a la carte options (i.e., barrel-smoked bacon), a Sonoma Breakfast option (i.e., squash blossom and negi omelets), and a Japanese Breakfast option (i.e., dashimaki tamago with yuzu kosho donabe rice and homemade tsukemono). Rooms from $1,025
Washington School House Hotel (Park City, Utah)
Courtesy of Washington School House Hotel
There may not be a full-service restaurant at this 12-room boutique hotel — which occupies a 19th-century schoolhouse — but that doesn’t stop executive chef Ryan Frye from crafting a hearty mountain breakfast each morning (and dinners upon request). Washington School House Hotel operates based on an “ask and you shall receive” model of hospitality, which has made it one of the most coveted breakfast reservations on the mountain and landed it on numerous “Best Hotel Breakfasts in America” lists over the years. Only open to guests of the hotel, Frye’s breakfasts are entirely made-to-order, and most guests arrive ready to request his loaded and smothered breakfast burrito or doubly thick pancakes with warmed maple syrup. Rooms from $670
The Milkweed Inn (Wetmore, Michigan)
Courtesy of The Milkweed Inn
Reservations book up years in advance for the chance to be among the 12 guests who get to eat and sleep at this remote bed and breakfast in the Hiawatha National Forest of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The inn is owned and operated by celebrated, Michelin-starred chef and author Iliana (Lane) Regan, who takes guests on a weekend-long culinary journey every summer and fall. Breakfast hasn’t wavered over the five years that The Milkweed Inn has been open, typically starting with a bread-making class on Saturday, followed by a Sunday morning feast. “Sunday morning, I bake the bread fresh for the guests,” Regan explains. “I top a slice with a poached local duck egg, a hollandaise I make with a wild mushroom vinegar, country ham that I get local, cure and smoke every week. Alongside, I serve a small bowl of pickled vegetables, some wild and some just market, and then afterwards I serve my yeasted sourdough doughnut, topped with a Michigan whiskey glaze.” Rooms from $2,000
Twin Farms (Barnard, Vermont)
Courtesy of Twin Farms
It’s almost not fair to other breakfasts that Twin Farms is able to tap its in-house pastry chef (Christopher Wilson), its on-site beekeeper (Dave), and its on-site gardener (Emma) to help curate their made-to-order morning meals. But fair is a non-factor when plates of house-smoked breakfast sausage with fresh eggs collected that morning appear on the table. Breakfasts are reserved for guests-only, which is why the hotel’s famous lemon poppyseed soufflé pancakes have been dubbed “the most expensive pancake in the world,” as the only way to order one is to book a room at this luxurious farm hotel. Drizzle the stacks with warm, local maple syrup and a steaming cup of Waterbury’s Artisan Coffee, and the entire experience will seem priceless, though. Rooms from $2,950
Inn of the Five Graces (Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Courtesy of The Inn of The Five Graces
Breakfast is a core value for this Relais & Chateau property, which continues to bring home the No. 1 Best Hotel in Santa Fe award annually from numerous publications. Mornings at Inn of the Five Graces always start with freshly roasted coffee from local roastery Iconik Coffee or with a custom blended tea — like the Cota Navajo tea with lavender and prickly pear — before moving on to favorites like sunrise chilaquiles, huevos motulenos (with red, green, or Christmas chile), and blue corn piñon pancakes. Everything is made-to-order, and the menu changes seasonally, always playing around within the evolving concept of modern New Mexican cuisine. Rooms from $620
The Resort at Paws Up (Greenough, Montana)
Courtesy of Dan Goldberg / The Resort at Paws Up
This resort and working cattle ranch has, not one, but three James Beard Award-nominated chefs to its name. All meals at all of the resort’s restaurants are included when booking a cabin, house, or tent at Paw’s Up or at its sister resort, The Green O, and it’s the free breakfast at Social Haus that has become one of the most anticipated meals on property. Guests happily come down from their treehouse-like accommodations at the Green O for executive chef Brandon Cunningham’s playful Montana-fied creations, like country fried steak with a farm fresh egg or savory bacon and cheese hush puppies. The James Beard Award finalist’s chamomile panna cotta is zen inducing, while his whimsical play on cereal (with pate a choux and white chocolate ganache) shows his playful side. Rooms from $2,000
Blackberry Mountain (Walland, Tennessee)
Courtesy of Sarah Rau / Blackberry Mountain
Nearly 2,800 acres of this resort’s 5,200 acres are devoted to land conservation, and the rest are dedicated to beauty and helping guests experience a sense of place. Three Sisters, Blackberry Mountain’s dining venue that landed on The New York Times’ 50 Most Exciting Restaurants list, plays a big role for both of those goals. Breakfast is included in the room rate for guests staying at this mountaintop sister property of Blackberry Farm (F&W’s 2024 Global Tastemakers winner of Best U.S. Hotel for Food and Drink), where chef Bonnie Moore breezes the essence of the Great Smoky Mountains into her chef-y morning menu. Melted Comte cheese with housemade sausage and braised fennel fill the chef’s omelet, while a delicate bed of foraged mushrooms and shaved vegetables rest atop fresh sheep’s milk cheese on the Brebis Toast. Rooms from $1,500
The Twelve Oaks (Covington, Georgia)
Breakfast is only served during a short window — between 8:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. — each morning at this historic antebellum inn, and yet very few guests have missed this coveted window. The breakfasts are Southern-style, which often means hearty and always means made with real butter and real cream. Hand-picked local strawberries are the stars for fluffy stacks of strawberry shortcake pancakes with bourbon whipped cream, but it’s the housemade biscuits smothered in “low and slow” gravy that gets most visitors out of bed in time for this complimentary feast. Rooms from $295
+ There are no comments
Add yours