Matt's Big Breakfast

Even the most adventurous eaters tend to be cautious and conservative about breakfast. People who gladly consume green curries, mole poblano, sashimi, and masala dosa after noon often revert to familiar dishes like eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles, and cereals in the morning. Matt’s Big Breakfast does not attempt to fight this tendency by pushing culinary innovation too early in the morning for most of its customers. Instead, it embraces the familiar but takes it to an uncommon level by stressing high-quality, locally-sourced ingredients and a hand-crafted approach to their preparation.

Matt’s debuted in 2004 and was among the first of a new legion of small, independent restaurants opening in the presidential streets between Van Buren and Roosevelt, an area now considered a hub of entrepreneurship in the city’s core. The restaurant’s location is a tiny building at the corner of First Street and McKinley, diagonally across the street from the Downtown Phoenix Public Market and three blocks southeast of the Roosevelt / Central Avenue station. Matt Pool, the person also behind the Roosevelt, a popular tavern just a few blocks away, opened his breakfast place after a stint of pulling pints at Bar Bianco, which accommodates the crowd waiting hours for a meal at Pizzeria Bianco. Of course, Pizzeria Bianco has always been known for its “get the best ingredients and leave them alone” approach, so it’s not surprising that philosophy has carried over to Matt’s Big Breakfast.

Inside the tiny box of a restaurant, what little decor exists recalls East Coast diners with some Midwestern farm touches. Unlike a lot of breakfast places that go overboard with country kitsch, Matt’s keeps it simple: a few picture here and there, and a whimsical set of animal figurines (center photo below) in the small, two-seat counter that looks out on First Street. There’s a bigger counter facing inward and two-top tables scattered throughout.

The menu is as simple as the space. Both the breakfast and lunch columns list less than a dozen items on each side. Expect generous use of butter, whole milk, eggs, white flour, and pork products in most dishes. At Matt’s, “big breakfast” seems to refer not only to generous portions, but also an increasingly fashionable return to eating formerly taboo foods without fear of saturated fat or cholesterol. This means dishes like the “Chop and Chick,” which combines a pork chop, two eggs, and potatoes. The same approach also comes through with the star of the lunch menu, the butter burger. The name says it all.

Of course, there are some lighter options, especially on the breakfast menu, which is served all day. The griddle cakes (right photo below) are light, fluffy, and slightly sweet. There is a generous dollop of butter on top, but it can be pushed aside or omitted in favor of the real maple syrup that accompanies the dish. These pancakes have almost ideal texture and flavor. The only thing that might improve them might be blueberries or some other type of fruit. Another less indulgent choice, the oatmeal, comes piping hot in a generously-sized bowl and is augmented with plump raisins.

The beverage selection is limited but interesting. Included are retro favorites like RC Cola and buttermilk. The best option, however, may be the fresh-squeezed orange juice, which is always perfectly sweet and slightly pulpy. No alcohol is served, and that makes sense given the restaurant’s hours, although it does preclude a “hair of the dog” approach to curing hangovers.

Since the restaurant’s opening, plenty of Phoenix diners have embraced the classic approach to breakfast taken at Matt’s, and lines have long been commonplace on weekends. A small notepad near the door is where customers sign up before waiting to hear their names called. In 2008, the scene at Matt’s has become a lot more hectic, largely due to Guy Fieri’s show, “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” which covered Matt’s in a March, 2008 episode. To this day, the crowds seem to ebb and flow based on when the episode is rerun on the Food Network.

Of course, some of the hype surrounding Matt’s has led, inevitably, to unfulfilled expectations. Some complaints, such as those about the service, appear unfounded; the servers at Matt’s seem consistently polite and attentive no matter how crazy the restaurant gets. Other gripes, such as the lack of whole grains on the menu, have more legitimacy. Nevertheless, given both the cramped kitchen and the restaurant’s overwhelming popularity, it’s hard to envision a major menu revision in the offing.

Matt’s is open every day except Monday from 6:30 AM until 2:30 PM. The restaurant has high chairs, and the basic food on the menu should appeal to most kids. The long waits and cramped restaurant interior mean that it’s best not to bring young children during peak weekend hours, however. Since Matt’s is an experience, like Pizzeria Bianco, that every Phoenician should experience at least once, it might be a worthwhile reason to play hooky on a weekday.

801 N. First St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004 | Map
(602) 254-1074
http://www.mattsbigbreakfast.com