Breakfast King still rules Denver's breakfast scene

Just a few minutes from one of the best Chinese breakfasts in Denver (Star Kitchen, reviewed this week) is one of the best breakfast joints in America: Breakfast King. And for a change, it ain't just me singing the praises of this perfect greasy spoon at Santa Fe and Mississippi, it's Esquire magazine, which tagged the King as one of the 59 "Best Breakfasts in America."

Location Info

Map

Breakfast King

300 W. Mississippi Ave.
Denver, CO 80223

Category: Restaurant > American

Region: Southwest Denver

Photos

16 user reviews	Write A Review
Save to foursquare	0

Details

Breakfast King
1100 South Santa Fe Drive
303-733-0795

Related Content

• Lowrider bicycles, Star Wars and street tubas: First Friday on Santa Fe, 5/4/12
  May 7, 2012
• Guess where I'm biking near these old train tracks and win a B-cycle season pass
  May 9, 2012
• Barry Fey and Colorado Symphony make beautiful music together again
  April 30, 2012
• iSushi now open in Denver's Arts District on Santa Fe
  April 26, 2012
• Tails of the Painted LOLcats: I can haz a charity auction?
  May 7, 2012

More About

• Barry Fey
• Santa Fe
• Food and Cooking
• Coffee

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Dining Newsletter: The week's top local food news and events, plus interviews with chefs and restaurant owners, dining tips, and a peek at our print review.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Why did Esquire dig it so much? Because "the waitresses call the regulars by name, guys like Vic and Lou, as in 'No lotto ticket today, Lou?' They come for the country-fried steak, smothered in sausage gravy and so tender you can cut it with your fork." Granted, that isn't much of a review (it's among the shortest of the 59 descriptions), but the mag did get two very important, very fundamental things about the King exactly right. First, the regulars here really are known that well, and really have been coming in long enough for everyone in the house to know Vic and Lou's habits. Second, Vic and Lou really do like the chicken-fried steak, because the chicken-fried steak at the King is up there with the best chicken-fried steak anywhere. I love the King's chicken-fried steak. All of my gastronaut friends (or at least those I've been able to convince to accompany me to the King) love the chicken-fried steak. Barry Fey, a man who has country gravy in his veins instead of blood, loves the chicken-fried steak so much that I occasionally get calls from him at odd hours — like ten o'clock on a Sunday night — asking if I feel like meeting him down at the King for a quick plate.

So Esquire isn't telling us anything we didn't know. The King was one of the first restaurants in Denver that I absolutely fell in love with, quickly became a place I went to three or four times a week, and has been regularly winning Best of Denver awards ever since. I haven't been going to the King quite as frequently since I gave up the java (my traditional Breakfast King breakfast: six cups of coffee, ten cigarettes and a plate of corned beef hash with eggs over very easy), but the last time I was there (about thirty seconds after learning of the Esquire nod), what do you think I had? Chicken-fried steak, baby. A few cigarettes. And tea, which I'll admit felt a little inappropriate. But the chicken-fried steak was as good as ever: a massive slab of tender steak sheathed in fried batter and topped with a thick fall of country gravy shot through with chunks of sausage.

It's good to be the King.