Where to brunch in Fort Collins: morning spots worth the queue.
Where to brunch in Fort Collins. The morning rooms worth the queue, and the kitchens still doing it right at noon.
Silver Grill Cafe has fried breakfast on Walnut Street in Fort Collins since 1933, and its giant cinnamon roll is the single most famous dish in the city.
Order: The giant cinnamon roll, grilled, with crispy bacon
Tip: Order the giant cinnamon roll grilled with butter; the Roll of the Month (August is Peaches and Cream) rewards repeat visits.
Lucile's Creole Cafe serves beignets, Eggs New Orleans and homemade gumbo out of a creaky house on Meldrum Street in Fort Collins, mornings only.
Order: Beignets, then Eggs New Orleans
Tip: Start with an order of hot beignets for the table; the Pain Perdu is the sweet main worth the queue.
Ginger and Baker fills the restored Feed and Grain building on Linden Street in Fort Collins with a pie-first bakery, market, cafe and teaching kitchen.
Order: A slice of pie, whatever the season says
Tip: The phone number spells PIES for a reason: buy a whole pie from the market counter even if you only came for coffee.
The Regional runs a from-scratch American kitchen on Mason Street in Fort Collins: half-shell oysters, lamb merguez meatballs and gluten-free fried chicken.
Order: Shrimp and grits with an oyster starter
Tip: The gluten-free fried chicken is a Wednesday special; weekend brunch runs 09:30 to 14:00 and books out on Resy.
The Farmhouse at Jessup Farm plates chef Michael Gillam's modern farm fare in a restored farmstead at Jessup Farm Artisan Village in Fort Collins.
Order: A farm-fare brunch plate from chef Gillam's board
Tip: Weekend brunch runs 09:00 to 14:00; walk the artisan village afterwards for Bindle Coffee and the shops.
The Emporium Kitchen and Wine Market serves brasserie plates and bison short ribs inside Fort Collins' Elizabeth Hotel, with a retail wine wall to browse.
Order: A brasserie benedict with a wine-market pour
Tip: Late-night menu runs to 23:00 nightly and the Bowerbird coffee counter opens at 06:00, so it covers both ends of the day.
DC Oakes Brewhouse and Eatery brews its own IPA and Mexican lager on the Harmony corridor in Fort Collins, with burgers, brunch and a late kitchen.
Order: Smothered witbier fries with a house Mexican lager
Tip: Weekend brunch runs 09:00 to 12:00; the kitchen closes an hour before the bar, which stays open to midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Music City Hot Chicken fries Nashville-style birds on Prospect Road in Fort Collins across a ladder of heat levels, from Southern to the Flammable Solid dare.
Order: Chicken and waffles at Southern heat
Tip: Vegans get crispy fried tempeh in any heat level; weekend brunch adds chicken and waffles plus a Monte Cristo.
Union Bar and Soda Fountain crosses a mid-century soda counter with craft cocktails on Jefferson Street in Fort Collins: burgers, floats and boozy shakes.
Order: A burger and a breakfast-hour float
Tip: Housemade sodas and boozy milkshakes are the point; vegan and gluten-free menus are marked. Happy hour weekdays 15:00-18:00.
Illegal Pete's builds mission-size burritos with a full bar on Walnut Street in Fort Collins, the Colorado indie chain that pays a living wage.
Order: A breakfast burrito smothered in green chile
Tip: Weekend breakfast burritos run 09:00-13:00; Friday and Saturday the line serves until midnight with margaritas alongside.
Butterfly Cafe bakes its own focaccia for breakfast sandwiches in the historic Butterfly Building on Laporte Avenue in Fort Collins, daily to 15:00.
Order: The focaccia breakfast sandwich
Tip: The focaccia breakfast sandwich is the order; house nut milks and made-in-house soups cover most diets without fuss.
Rainbow Restaurant has cooked breakfast and lunch across from CSU in Fort Collins since 1976, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free boards.
Order: A veggie benedict and buttermilk pancakes
Tip: Daily to 14:00 only; the vegetarian and gluten-free menus are full menus rather than afterthoughts, rare for a diner.
Snooze, an A.M. Eatery cooks scratch breakfast and lunch on Mountain Avenue in Fort Collins, pouring organic coffee for a queue that forms early.
Order: Pancakes from the rotating flight
Tip: Weekends stretch service to 16:00, unusually late for Fort Collins brunch; put your name on the waitlist first.
The Breakfast Club feeds midtown Fort Collins homemade breakfast and lunch off West Monroe Drive, no frills, big plates and bottomless coffee.
Order: A homemade breakfast plate from the griddle
Tip: Doors open at 06:00 on weekdays, one of the earliest starts in town, so it beats the weekend queues elsewhere.
Rodizio Grill opens at 11:00 Friday through Sunday for a Brazilian brunch service, with gauchos carving rotisserie meats tableside and a 30-item salad bar.
Order: The rodizio meat service with a Rodizio Limeade
Tip: The weekend daytime service is quieter than dinner and the full meat rotation still runs; the Rodizio Limeades stand in for mimosas.