Spies In Search of a Proper Breakfast: Three Mid-Shore Favorites

For the serious breakfast crowd—those who see the first meal as a bit of a sacred ritual—there’s nothing quite like a café that opens its doors promptly at 7 am, or even earlier, to earn street cred. You’ll find these faithful in rural Vermont and coastal Maine, where the natives line up for pancakes and eggs even in the dark mornings of winter. And they endure in the summer months as tourists disrupt their morning routine with long lines and children.

The country is also living in a time when the breakfast sandwich can give any old coffee shop the right to call itself a breakfast spot, but in the Spy’s rule book, that’s deceptive. The breakfast sandwich has always been the compromise breakfast created for college students and commuters, not for those who understand that offering egg platters is a sign of actual devotion.

For the record, the Mid-Shore has had in the past those kinds of legendary venues, with perhaps Holly’s on Kent Island the best known of the lot on Route 50/300. However, over the last few decades, the American breakfast has become increasingly rare, even as it finds increasing culinary significance in Maryland.

That doesn’t mean there are still no options, and the Spy asked two of its agents to conduct a quick assessment of where one can get a proper breakfast off Route 50. As they continue their research in the upcoming months, we hope our readers will suggest their own favorites, and we’ll add them to the list for surveillance.

But for the moment, these are the Spy favorites:

1. Blackwater Bakery — Cambridge

Address: 429 Race St, Cambridge, MD 21613
Website: blackwaterbakerycambridge.com

If there were a Hall of Fame for breakfast on the Mid-Shore, Blackwater Bakery would be an early inductee. It hits every note just right: consistent food, friendly service, early opening hours, and a menu that treats breakfast like the main event—not an afterthought.

From the three-egg trio platter and bacon to creative daily specials, Blackwater makes it clear they take the first meal seriously, and that certainly shows on their menu, where their lunch offerings make up less than a 1/4 of the page.

It was also the only place we’ve tried where scrapple is proudly served and, just as importantly, prepared the right way. One doesn’t want to fool around with how to cook the Delmarva’s favorite breakfast meat, and Blackwater does it crispy and thin.

The most crucial advantage that Blackwater has is that it’s an authentic bakery. Every day, fresh muffins, croissants, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls are on display, providing almost aromatic therapy to diners.

The other thing to know about Blackwater is that it’s popular. So popular in fact that it added a new wing to handle the morning crowd. They gratefully take reservations, or you can be the first in the door at 7 am, and join the pros.

2. Breakfast in Easton – Easton

Address: 317 N Washington St, Easton, MD 21601
Website: bineaston.com

Stephen Mangasarian, the owner and chef of Breakfast in Easton, is a breakfast hero in the area. A one-man band, Stephen has upheld his New England heritage by offering a classic, delicious breakfast spot that takes its role seriously.

Opening the door at 6:45 am most mornings, Stephen assumes his position in the open kitchen to welcome guests and log orders in a space that comfortably seats less than 20 during the winter and twice that in good weather with the patio open.

Like many places in New England, the menu is short and simple. Eggs, solid pancakes, and good coffee.  Nothing more, nothing less. If you’re in the mood for granola or a double cappuccino, you’ll be out of luck. And that, in keeping with those small diners up north, it’s cash only.

Open from 7:00 a.m. on weekdays, it’s the kind of joint where the coffee is always fresh and refilled without asking.

3. Bonheur – Easton

Address: 5 Goldsborough St, Easton, MD 21601
Website: eatbonheur.com

Now for something a bit different. There is a new kid on the block.

Bonheur doesn’t open early (doors open at 8:00 a.m.), and it doesn’t have the breakfast-in-a-hurry vibe of the other two spots. It’s more like a place you’d find on the Upper East Side of New York. Quiet, comfortable, and with an understated elegance, it feels surprisingly welcoming.

Some of that has to do with the fact that BonJour began on Goldsbrough Street as an ice cream and pie enterprise, which has proved to be successful in its own right. However, decision-makers at Bluepoint Hospitality must have recognized the need in Easton for a reliable downtown breakfast option, and they have recently added morning hours and a new menu.

The results are exceptional.  The menu includes a full range of traditional breakfast favorites, as well as a wide variety of crepes and, of course, avocado toast. But sometimes you can tell a lot about a place by how serious it takes even the plainest of choices, like oatmeal, for example. It can safely be said that Bonheur’s steel-cut oaks are some of the best our spies have had properly served with the freshest of fruit berries and real maple syrup.

The one notable omission from the menu was the absence of Bluepoint’s renowned bakery items, which are available at the nearby Weather Gage coffee shop. Considering that those croissants are some of the very best in the Mid-Atlantic, it’s a bit odd and disappointing that one only has the option of toast.  The agents hope that this policy will change soon.