Morning Times Launches Breakfast Monday
The downtown Raleigh core has lacked something for a long while: a place to get a decent breakfast. While there have been many fringe options, and plenty of yogurt parfaits and scones to eat, there hasn’t been a quick and decent egg and bacon kind of place that’s open early. Update: As a reader noted below: “Mecca has been open for breakfast for months” decades.
On Monday, the Morning times is turning this on its head and bringing a test run on a full breakfast menu. They don’t have a final menu yet, but the coffee shop will be adding biscuits, sausage, eggs, and veggie options to a formal menu. There is even talk of having a waitress or two and expanding to the Raleigh Times if necessary.
A Need for Hot Breakfast Downtown
A smart move on the Time’s part. We can only imagine that this is in part driven by Empire Eat’s owner Greg Hatem own downtown needs. Although there aren’t many downtown residents, Hatem is one of them. And any morning when you wake up to an empty fridge downtown- the food options are slim, and mostly cold. Now Hatem and the rest of us will have a convenient option.
See the The Morning Times page.
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eileen
12/10 12:11 PM
So excited. I’ve been dying for a good downtown breakfast spot forever. I was hoping Busy Bee would open the kitchen earlier with breakfast items on the weekend since they open up at 7:00 anyway but now that doesn’t matter. Thanks Greg and MT!! You guys rock. Oh and I’m pretty certain expansion into RT will be necessary. MT is already packed on weekend mornings anyway.
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hackles10
12/10 12:23 PM
It would be great to use the far right dining area of morning times to expand this venture. About 15 tables would be perfect!
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No Thank you
12/10 01:00 PM
“While there have been many fringe options, and plenty of yogurt parfaits and scones to eat, there hasn’t been a quick and decent egg and bacon kind of place that’s open early.”
Ummm: Mecca has been open for breakfast for months.
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JW the RW
12/10 01:04 PM
I haven’t eaten breakfast in downtown in ages but I thought Ed’s, Oakwood, Cafe Carolina and to a lesser extent Finch’s were all solid options. The portions at Ed’s and Oakwood are huge!
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Jessica
12/10 01:59 PM
um, Mecca has been serving breakfast for over 75-80 years, that’s a lot of months!!! I’m excited for more options though.
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OrangeRaleigh
12/10 02:08 PM
Carolina Cafe? Big Ed’s? Don’t you know that pretentious downtown hipsters have no need for or awareness of anything that isn’t Raleigh Times or Morning Times?
Tomorrow’s Headline: “RALEIGH TIMES BEGINS LIVE MUSIC. FIRST LIVE MUSIC IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA.”
By the way, Finch’s breakfast is awesome.
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hackles10
12/10 02:10 PM
Big Ed’s is a great breakfast option too!
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CF
12/10 02:18 PM
This is the first beard-friendly breakfast option.
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David
12/10 02:40 PM
Thanks for the corrections folks.
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RaleighRob
12/10 02:43 PM
Manhattan Cafe serves breakfast too.
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SB
12/10 02:47 PM
Sure there are other breakfast places downtown such as finch’s, mecca and big ed’s but their coffee is crap. Too bad, cause that’s important. When I go out for breakfast I have to choose between good coffee and good food. Now we’ll (hopefully) have both.
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AnotherChairEnthusiast
12/10 02:55 PM
Um… Helios, anyone?
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John
12/10 02:59 PM
Actually, Mecca only started serving breakfast in the beginning of 2008 after a hiatus of several decades.
And as far as breakfast, Remedy has the best, and it’s served all day.
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David
12/10 03:08 PM
I think to qualify Remedy would need to be actually open in the morning.
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wg
12/10 03:14 PM
WORD, OrangeRaleigh!! LOL~!
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drew
12/10 03:17 PM
Chick-fila chicken and biscuits with waffle fries are off the hook. And cheaper to boot!
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The Dreadnought
12/10 03:18 PM
Remedy’s breakfast is sub-par; crappy coffee, rancid OJ, puny bacon, “two” scrambled eggs that resemble one, and so on. Bring on better breakfast!
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Angie
12/10 04:12 PM
busy bee has brunch on the weekends.
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carol
12/10 04:35 PM
every other city in the triangle has GOOD breakfast joints. No offense Mecca fans, but did I mention GOOD breakfast joints? As in creative and healthy? There are several down home cookin joints, no doubt. Oakwood cafe is the closest thing to good in my book. Bravo Greg Hatem..finally!
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Kate
12/10 05:14 PM
I have to echo Carol ... Mecca and Remedy don’t exactly shine in the food dept. and Big Ed’s has great biscuits but limited options if you want something a little different (or decent coffee). Nice to see another option though I’ll always love a Big Ed’s biscuit.
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Brian
12/10 08:22 PM
Big Ed’s isn’t in the core? It’s TWO AND A HALF BLOCKS from the Times.
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Tom Burns
12/11 01:18 AM
Unless you’re talking about Morris Day’s Time, your apostrophe is in the wrong place.
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hbomb
12/11 02:28 AM
wouldn’t it be nice if everyone agreed that it’s cool that we will have ANOTHER breakfast option downtown? i get tired of waiting for saturday or sunday to roll around, and i live a 1 minute walk from the morning times. big ed’s closes way too early for my late sleeping habits. call me an optimist, but i have heard great things from a friend whom is going to be doing the breakfast. don’t go if you want to be another one of those assholes who bitch and moan on newraleigh, all of the damn time. get over yourselves.
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cat
12/11 10:14 AM
Um, I worked downtown all of 2006 and 2007 and had breakfast at Mecca so they were serving breakfast before early 2008.
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Betsy
12/11 11:19 AM
Time was when the higher-income downtown workers breakfasted at the City Club or the Cardinal Club, and the middle-income downtown workers had already scarfed a banana walnut muffin in the car on the way in from Clayton.
.
So I do believe this new offering is accountable in part to the recent increase in middle-income workers that actually live in or near downtown. -
TheWaveLife
12/11 12:21 PM
@hbomb A-Freaking-Men.
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Jess
12/11 12:21 PM
When I worked downtown in 2005-2006, I had breakfast at Mecca at least once a week…and it was awesome…
Mecca ftw…
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suomynona
12/11 01:50 PM
who is the source on this? morning times doesn’t even acknowledge this.
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yep.
12/11 02:00 PM
suom: its true, this i know from an empire eats employee whos gone into further detail about it.
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Brocktoon
12/11 03:33 PM
Remedy breakfast is sub-par. I believe they use powdered eggs. The gouda cheese grits that I was served had no seasoning or cheese flavor. At least they weren’t a runny mess like most breakfast joints. Ed’s is average. I like Oakwood for dinner or lunch, but I stopped in last week for a biscuit sandwich, and the biscuit was a frozen-bag option. Not cool. Wish there was a Raleigh rival to the Early Girl Eatery in Asheville. Optimistic about Morning Times and The Diner on Glenwood.
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Khaner
12/11 04:13 PM
Dying @ OrangeRaleigh’s comment.
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gd
12/11 04:25 PM
Ive eaten breakfast at Remedy once. Never again. My dad asked for fried eggs - they said they cant do it. He asked if they used real eggs and they replied yes, but then they still stated they cant fry eggs. Weird cause I use real eggs at home and they fry just as easy as they scramble.
Remedy can close so something good can open up. That place sucks all the way around - even their grilled cheese is subpar (and how do you screw that up!?) sorry vegetarian friends. Im looking forward to trying MT breakfast soon enough. -
tjoad
12/11 06:17 PM
Gd, I remember hearing Remedy doesn’t have an exhaust/hood system, that’s why they can’t fry or grill anything.
Looking forward to breakfast at MT!
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gd
12/11 06:28 PM
ah yes. I do remember hearing that. Thanks for reminding me.
Either way, the food is still subpar and even if I could get a fried egg, i doubt it would be worth the $.
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S
12/11 07:33 PM
Why would one speculate that this is a decision based on Greg’s personal needs? He’s lived downtown for years so if he needed breakfast that badly he would have done this a long time ago. The Morning Times is his business so decisions relating to it are for the business, not for his belly.
Also, MT has been serving delicious toasted bagels with your choice of egg, bacon, sausage, cheese and cream cheese on them for a long time.
Full breakfast at the Times would be wonderful, but much of what is reported is based on casual comments and is not really happening at this point. -
Brocktoon
12/12 12:24 AM
Gd and tjoad
To address the Remedy can’t fry comment… I see several items on the menu that would require frying or grilling. The one that jumps out at me… french fries. Not to say they don’t have vent hoods. Just saying it is not preventing them from those prep methods. -
grandmasterflam
12/12 02:39 PM
breakfast, yay!!!
whinyasses, boo!!!oakwood cafe is so good i got ‘em on speed dial.
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Varani
12/12 02:54 PM
Holy macaroni! Y’all need to just simmer down and get breakfast wherever you want. I don’t give two shits where you like to eat or where you don’t like to eat, but thank you NewRaleigh for INFORMING us of the NEW options being made available to us residents. Watching the city’s options grow should be considered a godsend to all these whiny brats complaining on an internet forum that is here to provide you with what is new and upcoming, so you can go out and make another pretentious decision of your like and dislikes. How about for once commending the staff of NewRaleigh for informing you on something you can make another hard headed opinion about.
Oh, and I am pretty certain the Remedy bakes their fries.
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Tony Woodard
12/12 08:17 PM
Note to self: Fuck with Raleigh’s breakfast and you fuck with their Emotions.
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yomama
12/12 09:26 PM
love the times is going to do bfast, but big ed’s rules raleigh. Hello!?
and btw remedy is not good at bfast and should not be in the same story as the times or big eds.
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boylanhghts
12/13 11:53 AM
and technically McDonalds has been serving breakfast for decades too… although I cringe, to each their own.
btw… nothing beats the Flying Biscuit Co.!
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Micah
12/13 03:43 PM
Flying Biscuit Company? REALLY? They have one of the worst breakfasts in town! I guess some of you must like it, judging from the long lines. Or, maybe you just *think* it is better because there is a long line of white people outside waiting thirty minutes for bad food?
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niblosis
12/14 11:53 AM
It’s kind of a moot point now, but MT offered hot breakfast before Monday, too. You could get bagel, egg and cheese, etc, and they made it right there. and it was good! But I just left there and I like the extended menu: biscuits, gravy, waffles, crepes… I’m sure it won’t take long for me to work my way down the list.
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matt
12/14 01:51 PM
Geez, mighty trivial place to bust out the race card, Micah. I mean, a breakfast thread of all places. You could have saved it for some political discussion, or waited for some real provocation, but: no.
I sure hope you find a place with a line more racially suited to ...whatever the Hell it is you’re seeking.
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Micah
12/14 03:59 PM
Thanks, Matt!
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netposer
12/14 09:22 PM
Let’s see. Go to the Progress Energy building and there are 2 places that serve breakfast. One is a quick grill type and the other is a psuedo-cafeteria style. And they’ve been there for well over a decade.
What about the the Legislative Building. They have basically the same setup as the progress energy building but in the basement.
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JT
12/15 02:14 AM
But is it breakfast served by organic free range hipsters?
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Jess
12/15 10:38 AM
breakfast at the legislative building… delish… i don’t know what it is about that place…but it was always great…
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bcb
12/15 09:08 PM
40 something posts later…not a single mention of the new menu or how it tastes.
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suckit
01/25 02:58 PM
Thanks Varani, you took the words right out of my mouth. All the haters, quit yer bitchin’ ! There are worse things in life! sheesh.
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