My latest breakfast outing took me back to a perennial favorite: Milk and Honey Cafe. The cheerful spot seems sunlit on even the grayest days and serves food so good you'll take notice, from the de rigueur bagel and lox (with herbed cream cheese, to boot) to the I-could-eat-this-all-day house-made herb crusted roast beef with radish slaw on ciabatta.

But don't be too hasty to say that you know a place that sounds just like it. This one's a little different...

The egg, bacon, tomato and cheddar breakfast panini is served with homemade potato chips. Potato chips! Talk about an ideal breakfast. Though it's only open until 4 p.m. (5 p.m. on Saturday), it serves wine, bloody marys and, in summer, raspberry Stoli with fresh-squeezed lemonade, making it a perfectly respectable place to drink at in the daytime. Getting a seat at which to tipple can be a little tricky though. It's a hopping spot, and I'm constantly spotting ladies (with babies) who lunch.

In additions to sandwiches (the ham and dill havarti on pretzel bread is fab), a small glass case stocks some of the best beets and kale I've ever tasted, along with other pre-made salads, at $3 for an eight-ounce portion. And it's near impossible not to be distracted by the sweets; Milk and Honey sometimes serves a coconut carrot cake that I've been dying to try... if only I could leave some room for dessert.

Average cost: <$10

Centerstage Reviewer: Kate Schwartz