At a late night/early morning diner in Louisville, a customer is reading the newspaper while the staff prepares food for the morning rush. The diner has been open for a long time and serves classic breakfast foods like eggs, bacon and biscuits. More staff arrive to help with the busy morning period expected around 6am.

1. LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 8.14 43
The orange and fake wood-paneled booths
(not to mention the counters) are like a
time machine, but at a little after 4 a.m.
on a Wednesday, one of the customers is
a retiree already reading today’s paper.
How long has this place been open? “Like
forever,” says the guy behind the counter who’s wearing a UK T-shirt. He’s recovering
from being slammed, having had “three football-player dudes” run out on a ticket. He
throws eggs, bacon and hash browns (it’s that kind of place) on the griddle and pours
gravy over biscuits. He refills coffee mugs. Just before 6 a.m., two more workers in UK
T-shirts come in to set up for the next rush. — MCA
Welcome to the epicenter of the Highlands. At
3:14 on a Monday night (or Tuesday morning
for you early risers) the daytime buzz is long
gone. This popular neighborhood feels like a
ghost town, save for Cafe 360, its lights glowing
24/7/365. Cafe 360 is one part hookah bar (it
was the first one to hit the scene about 10 years ago) and one part value. With three
breakfast categories on the massive menu (everything from stuffed French toast to
classics like steak and eggs), it may be a tough decision, especially given your state of
mind at this hour. Just get the breakfast burrito already. — MCA
Maybe you aren’t actually breaking fast. (You
had dinner, right?) But when the combination
of tequila, gin and Coors Light (don’t judge)
gets your stomach rumbling, an egg-and-
cheese croissant works as a kind of sponge.
Just don’t get so distracted playing Skee-Ball
that you don’t hear them call your name through the microphone. Someone else may
snatch your sandwich.
— MCA
1am1aM
Back Door
Bardstown Road
2am2aM
Spinelli's Pizzeria
614 Baxter Ave. and other area locations
3am3am
Cafe
Bardstown Road
4am4 aM
Barbara Lee's Kitchen
Brownsboro Road
À la the Bagel Bites commercial:
“When pizza’s on a bagel, you can
eat pizza anytime.” Eggs, potatoes,
bacon, ham, sausage, cheese. You
can even go omelet style with toma-
toes, onion and mushrooms. If that’s
too much for your palate, get a slice of plain-old pepperoni and wait a couple hours.
Cold pizza always counts as breakfast.
— MCA
Blue Dog Bakery and Cafe
Front-house manager Adam
Grusy uses three main
ingredients to set fire to a spicy
Bloody Mary: a house pepper
blend, house barbecue sauce
and homemade Bloody Mary
mix (made with Worcestershire
sauce, ketchup, tomato juice,
lime, and V-8 juice). Garnished
with lime, olive pickles and
spicy green beans, this Bloody
Mary also comes with a chaser
of pale ale. 2868 Frankfort Ave.
El Camino
Bartender Eric Windmill uses
a house-made mix consisting
of celery juice, guajillo salsa,
pickle juice and chipotle
peppers, plus lime juice and a
dash of angostura bitters. On
top sits a garnish of lemon,
pickled carrot, jalapeño and a
chicharrón pork rind. Enjoy it
on the patio. 1314 Bardstown
Road
Against the Grain
Vodka is usually a hidden
flavor in a Bloody Mary, but
bartender Celeste Downey
pours it as a base. Finlandia
vodka macerates garlic,
horseradish, pepper, onion,
lemon, dill and jalapeños for a
little less than a week. She adds
this to a smoked Bloody Mary
mix and tops with a bouquet of
celery curls. 401 E. Main St.
The Village Anchor
The Village Anchor literally
adds bacon (and its own
bacon-infused vodka) to
its BLT Mary. A signature
candied-bacon skewer with
lettuce and tomato rests on the
bacon-salt-rimmed glass. 11507
Park Road, Anchorage
— Casey Mutchler
There Will Be
y Marys
Th er e W ill Be
y M ar ys
Because sometimes you need vodka in the morning.
Barbara Lee's