With its selection of French food with an African flair, Ponty’s is a tribute to Harlem’s West African influence. Open for breakfast through dinner, dishes vary from luncheonette fare (omelets and burgers) to those with more global influence (Sengalese fish or chicken yassa and lamb merguez couscous). The bright interior — with sun streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows onto marble-top tables — is especially inviting.

Upper West Side restaurant Old John’s Luncheonette was brought back to life as Old John’s Diner, a revamped take on the seven-decade-old neighborhood staple. Find breakfast diner classics like ham and cheese omelets, egg creams, and chocolate chip waffles available every day from 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

The newest location of Russ & Daughters that opened in July 2023 is 4,500 square feet and located on the edge of Hudson Yards. Inside, there’s a seated counter, an open kitchen, and online ordering for takeout and delivery. There’s smoked and cured salmon as well as herring other fish as well as bagels and bialys. Consider the borscht or matzo ball soup, too. Opens at 8 a.m. daily.

Eric Finkelstein and Matt Ross, the owners of Court Street Grocers, are behind S&P, a restaurant located in the former home of Eisenberg’s, one of Manhattan’s last old-school lunch counters that closed during the pandemic. For breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon weekdays and all day weekends, there’s pork roll egg and cheese; matzo brei; a Denver omelet; and the Lil’ Shonda, with scrambled eggs, pastrami, muenster, and pickled tomato on rye.

The breakfast menu at this multi-branch institution may not have a ton of variety, but with the handful of options, it’s impossible to go wrong. Bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches arrive hot and melty on pillowy brioche buns and the cafe’s legendary crullers are refreshed often with seasonal flavors: maple and cookies-and-cream are favorites.

The eggs at Jody Williams’s Grove Street charmer are cooked with the steam wand on the espresso machine, normally used to make a cappuccino — and they’re perfect. Starting at 8 a.m. daily, diners have the option of topping them with either smoked salmon or prosciutto. A waffle sandwich and plenty of pastries are also available at this petite restaurant.

This Ukrainian East Village classic serves breakfast all day, every day, with dishes as plain as oatmeal and a fried egg sandwich. It also features hearty fare like omelets, waffles, and the weekday breakfast of four pierogies with two eggs; bacon, sausage, or kielbasa; and a side of beet-horseradish salad, with coffee.

This tiny jewel box of a restaurant from the family behind Raoul’s offers newfangled luncheonette fare, including pain perdue with caramelized apples, lemon pancakes, boudin blanc and eggs, or an omelet with French ham and Comte. It opens at 8 a.m. weekdays, 11 a.m. on weekends.

Open at 8 a.m. during the week and 9 a.m. on weekends, this stylish but sparse Japanese cafe serves breakfast toasts. Choose from pretty options like honey lemon, ham and egg, spicy cod roe, and cheese curry

Named after its proprietor, S Wan is a low-key walk-down space on Eldridge just south of Grand, one of a handful of new cha chaan tengs (tea restaurants) that appeal to a broad range of diners. The room has a row of small tables along each wall and its principal feature is a giant menu printed in Chinese and English, listing among dozens of dishes a series of Hong Kong-style breakfasts designated with capital letters. In one order, the eggs were cooked over easy, diner style, so the yolks flowed yellow when cut into. The biggest surprise were the waffles, which were Eggo sized, spread with peanut butter, and sprinkled with white sugar. This breakfast ($8) had an undeniable homey quality, as if assembled in one’s own kitchen in a hungover blur.

On the same block where lines round down the block for a taste of Mei Lai Wah’s famous pork buns, is a breakfast option where there’s no wait. Chang Lai Fishballs Noodles, originally a locally beloved food cart, relocated to this permanent takeout spot this summer — and it’s been a morning staple for us ever since. There are just a couple of counter stools here but it’s well worth your time and wallet. Go for the curry fishballs over rice noodles and ask for all the sauces.

Conwell Coffee Hall is probably the most beautiful breakfast you can have in lower Manhattan. Enter through gold revolving doors, and step into a Prohibition-era lobby with high ceilings, Art Deco decor, and a floor-to-ceiling mural spanning one wall. The breakfast menu features toasts in different preparations: with avocado and preserved lemon; bacon, egg, and cheese; or whipped ricotta and poached rhubarb.