Known affectionately as Minneapolis’s narrowest restaurant, Al’s Breakfast, which opened in 1950, is nestled into a 10-food-wide storefront in Dinkytown. The cook might sing to the radio while he’s dolloping sour cream and strawberries on hot waffles; strangers rub elbows, literally, as they tuck into salami scrambles. In a parallel universe, Al’s could have become a tourist trap — but in this one, it’s an enduring, beloved staple of Minnesota’s diner scene.

Ideal Diner, a tiny, sunshine-yellow diner on Central Avenue, has served Northeast Minneapolis since 1949. Today, it’s one of the few spots in the Cities you can get a cup of coffee for $1.75. Breakfast dishes are served all day — the Polish Man breakfast, a combo of eggs, Polish sausage, and hash browns, nods to the neighborhood’s Eastern European immigrant roots. The buttermilk short stacks are served with a generous dollop of butter.

Flameburger isn’t your typical Twin Cities breakfast diner — it serves breakfast, yes, but it’s an old-school burger spot more than anything. A California burger, topped with molten American cheese, bacon, and all the requisite veggies, is best paired with Flameburger’s reliable crinkle-cut fries — though the onion rings, golden and crispy around a sweet onion center, are an even better bet.

Our Kitchen looks almost more like a quaint English cottage than a greasy spoon, but don’t be fooled. This 1941 diner has a small, single griddle, where the cook masterfully Tetrises hash browns, sausages, and bubbly pancake batter. Our Kitchen might be best-known for its hash browns, which are thick-cut and have a crunchy golden lid. Be prepared to wait for a table on the weekend.

This Nokomis diner is filled to bursting with knick-knacks and kitsch, and has plenty of cozy booths for curling up with a steaming mug of coffee. Tuck into a plate of the Grand Marais scramble — rich and smoky with trout, cream cheese, and asparagus — or a short stack of fluffy buttermilk pancakes topped with tart lingonberry butter.

Slide into a red vinyl booth at the Uptowner on Grand for a no-frills St. Paul breakfast. This space has all the trappings of a classic diner — the chrome-trimmed counter, the retro stools, the hard-working flat-top — and, as a sweet touch, the walls are papered with Crayon drawings. The Cajun breakfast, a hash of green peppers, onions, and andouille sausage, is a favorite here, and the handmade pancake batter is laced with cinnamon.

First opened in 1952, Coffee Cup has held down the corner of Randolph Avenue for 71 years with with steak and eggs, biscuits and gravy, and, of course, hot coffee. It serves all the diner breakfast classics, but the real gems are found in the specialty section of the menu: delicate Belgian waffles topped with berries and cream, and breakfast burritos stuffed with sausage and smothered in a rich hollandaise.

Mickey’s Diner on West Seventh (which is under different owners than the Mickey’s diner in downtown St. Paul) is one of the Twin Cities’ rare 24-hour diners — it has been since 1960. Breakfast is served at any time of the day, but its lunch and dinner dishes, made from “pre-war” recipes, are also a great bet. Order a burger off the flat top, served with chili or baked beans, or a dinner of southern fried chicken.