We know our way around a breakfast sandwich, Columbus. Whether it’s simple and traditional, loaded with chorizo or fried chicken, covered with maple syrup or stuff with pastrami-cured lox – we’ve got it going on. Here are 12 of the best, most glorious breakfast sandwiches for your morning feasting.
Katalina’s | Breakfast Chick ‘Wich
Katalina’s Mazatlan pork sandwich rightfully gets a lot of attention, but my money is on the Breakfast Chick ‘Wich: a tender and well-seasoned chicken breast layered with sunny side up egg, Amish cheddar, and a generous dash of Frank’s Red Hot.
Read more: Katalina’s and Katalina’s, Too
Cravings Cafe | Breakfast Roll
Cravings Cafe consistently knocks it out of the park with their sandwiches, and the Breakfast Roll is one of the OGs: a puffy, house-made butter roll encasing over easy egg, cheese, rosemary aioli, and your choice of bacon, sausage, or a bonus egg.
Read more: Cravings Cafe and An Ode to Cravings Cafe’s Sandwiches
Freedom a la Cart | Rosemary Breakfast Sandwich
Freedom a la Cart downtown has the important mission of empowering survivors of human trafficking. It’s icing on the cake that we get to support this enterprise while also enjoying terrific food. The cafe serves breakfast, lunch, coffee, and baked goods. Their rosemary breakfast sandwich mixes a house-made rosemary-lemon breakfast sausage, fluffy egg, provolone, lemon aioli, and arugula on a fresh croissant bun.
Read more: Freedom a la Cart
Brekkie Shack | All the Feels Egg Sandwich
Brekkie Shack‘s All The Feels Egg Sandwich offers a playful take on the classic breakfast sandwich formula: a fluffy multigrain bun overflows with souffled egg, bacon, white cheddar, crispy brussel sprouts, and a slightly sweet maple sauce.
Read more: Brekkie Shack
Fox in the Snow | The Egg Sandwich
Listen, any list of the best breakfast sandwiches in Columbus is going to include Fox in the Snow‘s entry. Fox in the Snow’s egg sandwich has no right to be this good. It sneaks a big, fluffy square of souffled egg with Swiss, candied bacon, arugula, and a tart Dijon mustard between slices of ciabatta.
Read more: Fox in the Snow Italian Village, Fox in the Snow German Village, Fox in the Snow New Albany
Kolache Republic | Chorizo, Egg, & Cheese Kolache
Kolache Republic specializes in Czech-style pastries that use a fluffy, lightly sweet dough filled with nuts, fruits, sweet cream cheese, you name it. But they take that same dough and wrap it around sandwiches. My favorite of the bunch is the chorizo, egg, and cheese kolache, with zesty chorizo, scrambled egg, and cheese. Even better is when they run a special with jalapeno as well.
Read more: Kolache Republic
The Lox Bagel Shop | The Pastrami Lox
The Lox Bagel Shop has earned national attention for its wood-fired bagels and sandwiches. And they deserve every bit of it: the bagels are expertly constructed, the house-made fillings thoughtfully prepared, the combinations just exquisite. You can’t go wrong with the signature lox sandwich featuring house-cured lox, capers, cream cheese, and onion (we suggest the everything or sea salt & herb bagels), but it really shines if you add an egg and get the pastrami-cured lox.
Read more: The Lox Bagel Shop and interview with Lox Bagel Shop owner Kevin Crowley
Emmett’s Cafe | The One-Handed
Emmett’s Cafe started in German Village and quickly added a second shop in Open Air on Neil Avenue. Their One-Handed breakfast sandwich is a prime example of simplest is best: a well-composed little sandwich of egg, cheese, crispy prosciutto, and rosemary aioli in an English muffin.
Read more: Emmett’s Cafe in German Village and Emmett’s Cafe Old North
Wario’s Beef & Pork | Bodega Breakfast Sandwich
Maybe it’s not fair putting Wario’s bodega breakfast sandwich on this list, given that it’s not a regular menu item. But it’s just so dang good that it deserves a spot. The Wario’s team layers in fluffy egg, cheese, house-made bacon, broccoli rabe, tomato butter on Matija bread. It’s glorious.
Read more: Wario’s Beef & Pork
Kittie’s Cafe | Everything Biscuit
Kittie’s Cafe is a cozy little shop in Bexley and German Village churning out cookies, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, cupcakes. They also whip up a variety of breakfast sandwiches. For starters, try the simple everything biscuit filled with scrambled egg and cheese!
Read more: Kittie’s Cafe in Bexley and Kittie’s Cakes in German Village
Biscuit Boss | The Bodacious
The Biscuit Boss food truck makes the rounds throughout the season, including a regular stint serving Wednesday breakfast at the Columbus Commons in the summer. The Bodacious sandwich is a complete breakfast: bacon, sausage, egg, and cheese on a French toast biscuit drizzled with maple syrup and dusted with powdered sugar.
Icarus Sandwich Shop | Breakfast Sandwich
UPDATE: Icarus Sandwich Shop has closed.
Icarus Sandwich Shop recently added a couple breakfast items to their menu, including a waffle-shaped old fashioned donut and a simple-but-easy-to-love breakfast sandwich that blends scrambled egg, American cheese, a house-made egg sauce, and your choice of house sausage or pepper bacon. You can also add avocado, which we highly recommended.
Read more: Icarus Sandwich Shop: Come for the Sandwiches, Stay for the Waffle Doughnuts
