The Vermont Restaurant That Takes Breakfast Sandwiches To The Ultimate Level

Is breakfast actually the most important meal of the day? We've not sure either, but we could make a case for the breakfast sandwich being the most important food there is. From the best frozen breakfast sandwiches to the godly BEC that's Bobby Flay's favorite late-night snack, we're none too picky when it comes to stuffing breakfast foods (or even ingredients that push the definition of "breakfast") in the folds of some kind of bread. That's why The Café Hot of Burlington, Vermont, is such a treasure.

At The Café Hot, however, the food that makes it between the flaky layers of its house-made biscuits is anything but what you'd expect. The chicken-fried egg sandwich with pickled zucchini, tartar sauce and shredded cabbage, according to The Café Hot's website, was highlighted in Bon Appétit as one of the "Best Restaurant Meals of 2023, According to BA Staff." (Yes, you heard that right; the chefs deep-fry scrambled eggs in the style of chicken-fried steak.) They also have a hot honey chicken-fried egg sammie, a Nashville hot version, and a breakfast sandwich take on Korean jianbing — these aren't your grandma's demure breakfast sandwiches. 

The surprising part? All its offerings are vegetarian-friendly, and there is a dedicated section for "vegan victuals." Is your sweet tooth tingling? After tucking into a unique, fully-stuffed brekkie sando, you will definitely want to order some of the café's famous biscuit donuts, which are available in a rotating carousel of flavors.

Throw a virtual stone on the internet, and you'll find someone talking adoringly about The Café Hot. "Cafe Hot is great and the owners are super nice and love the community. Definitely a good place to support, especially during the week!" gushed a Reddit comment. On another Reddit post filled with love, a poster raved that "the sandwich with that egg concoction on their homemade biscuit is damn good." Some commenters took issue with the higher-than-average cost of the breakfast sandwiches at The Café Hot — sandwiches average around $15 each — but most were quick to counter that you definitely got what you paid for, with fat sandwiches loaded in quality ingredients.

Over on the @eatvermont Instagram account, more high praise piled up. "The food is delicious. The aesthetic is ferocious. [...] They don't cook with meat, but it's hard to believe when you eat the food. It's all taste, texture, and quality first." It's a sentiment echoed on Yelp, where The Café Hot enjoys an eye-popping 4.8 / 5 star average rating. "It's always a toss-up when you take a cuisine/type of food that is traditionally meat-heavy and make it vegetarian, but this knocked it out of the ballpark," one sample review enthused. "I don't say this lightly, but I would easily go back here again." Judging from the heaps of praise that the sandwiches, service, and atmosphere receive, that's a common sentiment.