Breakfast Special

At La Herencia cafe, a little Cuban cafe in St. Augustine, Florida, Manny and Janett Herrera offer savory and sweet breakfast choices.

Credit: Rick Sebak, WQED Pittsburgh

A celebration of going out for a morning meal in America.

Feasting on French toast in a Connecticut diner, savoring salmon hash in Oregon, tasting the rice porridge called “congee” in San Francisco’s Chinatown, devouring duck breast and eggs in Philadelphia, eating unexpected specialties in unforgettable spots from New Hampshire to Hawaii — Breakfast Special loves the one-of-a-kind places where diners can find a memorable meal, especially in the morning. The delicious documentary encores Tuesday, August 25 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

Producer and narrator Rick Sebak (responsible for such favorites as A Hot Dog Program and A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway) has no strict recipe for Breakfast Special, putting together a program that’s part food show, part travelogue, part portrait of America, celebrating the meal that many folks consider the most important of the day. Sebak chats with committed cooks and sly servers, enthusiastic eaters and entrepreneurs, pancake aficionados, “gritty” Southerners and a few funny food bloggers who serve as guides in different parts of the country. 

“There’s no way to include all the wonderful places in America to get a good breakfast,” said Sebak. “So we just show a few, and we hope that the program will make you hungry enough to search out a non-chain, not-so-fast food place near you.”