Some breakfast counters are easy to forget, but the right one can stay with you long after the last bite. At Watkins Grill in Raleigh, North Carolina, the appeal is wonderfully uncomplicated: hot coffee, generous plates, and grits that have earned plenty of praise from people who know their way around a Southern breakfast.
Located at 1625 Wake Forest Rd, this old-fashioned North Carolina breakfast counter has the comfortable feel of a neighborhood institution. There is nothing overly polished about it, and that is exactly the point.
Think warm plates arriving at the counter, creamy grits beside eggs and other breakfast favorites, and the easy rhythm of a place where regulars seem right at home…