Mainers love them some breakfast. And judging by responses from our recent reader survey about the best local breakfast and brunch spots, they’ve also got plenty of opinions about what constitutes a top-rate breakfast and brunch restaurant.

In Greater Portland, there’s surely no better person to consult on the topic than Dan Zarin. This year marks a full two decades that Zarin has written his breakfast review column, The Breakfast Serial, for The Bollard, a free monthly magazine that features local news and arts coverage.

From his first review in 2006 (the former Good Egg Café, where he liked the food more than the service) to his latest on South Portland’s Q Street Diner, Zarin has written reviews of nearly 120 area breakfast spots. Even the pandemic didn’t slow his pace; Zarin either got takeout or filed stories about his own home cooking during lockdown, including an experiment with Tater Tot waffles, a social media sensation at the time. “They’re delicious, by the way,” he says, “but a really irresponsible way to eat an entire bag of Tater Tots.”

The 53-year-old native of Needham, Mass., moved to Maine from Los Angeles in 2002 with his wife, Audra. Zarin was an L.L. Bean copywriter for 14 years as his main line of work, and today is a freelance writer and project manager. But he’s always followed his passions on the side: He briefly co-owned the Twist ice cream truck, and after taking an online course on how to construct crossword puzzles, has been publishing his crosswords monthly in The Bollard and newspapers nationwide through the Universal syndicate.

I sat down with Zarin over outstanding eggs, bacon and pastries at Bread & Friends, one of his favorites, for a deep dive into all things breakfast. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How and why did you become a breakfast critic?

I had been toying with the idea when I was in Los Angeles, when every Sunday my wife and some friends would go to yard sales and then we would go to brunch afterwards. We went all over LA, and we’d never go to the same place twice. And in a city that size, that’s an endless journey.

In Maine, a co-worker of mine had worked with (Bollard editor and publisher) Chris Busby at The Casco Bay Weekly, and Chris had just started up The Bollard. So I met with Chris over PBRs at the White Heart in 2006, and pitched him the idea of writing about breakfast, because nobody else was writing about breakfast. He was just like, “I’ve heard the pitch, it seems good. I don’t want to waste time — let’s do it.” It’s been every other month since 2006. I’ve never repeated a spot, and one of the amazing things is that I’ve never come close to running out of new places.

What’s behind your passion for breakfast, a meal that can sometimes feel a little same-y?

Because it can be same-y, I love discovering creative applications of those familiar breakfast ingredients and flavors. This is a good example (points to his Turkish poached eggs). I’ve had flatbreads; I’ve had poached eggs; I’ve had smoked salmon a hundred times. But I never had this combination, and I love that creativity.

The other side is that breakfast is the only meal where it’s more personal as a dining experience than any other meal. If you go into a diner and you want two eggs, a meat, some toast and potatoes, you get to choose: scrambled, fried, poached. Do I want white, wheat, rye? Home fries or hash browns? So many choices to personalize it for you. And no other restaurant meal does that for you.

Don’t get me wrong, I love going out to dinner and letting the chef drive my decisions, it’s a great experience. I think omakase (“chef’s choice” at Japanese restaurants) is probably the greatest experience, because you completely put yourself in the hands of someone who knows better than you about what’s good there in many ways. But at breakfast, you’re still in the driver’s seat.

How has Greater Portland’s breakfast scene evolved over the last two decades?

What has changed is its volume and variety. There are certainly dozens more places now, and a lot more variety of approaches to breakfast. You’re always going to have your diners and your standard hotel brunch places, but then you get places that show up doing something unexpected like (Balkan-inspired) Nom Café. Nobody’s doing that. Wakie Wakie’s (Thai fusion) in Westbrook is fun, and something I haven’t had before.

In the early reviews I did there was a lot of potatoes, Benedicts, pancakes, omelets. And I loved them all, but it’s nice now that if I want that, I’ve got a hundred places to choose from. And if I don’t want that, I’ve got 20 other places I can find something kind of cool and fun.

Even more than the broader restaurant scene has changed over the last 20 years, the baking has changed. Outside of Standard, there wasn’t a lot in the way of really good French pastry. But even in the last five years, that’s just exploded. If things stayed how they were in 2006, I would have run out of options within a year. The one thing this city has not been since I’ve been around is stagnant.

Have your personal tastes changed over the years?

I’d say I’ve gotten more adventurous, although I’ve always been open to different things and I’m always attracted to the new thing I haven’t had before. Twenty years of trying anything I could get my hands on definitely exposed me to things.

Also, one of my guilty pleasures is watching food cooking competitions like “Top Chef” and “Tournament of Champions,” and those have exposed me to more vocabulary. So I may have changed the way I talk about some foods over the years even more than I’ve changed my taste for them.

I still will rail against fake maple syrup. I think that is one of the greatest crimes against humanity. I’ve met people from the Midwest who actually prefer it, and I can only conclude it’s because they’re wrong. In my early reviews, I used to rant about either not being able to get real maple syrup at all or, even in 2007, paying $3 for a little bottle of maple syrup that was “light and fancy” grade and had no real flavor. But it literally grows here, and you’re making me pay for it?

In a recent review, you said it’s easy to cook a decent breakfast, hard to make an excellent one. What separates the two?

The first thing I’m going to notice is how you cooked the eggs. An overcooked poached egg or an undercook fried egg — egg whites have to be cooked through, but the yolk can’t be, which takes skill and finesse. It comes down to the short order cook, and some of them have it and some of them don’t. When it gets really busy at a restaurant, that’s how you separate the wheat from the chaff. You can go into a diner that has a short order cook who’s been making over-easy eggs for decades, and they don’t even have to think about it — it’s going to be perfect every time.

It’s also very dish-specific. I’ve certainly eaten many Benedicts, for example, and you can tell when someone has worked very hard to get their Hollandaise recipe just so. Does it have a little brightness, a little lemon? Those details matter.

Potatoes are another one that will show you the most about a breakfast cook. And how you choose to serve your breakfast potatoes, is that the best representation? If you’re talking about, say, home fries, are they crispy and well seasoned? I think of potato pancakes at Schulte & Herr, one of my favorites, or the little cubes at Dutch’s. Palace Diner does the smashed and double-fried, almost frittery potatoes. They’re all very different, but I don’t want lackluster, soft, under-seasoned potatoes. To me, there are no fillers at breakfast. I’m not cutting anybody slack.

What’s missing from local breakfast offerings?

Within the last couple of years there have been some more options with an Asian bent to them, and I would love to see other international cuisines represented in breakfast that we haven’t seen here in Portland. I don’t necessarily know what they are, and that’s part of the fun. I don’t know what a Nigerian breakfast spot would look like, but I would love to find out — that kind of thing. I feel like the rest of Portland’s restaurant scene is slowly embracing more cuisine from different regions. It’s still not there compared to bigger cities, but it’s definitely come a long way.

I’m not going to say we don’t need another diner, but that’s not going to be the exciting thing. Portland is fairly saturated with the, heavy air quotes here, “traditional American diner breakfast menu,” whether it’s an actual diner or a fancy version of that. Certainly there’s no shortage of hotel restaurants that will do an omelet, bacon and potatoes. It’s a pretty privileged position to be in where I’m like, “Show me something new.” But as the scene has matured, it makes that something you can actually say.

Do you try to dine out anonymously for reviews, or is that even possible after 20 years?

I’ve never had my picture in the byline. I don’t think I’m recognized. Maybe I have been. I take notes on my phone, which makes me just look like some other a**hole who’s got his phone out at a meal. Same with taking pictures.

Around 2008 I was reviewing a local breakfast spot. I was with my family and my friend Zach, who is a photographer. Zach brough his camera with a zoom that was probably about 10 inches long. He was literally standing up in the booth taking aerial shots of the food, and I had a notebook — there was no subtlety at all. Anyone paying the slightest bit of attention knew that the place was being reviewed.

But still, I didn’t get my food until everybody else had finished eating. And they didn’t address it or apologize for it. Every step of the way in the meal, (the restaurant) just missed. And I was like, if you’re doing this in this situation, I can’t imagine this would be a great experience to a casual diner. I mentioned that in my review, and the owner was very angry and pulled his ads from The Bollard. But I have a readership, and they expect honesty. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t have that experience, and as soon as I start doing that, I lose my credibility.

What do you think the future of breakfast in Greater Portland looks like?

I’d love to say there will be some additional variety. But I feel like we’re at a pretty high point with the options we have, and again with the baking that’s stepped up to match the level of skill that some of the other cooking has been at for a while.

I hope the pricing trends don’t continue in the same direction. One of the reasons that I love going out to breakfast is that even now, the cost of that meal is much more approachable. A fancy breakfast place is going to cost less than a mid-level casual dinner. So I can go out with two of us and spend 50 bucks and get a big meal and a couple of drinks. That’s not happening any more at dinner, not at the same level.

But, that said, when I first started writing (The Breakfast Serial) in 2006, an expensive brunch entree was $10. It’s more of a decision than it used to be. Even at the diners, an omelet is 12, 15 bucks, which adds up. You have to rationalize that expense in a way I didn’t have to quite as much in olden times.

I know that’s a reality and it’s not going to change much. Because of the costs of ingredients, transport, labor, rents in Portland, the pricing is probably here to stay. But I hope it doesn’t keep going to the point that it becomes a hardship just to go out to breakfast. I recognize I’m in a position of privilege that I can do this. Part of it because every other month I’m doing this and getting paid for it, enough to cover my meal certainly, so that gives me the opportunity that not everyone’s going to have. I definitely count myself lucky: I get paid to eat breakfast.

Dan Zarin’s all-time favorite local breakfast dishes

Soft scrambled eggs at Bread & Friends, Portland: “My mother ate these and she said, ‘These are the best scrambled eggs I’ve had in my life.’ And she’s 83 — she’s had some eggs.”

Pancakes at Palace Diner in Biddeford, and Local 188, Portland (closed)

Mushroom breakfast tacos at Ocotillo, Portland: “That salsa macha is incredible. And 2 for 1 tacos on weekday mornings is the best deal in town.”

Chicken and waffles at Eaux, Portland (closed)

Scallop ceviche at Bistro Leluco in South Portland: “Super-refreshing summer patio food.”

Graham-crusted French toast with apple compote at Artemisia Café, Portland (no longer on the menu) “That was probably my favorite sweet breakfast entrée in town. It’s been gone for 10 or 15 years, and if it was good enough that I’m still remembering it, that’s saying something.”

Avocado toast at Union at The Press Hotel, Portland

Horchata with a shot of espresso at Lenora, Portland “That’s one of my favorite things on a hot day.”

Potatoes at Dutch’s, Portland, and Palace Diner

Sour cherry pie at Two Fat Cats, Portland: “Pie for breakfast is one of life’s great pleasures, and this is the best breakfast pie around.”

Almond croissant at BLVL, Portland

Thai Tea kouign-amman at Bread & Friends, Portland “It’s dumbfounding how good it is — one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.”

Zeppole at Piccolo, Portland (closed)

Boston cream doughnut with almond pastry cream from Little Bigs, South Portland (closed) “When I lived in Gray, I would sometimes drive to South Portland on my way to work in Freeport just for these doughnuts.”

Breakfast sandwiches from:

Honeycomb Café, Scarborough “A hidden gem in a weird, out-of-the-way location.”

Indy’s Sandwich, South Portland

Ramona’s, Portland

Sandwiches (food truck), South Portland “Pro tip: They’ll put a hash brown inside your sandwich if you ask nicely.”

Thoroughfare, Yarmouth (closed)

Ugly Duckling, Portland “Ilma Lopez’s homemade English muffins set these apart.”