Best Soul Food Breakfast in Chinatown

Opened in February 2000 as a spinoff of the original Powell's Place on Hayes Street, the new location is co-owned by former 10-time award-winning cable car bell ringer Carl Payne, who's now a cop at the Central Station on the same block. (The restaurant is decorated with SFPD souvenirs.) While Powell's Place may be best known for its fried chicken, its breakfast (served 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) is one of the best from-scratch dining bargains in the area. A thoroughly delightful breakfast for four people, including thick, fluffy pancakes, steaming white grits, hot corn muffins dripping with melted butter, and the restaurant's wonderful homemade pies (banana, lemon, coconut, sweet potato), and peach cobbler, plus beverages, came to barely $20, with food to take home. Best of all, this relaxed and unexpected escape from the bustle of Chinatown is yet to be discovered by the hordes of tourists and locals who are sure to populate it before long. Warning sign on the wall: "Smokers will be pummeled with punishing blows all over their bodies."