The breakfast list

This town eats breakfast earlier and more seriously than anywhere its size, because the plants do. Here's the order of operations.

Before dawn. Doughnut Wheel. Opens at 3:30. Kolaches first — sausage-and-cheese, jalapeño — then the glazed, then whatever's left. By seven the trays are thinning; by nine it's a rumor. Closing time is disputed between the door and the internet, so treat it as a morning place.

The Cuban Cafe, 4232 Decker Drive. Doors at four on weekdays; later on weekends. Café con leche, the pressed Cuban, eggs with plantains, the shift-change crowd in high-vis. The only breakfast in Baytown that's also a scene. Sunday hours are the one thing we couldn't pin down; the page says what we know.

Sunrise to mid-morning. Denna Donuts, 7328 FM 3180. Not a diner — a donut shop, open 4:30 in the morning till noon, and the east side's answer to the Doughnut Wheel. Kolaches, glazed, a breakfast sandwich, cash appreciated.

Heart and Whisk, 4618 North Main. The pastry-and-good-coffee end: croissants, the seasonal thing, a line by nine on weekends. Weekdays are the move. When it's sold out it's sold out; there's no second bake.

The taquerías. Breakfast tacos are their own sport, played before eight: chorizo-and-egg, papa-and-egg, barbacoa on a weekend. The taco list has the places; every one of them has a breakfast window, and the trucks near the plants do too.

Late breakfast and brunch. The juice bar we lost. Squeeze The Day is listed as permanently closed; when a replacement opens it goes here. Until then, the smoothie is at H-E-B.

The hotel buffets. The Hyatt's restaurant does breakfast that's better than a hotel breakfast should be, and it's on the water. Not a buffet; order from the menu. The rest of the Garth hotels do the free buffet and you know exactly what that is.

The rules. - The good stuff is gone by nine. This is not a town that sleeps in. - Kolaches are breakfast, not dessert, and the sausage ones are the test. - Sunday is slow everywhere; go at seven or go at ten-thirty, not in between. - A breakfast burger with a fried egg is a real thing here and lives on the 4 a.m. map.

En español. Desayuno en Baytown: Doughnut Wheel desde las 3:30 (kolaches), el Cuban Cafe desde las 4 (café con leche y el sándwich cubano), Denna Donuts en la FM 3180 (4:30 a mediodía), Heart and Whisk para pan dulce y buen café. Todo se acaba a las nueve.