Nutritionally speaking, breakfast may indeed be the most important meal of the day, but for the business traveler, it offers benefits beyond the right measure of proteins and carbs. Of course, solo breakfast provides an opportunity to quietly strategize for the day ahead, but consider the advantages of a breakfast meeting to talk business. While there are plenty of exceptions, many people are at their best in the morning - full of energy, not yet entangled in the inevitable hour-by-hour stress-inducers and ready to be creative, as well as receptive. A working breakfast tends to be less formal than a meal later in the day, with fewer distractions, such as what wine goes with which course and what side dishes complement the fish du jour. In other words, breakfast usually allows you to focus more on the work at hand and less on the food sitting on the table.

More importantly, breakfast can also be a culinary high spot if you and/or those with whom you are meeting are food-oriented folk. Most foodies can easily name some specialties to eat for lunch or dinner in major cities - gumbo in New Orleans, bratwurst in Milwaukee or Pacific seafood in Seattle. Far fewer know that those cities also have great breakfasts, of which they’re justly proud - beignets (French donuts) and café au lait in New Orleans, hoppel poppel (a kitchen-sink egg scramble) in Milwaukee and world-class donuts (not to mention superior coffee) in Seattle. All of these are served in places informal enough to host a casual business meal, and yet also places to enjoy a regional specialty you’ll remember. (The one caveat that must be made: Don’t wear dark clothes if you are going for beignets in New Orleans! They are served under a hail of powdered sugar that has a tendency to float off the pastry and onto one’s dark blazer, pants or skirt.)

Here are a handful of worthy breakfast spots in major destination cities. None are as polite or as suave as a good Embassy Suites hotel atrium dining area, but they all provide memorable local color and delicious food that just may be what’s needed to spark a meeting of the minds.

ATLANTA: The Silver Skillet - 200 14th St., 404-874-1388

A blast-from-the-past diner that attracts politicians, rock stars and ordinary hungries for its skillet-cooked country ham, plate-wide pancakes and fried pork chops.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Florida Avenue Grill - 1100 Florida Ave., 202-265-1586

Long a favorite destination for Washington’s power brokers, as well as blue collar folk, and just a quick cab ride from Capitol Hill. Florida Avenue Grill’s walls are plastered with 8×10 photos of office holders and sports stars who come for fresh hot biscuits topped with sausage gravy and sided by sweet, stewed apples.

NEW YORK CITY: Barney Greengrass - 541 Amsterdam Ave., 212-724-4707

The great Upper West Side deli specializes in smoked fish platters with first-rate New York bagels.

CHICAGO: Ann Sather - 909 West Belmont, 773-348-2378

Ann Sather’s fluffy cinnamon rolls are legendary and share space on the breakfast menu with Swedish pancakes, French toast with peach compote and potato pancakes.

HOUSTON: Avalon Diner - 2417 Westheimer, 713-527-8900

Here’s a happy source for small-tread (not Belgian) waffles, all the better to hold countless pools of swirled-together syrup and melted butter. The coffee’s fine, but what is even better is the vibrant, squeezed-to-order lemonade.

LOS ANGELES: The Original Pantry - 877 S. Figueroa St., 213-972-9279

A destination for city politicians, big wigs and wannabes, The Original Pantry is always open, serving breakfast of buckwheat hot cakes, as well as mighty omelets accompanied by sourdough toast, thick slabs of bacon and piles of truly excellent hash-brown potatoes. The OJ is fresh-squeezed, and the coffee never quits coming.