This sweet old diner on a forlorn section of Telephone Road packs loyalists in every morning. It’s nothing novel or thrilling, but still, it’s not unusual to see a queue around the restaurant, usually composed of a thorough sampling of the entire city of Houston. Duct-taped beaters sit alongside luxury imports in the potholed, unpaved parking lot. The interior is bright, but has the overly decorated wood-paneled warmth of an elementary school classroom. Sit at the great old-school counter if you can.

Tel-Wink really only serves breakfast, so it’s carved a nice niche for itself in that scene. Firm waffles and standard short-order egg dishes are the best bet, with the usual sides. We suggest ordering hash browns and biscuits with pretty much everything: hash browns are served in a giant mound with an attractive skillet-fried crunch on the outside, while biscuits are super fluffy and the size of your fist. An order of bacon gets you several slices the size of your plate. Other breakfast meats are hit or miss: overcooked pork chops are puny and chicken-fried steak is a little flaccid and crunchless. But behold the freshly ground coffee—a rare move for a greasy spoon. We imagine some splatter-aproned Mel-type character in the back grumbling about kids these days and their gourmet demands.