Los Angeles has some good breakfast spots, but none are on the level of Matt’s Big Breakfast, a two-room brick box in downtown Phoenix. Matt Pool and wife Erenia have set the bar so high that it’s hard to imagine eating breakfast anywhere else in the desert, Sonoran or otherwise.

Of course we had to wait for a table, but as nearby Pizzeria Bianco previously proved, some meals are worth the wait.

What sets Matt’s apart from the competition is their deft touch in the kitchen, and commitment to high-quality ingredients. The restaurant’s limited menu is also crammed with pork products (always a plus), including bacon, pork chops and ham. Our waitress posed an important question: pork chop or ham? Easy decision: both! The Chop & Chick ($8.50) featured two cage-free eggs, a skillet-seared Iowa pork rib chop and a choice of hash browns or home fries. The chop was a revelation, thick cut, ideally seasoned and practically spurted pork juice once my knife plunged through the golden char. The golden hash browns were first-rate, crispy and crunchy on the outside and buttery inside.

The scintillating foot-long ham steak featured sweet meat and a salty char.

The textbook Belgian-style waffle ($6.95) was made from scratch and supported a generous scoop of sweet cream butter and a miniature pitcher of real maple syrup. The meaty, thick-cut bacon was a savory foil to the subtly sweet waffle.

My supple slices of Texas toast came with a dish of tangy blackberry preserves.

Matt’s utilizes a fitting mascot for its doorstop.

We ate at five Phoenix restaurants over the course of 24 hours. Matt’s Big Breakfast delivered the only blog-worthy meal, but breakfast was so good that our four wasted stops suddenly didn’t matter.