Phoenix, AZSouthern

Chef and owner Dana Dumas has made this Scottsdale kitchen a brunch favorite for its Grand Marnier challah French toast with a creme-brulee crust, vanilla-infused butter, and rum-pecan syrup, plus creamy grits with shrimp and chicken and waffles reviewers could not stop thinking about. Weekend DJs bring a real party feel.

This Phoenix diner drowns a thick Southern-style biscuit in steaming sausage gravy, with eggs available to add on the side. The easygoing, retro room, all vintage booths and neon, has become a go-to for a comforting biscuits-and-gravy fix at any time of day.

Part cafe, part bakery on McDowell Road in Phoenix, Ollie Vaughn's tops a Southern buttermilk biscuit with Schreiner's Fine Sausages country gravy, served alongside sandwiches and all-day breakfast. It is a sit-down spot worth the stop in central Phoenix for a slow weekend morning.

Set in a 1950s-style diner room in Chandler, Chase's makes its buttermilk biscuits in-house and tops them with a secret-recipe sausage cream gravy. It is a straightforward Southern breakfast staple done well in the East Valley, the kind of place families fill on a weekend.

Tucked into the historic downtown Glendale strip, this low-key one-woman kitchen pairs Southern barbecue with deep soul-food sides. The smoked chicken is the calling card, singled out as a standout on the west side, in a spot that keeps things small and personal.