Al's Breakfast

At a width of ten feet (3 m), Al's Breakfast is reportedly the narrowest restaurant in the city of Minneapolis, and possibly the narrowest full-service breakfast diner with counter-only seating in the world. Al's Breakfast (Dinkytown Branch) is crammed into a former alleyway between two much larger buildings and is located—appropriately—in the city's Dinkytown neighborhood near the University of Minnesota. The restaurant's 14 stools have seated g... more

At a width of ten feet (3 m), Al's Breakfast is reportedly the narrowest restaurant in the city of Minneapolis, and possibly the narrowest full-service breakfast diner with counter-only seating in the world. Al's Breakfast (Dinkytown Branch) is crammed into a former alleyway between two much larger buildings and is located—appropriately—in the city's Dinkytown neighborhood near the University of Minnesota. The restaurant's 14 stools have seated generations of local students, along with notable figures such as writer James Lileks and humorist Garrison Keillor, all of whom consider the tiny diner to be a significant icon of the state. The restaurant as it is today came into being in 1950 when Al Bergstrom parted ways with another neighborhood restaurateur. Bergstrom had gained experience at the griddle and in kitchen management in the 1940s while working for John L. "Jack" Robinson during summers at a popular Minnesota State Fair cafeteria. The Dinkytown building he purchased dates back... less