Always the right time

STONE-GROUND grits from Anson Mills in South Carolina. Apple-wood-smoked bacon from Nueske’s in Wisconsin. Farm-fresh eggs with startling gold yolks that stand proud and tall.

At Square One Dining, a new cafe where they serve breakfast all day long, the kitchen knows the difference. Ingredients are all top-notch, organic whenever possible.

The three partners behind the Los Angeles cafe have taken what was basically a storefront -- and a very small one at that -- and jazzed it up by painting the walls in juicy tropical colors of turmeric and lime. To the side, they’ve added a small outdoor patio, sheltered from busy Fountain Avenue by a fence and some potted plants and, from the sun, with big market umbrellas. The cafe is easy to spot: Just look for the awning on the south side of the street half a block or so past that big blue Scientology Center and west of Vermont.

The breakfast menu includes the expected -- two eggs cooked any way you like them, buttermilk pancakes, steel-cut oats, etc. -- and the unexpected. The latter would include baked egg dishes cooked and served in a small cast-iron skillet, such as a fava bean, shiitake and oyster mushroom ragout on grits with feta, or a frittata of bacon with spinach, tomato and sharp cheddar. Myself, I fell hard for the pressed egg sandwich: scrambled eggs piled with tomato and arugula between two golden slices of toasted brioche.

Sides beckon: smoked Canadian bacon, a pork sausage patty or lemon chicken sausage. The question is, should the hungry resist?

Of course not.

And while you’re at it, on the weekend, make sure to get a slice of pecan coffeecake, warm from the oven.

For a splurge, consider the house eggs Benedict, which substitutes a potato pancake and the cafe’s own citrus-cured salmon for the traditional English muffin and ham. The egg yolk runs like gold, and the hollandaise is flawless.

Lunch at this deceptively simple cafe invites with tart, freshly squeezed lemonade and salads that are more than just a heap of greens. Frisee and blood oranges hang with chicken and hazelnuts in one version; roasted heirloom beets meet blue cheese and candied walnut over mixed greens in another. Potato salad is the old-fashioned creamy style.

Choose your sandwich, hot or cold, but don’t miss the pressed ham sandwich with a choice of cheeses and either honey mustard or aioli dressing on a crusty baguette. And you can custom-tailor any sandwich with add-ons and sides.

Square One is by no means a fancy place. Tables are covered in brown paper and you set your own place with the silverware stuck in a glass in the middle of the table. But the service couldn’t be more accommodating or the vibe, more, well, neighborly.

It’s good to know if you sleep in on the weekend -- or, for that matter, almost any day of the week, even well into the afternoon -- there’s still somewhere to get breakfast, a friendly smile and a good, strong cup of joe.

*

Square One Dining

Where: 4854 Fountain Ave., Los Angeles

When: Breakfast, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays; lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Closed Mondays.

Cost: Breakfast items, $2 to $12; salads, $6.50 to $9.50; sandwiches, $6.50 to $9.50; sides, $2 to $4.

Info: (323) 661-1109, www.squareonedining.com