Milanes Spanish Restaurant, West 25th

This Dominican restaurant, tucked away off Seventh, is a fine Spanish holdout, with a lunch counter, several small side tables, and a large back room.  You can get traditional shakes & juices (guanabana, mamey, parcha) & the portions of food are hefty.  I went for bacalao, & sides of red beans, rice & plantains.  When I first came to the city, there were plenty of restaurants like this in Chelsea, but these days they're a dying breed.  This one is a comfort: reasonable prices, sweet, solicitous waitresses, and the smell of home cooking send you back twenty years or more.  Milanes opens at 6:00 a.m., so will definitely qualify as a break-up-the-tedious-commute-to-work breakfast stop, on those days when I'm out of the house early enough.  It's a gem.