The only thing worse than a lackluster brunch is a practiced, performed public hatred of it. No one should wait an hour on line for overcooked eggs, but brunch can be better than fine. And in New York, joining in may be unavoidable. Whatever your feelings about the meal, it pays to have a list of commendable brunch restaurants in your back pocket.
Some of the spots listed below are beloved brunch classics; others have the audacity to serve breakfast or lunch during those hours, but their menus make for compelling brunch fare. All are worth the trip outside your neighborhood, even with weekend subway construction.
1. ABCV
Spa food, but really good, could be ABCV’s unofficial motto. The vegetarian kitchen, part of the chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s archipelago of restaurants inside Union Square’s ABC Carpet & Home, serves dishes like nut-butter breakfast bowls, steamed housemade tofu and vegan whole-grain pancakes without a lick of irony. That tofu wobbles and tastes of fresh soy milk, as it should, and once dressed with dabs of harissa, fermented coconut milk and crunchy pistachios, it’s the diametrical opposite of dull. The resoundingly rich peanut butter and fruit bowl, $16 price tag aside, is hefty enough to knock out any hangover. It would be a disservice to call ABCV a good vegetarian brunch restaurant; it’s simply a great upscale-casual spot for any diet, whether one calls for simple fried eggs and toast or beluga lentils crackling with chile oil and black vinegar.
ABCV, 38 East 19th Street (Broadway); 212-475-5829; abchome.com/dine/abcv
2. Bamboo Garden
Yum cha is the Cantonese term for the morning-to-midday meal of tea and small bites; dim sum refers to the dishes themselves, and is sometimes translated as “touch the heart,” in reference to the restorative effects of a well-steamed plate of har gow or a crisply fried, stuffed taro fritter. There’s no finer place to eat dim sum in New York than Bamboo Garden in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where classics like shrimp-filled steamed rice noodles arrive consistently pliant and chewy; spare ribs with fermented soybeans deliver ample meaty satisfaction. This alone would be sufficient in a city lacking sterling dim sum, but Bamboo Garden is also committed to a wider range of dishes than the typical New York spot, such as mai lai goh, pillowy cakes seasoned simply with brown sugar; inky black sesame rolls; and caramelized nubs of fatty pork and taro that eat like savory peanut brittle.
Bamboo Garden, 6409 Eighth Avenue (64th Street); 718-238-1122
CreditEvan Sung for The New York Times
3. Casa Enrique
Cosme Aguilar, the chef of this popular restaurant in Long Island City, Queens, makes some of the city’s most exciting Mexican food. The brunch offerings include a half-dozen ways to eat your eggs, including, yes, huevos rancheros, but there’s also pozole and superlative ceviche, as well as shatter-crisp tostadas topped with sweet crab meat and avocado. Mr. Aguilar has a way with salsas; they are precisely seasoned and deeply comforting, and the snappy tomatillo sauce that surrounds the rajas enchiladas will have you wishing you could buy it in a bottle.
Casa Enrique, 5-48 49th Avenue (Vernon Boulevard); 347-448-6040; henrinyc.com/casa-enrique
4. Cookshop
With its airy interior, uncomplicated American food and proximity to the lower High Line in Chelsea, Cookshop is usually packed on weekends. Its menu may be the most prototypically brunchy in this list, with 24 possible combinations of Bloody Marys to go with all the expected egg treatments. But the cooking is consistently well executed, and the menu changes with seasonal dishes like burrata with summery garlic scapes, and a salsa verde punched up with green olives. Crowd-pleasers like buttermilk biscuits, a not-too-complicated burger and oozy cinnamon rolls make Cookshop a great spot for families. It’s exciting enough to feel like you’re eating downtown, and the staff makes everyone feel welcome.
Cookshop, 156 10th Avenue (20th Street); 212-924-4440; cookshopny.com
5. Egg
In 2005, more than a decade before Whole Foods sank its teeth into Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and well before the neighborhood was known for ambitious restaurants, George Weld opened a little breakfast shop called Egg devoted to, surprise, egg dishes. The shop’s type of vaguely Southern cooking has been replicated ad infinitum by restaurants north of the Mason-Dixon line, but never with quite as much charm. Mr. Weld specified the source of his stone-ground grits and scrapple before it was cool, and those grits, the pillowy biscuits smothered in pork or mushroom sawmill gravy, and a country ham breakfast sandwich have practically become North Brooklyn rites of passage. Egg is a New New York institution, not just for its food, but also for the inclusive and supportive treatment of its staff, which carries over into its warm Sunday-morning hospitality.
Egg, 109 North Third Street (Berry Street); 718-302-5151; eggrestaurant.com
6. La Mercerie
Strictly speaking, this all-day French cafe in SoHo doesn’t serve brunch. Breakfast runs from 9 a.m. to noon, with classics like ham-and-cheese croissants and oeufs cocotte with mushroom brioche. Then the lunch menu kicks in. Those baked eggs are still available, but the croissant is swapped out for buckwheat crepes and lobster salad. There are few surprises here; the chef Marie-Aude Rose aims for perfect execution. As Pete Wells put it in his 2018 restaurant review for The New York Times, “Most things are so precisely as they should be that it is hard to find fault.” La Mercerie is pricey for brunch, especially if you fall in love with the ceramic dishes and linen napkins, which are all available for purchase in a gift shop next door. But it’s an ideal place to live and eat like the beautiful people for a couple of hours.
La Mercerie, 53 Howard Street (Mercer Street); 212-852-9097; lamerceriecafe.com
7. Okonomi
A spare wood-clad restaurant with only two tables and a counter, Okonomi is not where you go with a crowd to knock back mimosas. It’s better to go alone, or with a close friend with whom you want to share the austere joys of a brilliantly prepared Japanese breakfast. Available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., it’s the only dish on Okonomi’s menu: separate bowls of steamed rice and miso soup; a plate with a piece of fish; fresh and pickled vegetables; and a square of dense, creamy egg omelet. You do get to decide the fish preparation, with seasonings like kelp or sake lees, but it’s the simplicity and refreshing absence of choice that make Okonomi such a peaceful place. The fish is invariably juicy, blasted with searing heat for crackly-crisp skin. The miso soup deftly balances salt and umami, and those pickles leave you feeling virtuous for the coming week.
Okonomi, 150 Ainslie Street (Lorimer Street); at night, the space is a ramen restaurant called Yuji; okonomibk.com
8. Russ & Daughters Cafe
The only thing better than a full bagel spread in the privacy of your own home is one at Russ & Daughters Cafe, where they do all the dishes for you. This Orchard Street offshoot of the century-old appetizing shop retains the Houston Street store’s crisp aesthetic and calm, assured demeanor. Do order the bread basket — at this point a public service to show younger generations what real dense, chewy rye bread should taste like — and the hair-raising pickle plate, making sure to nab some of the chubby green tomato for yourself. Otherwise, stick to classics that involve lots of cured fish, which are the undeniable strong points here. The best time to visit is actually at dinner, when the house empties out and walk-ins can stroll right to a table. If you’re set on eating brunch during brunch hours, make a reservation.
Russ & Daughters Cafe, 127 Orchard Street (Delancey Street); 212-475-4880; russanddaughterscafe.com
9. Shopsin’s
Kenny Shopsin, one of New York’s greatest curmudgeons, died last year, but his family’s food stall lives on, now in its fourth location — run by his children Melissa, Tamara and Zack — in the sprawling new Essex Street Market. The 20-seat stall is open only from 9 a.m. (10 a.m. on Sundays) to 2 p.m., and while you can often get in without a wait, timing is everything. Any effort is worth it, though: There are 300 items on the gonzo menu to study, so a wait may do you good. Beyond his infamous temper, Mr. Shopsin was a renowned short-order cook, and his children’s renditions of his mac-and-cheese-stuffed pancakes, 3D French toast, green-chile sliders and Happy Breakfast Trays honor his memory. Anyone who tells you that there’s better diner food in New York is either lying or doesn’t know better. Bring them for brunch and let them see the truth.
Shopsin’s, 88 Essex Street (Essex Street Market); 917-907-4506; shopsins.com
