Brunch in New York

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Alfama is a modern restaurant on 52nd Street that offers Portuguese and Mediterranean cuisine. Their weekend brunch menu includes pancakes in a Port wine reduction and topped with strawberries and bananas, freshly roasted granola, a basket of breads and pastries baked in house, a traditional Portuguese sandwich, and their signature 6 ounce burger.

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Amsterdam Restaurant & Tapas Lounge is a casual elegant establishment on the Upper West Side that serves American fusion cuisine. Their brunch menu includes Smoked Gouda & Apple Omelets, Eggs Oscar Benedict, Breakfast Burritos, Strawberry Almond Pancakes, Pumpkin Pie French Toast, Sesame Crusted Tuna, Duck & Pear Tacos, and Warm Brie Salad.

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The Sunday Champagne Brunch at Arabelle Restaurant is a lavish and elegant affair. The restaurant is located within the Hôtel Plaza Athénée and has a delicious buffet spread which includes Vanilla Brioche French Toast with Fresh Berries, Roasted Tomato and Asparagus Omelet, Blueberry Pancakes with Chantilly Cream, and Steamed Lobster.

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Asellina is an Italian fine dining restaurant located in the ever busy Flatiron District. Their weekend brunch spread includes Italian Toast with ricotta and poached pears, Wood Fire Baked Eggs, Egg White Frittata with asparagus, Swordfish Carpaccio, Baked Eggplant Tortino, Mozzarella di Bufala Pizza, and Saffron Strozzapreti.

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Onieal’s is a quaint brunch spot located in the historic SoHo neighborhood. Due to its fame from appearances on the television series, “Sex and the City“, it is a frequent stop for fans on sightseeing tours. Onieal’s is especially accommodating by making its brunch menu available both daily and weekends. Brunch items include “eggs your own way,” eggs Benedict, pancakes, sides of crispy bacon or home fries, Panini, sandwiches and salads. Read the rest of this entry »

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There are five rules to brunching at Beaumarchais, which changed names recently but not its vibe—a crazy, club-like scene that repeats itself every weekend and now goes under the name “Le Grand Brunch”:

1. Dress up. Everyone else will be wearing club gear anyway, even at noon in mid-summer. This especially applies to women: cocktail dresses are practically required. Guys tend to go jackets-‘n-jeans, Cote d’Azur white suits with Panama hats, and the like. It’s all France, all the time here. So don’t come in jeans and a ripped tee, okay? Read the rest of this entry »

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Opened in 2001, db Bistro Moderne is a relaxed and fast-paced Manhattan restaurant, located in the City Club Hotel, at the Midtown crossroads of fashion and theater. This is Chef Daniel Boulud’s contemporary interpretation of the Parisian classic, and a restaurant where traditional French cuisine meets the flavors of the American market.

The restaurant is comprised of two dining rooms linked by a panel wine bar, which also connects the restaurant to the adjacent hotel lobby. When stepping in, eyes are drawn to a series of sensual, larger than life, floral photographs by Christopher Beane. Read the rest of this entry »

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Were the interior of Nougatine at Jean-Georges a musical composition, it might be called The Gracious Living Symphony.  Designer Adam Tihany has waved a magic baton with blonde woods, ceiling-height windows, space around the tables – (and being as this is New York, let us repeat that)  – space around the tables, and a terrazzo tile and white marble hand-laid floor with a nougat-like appearance that inspired the café’s name.  When the weather cooperates, brunch is also served on the Mistral Terrace, which has unforgettably scrumptious “We are here and you are not” views of Central Park. Read the rest of this entry »

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New Yorkers are pretty sharply divided about Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Asian street food-concept fusion restaurant Spice Market. Half of them see it as a smashing fusion success, blending exotic ingredients and ideas with French culinary excellence to great effect. The other half feel like the place is just a little (or a lot) too précieux—the gorgeous servers wear bright orange, vaguely Buddhist tunics—and overpriced (you can’t get a cocktail here for less than $12).

All that may be true enough. But we’re about the food… and, for the most part, Jean-Georges delivers on that count in spades. Read the rest of this entry »

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Casa Lever, the restaurant, is on Park Avenue at 53^rd Street, within the landmarked Lever House, New York City’s first curtain-wall skyscraper, later imitated in Paris and Berlin.  A gracious Isamu Noguchi sculpture garden is situated within the Lever House courtyard.  The restaurant interior, meanwhile, beckons with opulent, 1960s retro-chic.  Andy Warhol prints of Dennis Hopper, Giorgio Armani, Jerry Hall, Sly Stallone and Alfred Hitchcock enliven the space. Before Casa Lever even officially opened, Madonna threw a party in it for her friend Penelope Cruz. You can picture Warhol himself, nonchalantly sitting in one of the parallelogram-framed booths, looking out and up at a Venini glass chandelier to quip “I was just joshing about those fifteen minutes.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Café Boulud has a most prepossessing interior, recently refreshed by designer Jeffrey Beers.  Seating niches are finished in embroidered leather, wood accents lend warmth to the space, table linens are by Rivolta Carmignani while the custom Limoges porcelain serving pieces are by Bernardaud and Rosenthal.  If your sensibilities are fired by casual chic, this room just might make you weep for joy. That star twinkling above every table is from Michelin.  The latest stars in the kitchen, meanwhile, are Executive Chef Gavin Kaysen and Pastry Chef Noah Carroll.  Before treating the brunch proper, we feel obliged to mention that Saturdays from 7 to 10a.m. and Sundays from 8 to 11, Café Boulud serves one of the city’s most civilized breakfasts. Read the rest of this entry »

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Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay has built his international empire up through plenty of slick . . . and at times coarse . . . strategies on loan from show business hucksterism.  Were he not genuinely a world-class talent ever striving to surpass himself in the kitchen, and charming besides, you might object to his promotional methods.

One characteristic running gag involved actress Joan Collins.  Ramsay threw her out of his Royal Hospital Road restaurant because she was in the company of a critic he didn’t like.  Then, Ramsay apologized, saying that his mother loves Joan Collins.  Joan went on his television show; he taught her to make an omelet.  It all happened as though according to a recipe for heavy-handed contrivance. Read the rest of this entry »

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Coco Chanel famously said that the opposite of luxury is not poverty, but rather vulgarity.  She might have deemed Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant Perry Street the very summit of luxuriousness.

The fumed oak tables, amuse-l’oeil patterned carpeting, comforting white leather banquettes, graciously cantilevered lamps and black resin bar with matching leather stools are artfully poised within the U-shaped space, all custom-conceived by Thomas Juul-Hansen, an erstwhile associate of the Pritzger Prize-winning architect Richard Meier, who designed the glass tower above the restaurant.  A sheer mesh over the floor-to-ceiling windows softens incoming sunlight without in the least impeding views of the shimmering Hudson River. Read the rest of this entry »

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Petrossian is to brunches what Renoir masterpieces are to painting.  That is not hyperbole — C’est si bon!

The enchanted main Petrossian venue in New York’s upliftingly beautiful Alwyn Court building is an oasis of soothing civility.  The French-Romanian architect Ion Orveanu, commissioned to create the most tastefully luxurious and cocooning interior known to mankind, delivered with pink Finnish granite, etched Erté mirrors, a Lanvin chandelier, Lalique crystal wall sconces and bronze sculptures from the 1930’s.  The elegant surroundings suggest elegant dress, but diners do visit sporting casual chic and are more than welcome.  The varied guests are cosmopolitan and international, and locally may be from the East Side, the West Side and all around the town. Read the rest of this entry »