Your Neighborhood at a Glance: Best Weekend Brunch in NYC

The weekend brunch is a staple of the New York City dining experience. Whether it’s a special occasion, an opportunity for friends to gather and catch up, or a delightful start to a lazy weekend day, brunch is perfect. It’s a meal meant for relaxation and good company. Many of the first-rate dining establishments in the city offer a fantastic weekend brunch in addition to their other menus, while some restaurants specialize in the meal. There are cocktail specials, prix fixes and multi-course offerings. This meal is a must for New Yorkers.

So where is the best brunch in NYC? We’ve spoken to our local expert agents and compiled a list of our favorite brunch spots around the City:

Telepan – This Upper West Side staple specializes in simple and skillfully prepared cuisine using fresh ingredients shipped in from local farms. The $32 prix fixe brunch is a multi-course meal. It starts with breads and muffins for the table, then you have a choice of items from two courses. For the first course we recommend the house smoked brook trout or the sheep’s ricotta blintzes. For the second course we can’t say enough about the pear French toast or the fallen pancake soufflé, delcious! They also have out-of-this-world specialty cocktails, like the chipotle chili bloody mary or the peach bellini.

Peacock Alley – Located in the Waldorf Astoria, this is probably the most famous Sunday brunch in the world, and for good reason. It’s a feted event with raw bar, smoked fish and meat carving stations, over 100 gourmet desserts, and a mimosa or champagne served to each guest. Very sophisticated and classy. This brunch isn’t served in the summer months.

Sarabeth’s – With four locations (Upper West Side, Upper East Side, TriBeCa, and Central Park South) there is sure to be one by you, so make your way over for this fabulous brunch. They have a tremendous selction of eggs and omelets, a three bear’s porridge hot breakfast, and amazing sweet selections such as the pumpkin waffle or the lemon ricotta pancakes.

Norma’s at Le Parker Meridien – This innovative Midtown West restaurant specializes in brunch, and wow, it’s easily one of our favorites. Selections such as the artychoked benedict with truffle porcini sauce, the foie gras brioche French toast, mango-papaya brown butter cinnamon crepes, and the Norma’s eggs benedict which is a buttermilk pancake layered with Canadian bacon and grilled asparagus, all make our mouths water. They also have a zillion dollar lobster frittata that’s made with caviar and costs upwards of $1,000!     

Parlor Steakhouse – On the Upper East Side sits this very modern steakhouse that does a brunch we’re absolutely crazy about. They do special “Bottom’s Up” prix fixe brunch for $25 which comes with unlimited bloody mary’s, rose bellinis, or mimosas (up to a maximum of five cocktails per guest). The muffin plate has the best blueberry muffins we’ve ever had, the steak & eggs are done to perfection, the brioche French toast with vanilla syrup is delectable, and the eggs benedict served on a buttermilk biscuit with hand-cut bacon will satisfy any appetite.

Poco – This Spanish inspired Lower East Side restaurant has a prix fixe brunch for $24.95 that’s served with three cocktails (mimosa, bloody mary or sangria), they also offer fantastic specialty cocktails that cost a little extra. The lobster mac-n-cheese, done with a three cheese blend, is amazing. We also recommend the truffled mushroom omelet, or any of the eggs benedicts, offered as Poco, lobster, and Florentine, all done on a crispy arepa and topped with pimento hollandaise.  

Cupping Room Café – This SoHo place does comfort food right, and their brunch is no exception. The menu is huge and you’ll want to try it all, but we’ll recommend the stuffed French toast or the Nova Scotia salmon omelet. Really, this place does everything well, you can’t go wrong.

Philip Marie – This West Village establishment offers a prix fixe brunch for $24.95 that comes with unlimited mimosas or bloody mary’s. We recommend the new langoustine burrito, the crab cake benedict, or the Marie’s wrap, which are all great new takes on brunch classics.