Maison Kayser

Last summer, I had read about a new bakery opening on the UES.  Similar to Laduree, Maison Kayser is a well-regarded French bakery/cafe with branches around the world and they've finally opened a NYC branch.  If you need to know anything about me, its my love for bread and baked goods (mostly bread though heee).  So of course I was super interested in scoping out this new bakery known for its bread.

A friend suggested we meet for dinner at Maison Kayser and I was super surprised to find out that they offer full meals at the cafe!

As I rolled myself in, I was immediately greeted with a beautiful display of tarts, pastries, desserts, breads, rolls, croissants, and all sorts of goodies. 

Front area with bakery goods on display

Then when I looked to the right, I saw the large and spacious dining area:

Cafe and dining area

As I dragged myself away from the display cases, my attention was next attracted to the big windows showing the bakery in the back.  Where bread is born!!!  Fresh baguettes were still coming out of the oven even at 6:30pm.  

Windows in the back of the dining area showing the bakery areas

Brunch: Le Bateau Ivre

I was meeting a friend for Sunday brunch a couple weeks back, but the caveat was that we had to meet in Midtown East - she had to go to work afterwards (boo!) so preferred to meet near her office.  With a little help from Yelp, we settled on Le Bateau Ivre.

If you are brunching here on Sunday, you'll be treated to a live Jazz band with your meal!  Love how it changes the atmosphere!  Sadly the space was kind of small and our table was very close to the band - next time I'm going to sit farther away and maybe I'll be able to chat more with my dining compadres lol

Live jazz band with Sunday Brunch!

View from our table

They offer a brunch prix fixe - for $19.95 you get a brunch drink, coffee or tea, and a brunch entree of your choice.  While it was a little more than my usual brunch prices, this isn't too bad for Midtown East.  And who doesn't love a drink with brunch!

Brunch: The Barrel

I stopped by The Barrel in the East Village for brunch on Saturday and was very excited to see that there was no wait!  Wohoo!!

Inside of The Barrel

I liked the inside of the restaurant - calming feel with lots of wood, some greenery, and curved decorations.  I guess it was meant to mimic the inside of a barrel?

Looking at the menu, there is a brunch menu for $12.95 which includes a brunch entree and a drink - what a steal!  There's also a lot to choose from on the brunch menu so that makes it exciting for me.  I'm usually an egg gal for brunch but lately I've been feeling more lunch hehe

Brunch menu

Lunch menu

The brunch menu includes your traditional items as well as Barrel specific creations such as the Galette.  My dining compadres and I ordered a pretty good variety to share:

Galette Breton Complet - buckwheat crepe, gruyere cheese, eggs, arugula, smoked ham

Brunch: The Seahorse Tavern

I have had my eye on The Seahorse Tavern for a couple weeks now and finally had the chance to check it out for brunch recently.

The Seahorse Tavern on the Upper East Side

Located on the upper east side, this little seafood eatery was perfect for a low-key casual brunch. I loved the brick wall and simply decorated space!  Had a bit of a 'New England seafood restaurant by the sea' feel hehe.

Looking at the brunch menu, most of the items have a seafood twist to it which makes me super happy.  Even better?  You get a drink with your meal yayyyyyy!  While it's not a big menu, there is a pretty good variety including egg dishes, sandwiches, salads, and a burger.  Definitely something for everyone!

Brunch: Le Tarte Flambe

A friend and I stopped by Le Tarte Flambe for a quick brunch before darting up to the Bronx Zoo (for those of you who don't know, I LOVE the zoo!).  This cute spot on the UES offers your standard and non-standard brunch fare!

Cafe Flambee

When you walk in, you'll notice that its a small and narrow restaurant.  The brick wall and fun posters definitely warm up the space!

Funny posters on their walls!

During brunch, you get their regular menu, which features different varieties of their specialty the tarte flambee (bread dough rolled thin and covered with cheese and onions), as well as a brunch menu, which offers the more standard brunch items such as eggs, sandwiches, etc. 

Regular menu

Brunch menu

Brunch: Calle Ocho

Ahh...boozy brunch.  What better weekend activity is there?  I've been hearing about the bottomless sangria brunch at Calle Ocho and just finally got around to trying it!

Located inside the Excelsior Hotel on the UWS by the Natural Museum of Natural History (they moved to this location last year), this is definitely a popular destination on the weekend.  Make a reservation if you can!

Outside of Calle Ocho (boooo scaffolding)

When you walk into the restaurant (note you access the restaurant entrance via the hotel lobby), you'll notice that the decor is colorful, energetic, and fun chic.  It's crowded, as expected for an all-you-can-drink brunch spot, but it has just the right amount of energy.

Love the colorful walls and decoration

Brunch: Little Owl

Happy September my fellow piggys!  With Labor Day just this past Monday, I took advantage of the long weekend and snagged myself a spot at The Little Owl for brunch!

Notoriously tiny (or cozy as everyone calls it) and popular, this little neighborhood spot is always fully booked and the waiting list for walk-ins extremely long.  But this Labor Day weekend, I managed to snag a coveted reservation for brunch yay!  I had been to The Little Owl for dinner before and felt meh about my experience.  But I have heard that brunch here is the way to go so what the heck, lets give it a second go!

Located deeeeeep in the West Village, The Little Owl is actually in the building that the tv show Friends made famous.  Look familiar?

The Little Owl is located in the Friends building!

While I had an 11:30am reservation, my dining compadres and I were not seated until noon.  Bummer.  While waiting patiently for our table to finish, we stood outside and watched many many many people come by trying to snag a walk-in spot and walk away unsuccessful.  Moral of the story - come early and/or make a reservation and be prepared to wait a bit.

When you walk in, its a bright space with a homey feel.  I can understand the appeal of dining here - its comforting and relaxing.

Brunch: Cornelia Street Cafe

Some Sundays, I just don't want to deal with crazy lines or crowded/loud spaces.  No more panicking about having no reservations and no extra pressure to wake up at 10am just to be first in line.  Sometimes, I just want a nice relaxing brunch.  Do you feel like that too?

If so, then I think you'll really enjoy Cornelia Street Cafe!

Located on a quiet street (Cornelia St if you haven't guessed) in the West Village, this cafe is perfect for a casual brunch on a lazy Sat/Sun morning.  There's great outdoor seating and the inside is inviting, bright, and relaxing.  Even bigger plus - no crazy wait or reservations needed!  Walked right in around 12:30pm on a Sunday with no problem.  Score!!

Bar seating area right when you walk in

Dining room to the side

As you peruse the menu, you'll see that they have all the usual brunch suspects.  And of course, they offer a fantastic prix fixe that I just couldn't resist - for $20 you get a choice of entree, baked goodie, brunch cocktail/juice, and coffee/tea. 

Brunch: Il Bastardo

This place was completely crazy on a stick.  And I totally loved it - well I probably would have loved it if I was five years younger.  Silly me, I went expecting a nice relaxing brunch in Chelsea but what I got was an AYCD brunch in the middle of Vegas (I can confirm flashblacks). 

AYCD option for $20 with your brunch entree!

As you can see from the menu above, you can add $20 to your meal for the All You Can Drink unlimited Mimosas, Champagne, Screw Drivers, or Bloody Marys option.  At $10-12 for an individual drink, why not go for the unlimited?  When you get the drink, it comes in large wine glasses instead of the usual skinny champagne glasses. And these drinks are constantly refilled - I never ever had less than half in my glass at any time.  Definitely get your $20 worth!!  These drinks were definitely strong though, so go easy.

The drinks are huge and always refilled

As you're sipping your drink and perusing the menu, you won't be able to ignore the music and energy around you.  There's a DJ booth with a DJ spinning club music - yes during brunch!  When a particularly good song comes on, fellow diners get up and dance in the aisles and occasionally free shots get passed around!  It's definitely a carefree happy-go-lucky atmosphere, but if you are trying to catch up with a friend don't expect to hear any conversation here. 

DJ Booth setting the party mood at brunch

Brunch: Pastis

Yes, one of my favorite brunch places in the city is Pastis.  I just can't get enough!  I know I know...it's in the Meatpacking district, has this pretentious reputation, and is always super packed, but I have yet to have anything less than a stellar experience there (plus the Sephora next door is phenomenal).  If you haven't given Pastis a go yet, definitely go for brunch!

Concerned about a wait?  No worries - you can usually score a reservation even a couple days before or just walk-in on the earlier side.  Even better if you can snag one of the great tables outside - great for people watching and brunching in your fabulous sunglasses!  Hopefully the scaffolding is gone by now...

Outside brunching is the best here (sadly it's been covered by scaffolding lately)

If you grab a table inside, that's not a bad deal either.  You just can't help but enjoy the energetic Parisian brasserie-ish energy inside!  And the hostesses have never been anything but gracious (I've showed up super late and super early for reservations and they've been accommodating on both occasions).

Great energy inside Pastis!

Brunch: Untitled (at the Whitney Museum)

Did you know that you can brunch at the Whitney Museum?  And it's a Danny Meyer farm-to-table restaurant to boot!  A fellow brunch junkie and I were looking for a new spot to try and decided to scope out the situation on a recent Sunday morning.

Brunching at the Whitney Museum!

Located in the bottom level of the Whitney Museum, just let the ticket takers know that you're headed to the restaurant Untitled below and you are allowed to pass.  Head on down and you'll realize that this is no dark basement restaurant!  On one side is a great breakfast bar.  On the other side is an entire wall of glass and you can look up to Madison Ave.  It's definitely a great space filled with light and extremely tall ceilings.  I loved the feel in there!

Breakfast bar

Entire wall of glass made the space feel bright an spacious

Brunch: David Burke Kitchen

Fellow Piggys...can you believe it's already July??? As Piggy KL said in an earlier post, we've been on a bit of a summer break the last couple weeks. And during those last couple weeks, I've eaten A LOT and can't wait to share with you where I've been!

Summer break or not, the one thing I'm always on a hunt for is a great brunch spot without the crazy crowds. I'm an anxious person and last minute brunch plans without any reservations always send me into a tizzy.  However, my recent discovery of David Burke Kitchen have laid the anxiety aside - I've found a fantastic brunch spot with no crazy line! 

Located right above Tribeca, David Burke Kitchen may not be the easiest place to get to but I promise you will love it!  Its a decently large space with an outdoor patio dining area upstairs (if you watch Bethenny, she had lunch on the patio in one of her episodes!).

Inside of David Burke Kitchen

Looking at the menu, there are a lot of items and options to choose from.  Being the Piggy that I am, I decided (along with my other brunching buddies) went with the $29 brunch Prix Fixe which comes with either a starter and entree, or entree and dessert. 

Ricotta Pancakes and Brioche @ Maialino

Following Piggy KL's advice, I stopped by Maialino for brunch last weekend.  While we ordered an assortment of dishes, there were two stand-outs that I just had to share with you all (in addition to Piggy KL's favorites of course):

Toffee Glazed Brioche

Toffee Glazed Brioche (pic from Serious Eats)

Ricotta Pancakes

Ricotta Pancakes(pic from Serious Eats)

As usual, I was so into the dishes that I didn't remember to take a picture until it was all gone.  Both were unbelieveable, ESPECIALLY the Ricotta Pancakes!  These were so ah-mazing that I really encourage you all to go and give it a try.  The pancakes were perfectly crispy on the outside but melt in your mouth fluffy and soft on the inside.  The flavor was perfectly balances with the ricotta and syrup.  If you haven't made plans to stop by, definitely make that reservation and give these wonderful dishes a try!  I already can't wait to go back next weekend!!

Piggy was Yes (for the pancakes)!

Thanks for reading - Piggy KK

Brunch: Vin et Fleurs

What a gorgeous weekend we just had!  It just put me in the mood for a nice long brunch followed by some [window] shopping.  I'm pretty sure everyone else had the same plan in mind, so I decided to avoid the crowd at the mainstream brunch places and headed for the path less traveled.

This past Sunday, my eating compadre and I settled on brunch at Vin et Fleurs.  Located in the Soho / South Village area, this little French bistro and wine bar was calling us with their immediate seating availability and bright open space.  I especially loved that the whole front of the restaurant was open to the sidewalk and enjoyed the fresh flowers on each table.

Inside of Vin et Fleurs

They offer a simple, but very well priced brunch menu.  Their regular menu is also available during brunch.  Take a peek:

Maialino (Brunch)

If you are the type of person who thinks it is never too early for pasta, you'll love brunch at Maialino!  I'm still itching to check out the dinner menu, but I did go for the brunch scene and was pleasantly surprised. 

Brunch at Maialino has a very relaxed feel; there were tables with people reading the paper over fresh-baked bread and coffee, and groups of friends lingering the afternoon away over wine and good food.  It didn't seem like the restaurant was rushing people out the door, which is very appreciated when you just want to be lazy and catch up with friends on the weekend.

While waiting for our table, we sat at the bar and ordered two cocktails, the Caterina de' Medici and the Claudia ($12 each).  The Caterina was bubbly and not too sweet (which I prefer!), and the Claudia was refreshing - the Limonata in it had us craving summertime.  Great start to the meal to come...

The menu has a variety of brunch and lunch food to choose from - eggs, pancakes, salads, sandwiches, pastas.  It was perfect as some of us were craving breakfast food, and others of us were drooling over the pasta.  

Tartinery

Walking around Nolita one day, I stumbled upon a really pretty and trendy restaurant called Tartinery.  I had never heard of it at the time, but the food looked yummy as I was gawking at people's dishes sitting by the window (yes, I have no shame!).  When I got home and checked out their website, I was definitely curious.  Open-faced sandwiches, bread flown in from France daily... yes please!

A few weekends later, I made my way back for Sunday brunch/lunch.  There are two floors, the upper one being a cute little area with a long bar and small tables by the window.  It feels like you're sitting in a little Parisian bistro.  We noticed that other parties around us were European - two groups speaking French and another group of Italians.  For a minute, I could almost imagine that I wasn't in NY.  In one word, I would describe it as "Frenchie", in the best way possible!

The menu has an interesting assortment of appetizers such as Duck rillettes, Burrata, or ravioli with truffle oil.  They also offer a big variety of Tartines (open-faced sandwiches) so you can definitely find something to your liking. 

Brunch: Stone Park Cafe

I'm ashamed to say that I'm pretty much a newbie to restaurants in the Outer Boroughs.  Brooklyn though - I'm totally loving Brooklyn lately!  Other than my one bad experience, I've been having some amazeball meals in Brooklyn.

This past weekend, I stopped by Stone Park Cafe in Park Slope for brunch.  First sign that it was going to be a fabulous brunch - a bulldog puppy was waiting outside!  Second sign that it was going to be fabulous?  A 45 minute wait even at close to 2pm.  Must be good if people wait!

And so, a walk to Prospect Park and 45 minutes later, we were finally seated and ready to get brunch started!  Stone Park Cafe offers a simple yet all encompassing menu.  So much to choose from!

Brunch: Almond

Happy Thursday!  With the weekend fast approaching (yay for 4-day work weeks!), I wanted to share with you a brunch spot I recently checked out.  Almond had been on my "to try" list for a while now so when a friend suggested it for brunch, I just couldn't say no!

When you first walk in, you'll notice that its a big and fairly bright open space - I likey!  No crowded tables in cramped spaces where you need to move the table in order to get in and out.  This is much appreciated as I am a bag lady and always seem to have everything I own with me. 

In addition to allowing reservations for brunch, Almond seated us before everyone in our party arrived!  Hurrah!  It just makes the morning so much nicer if you can enjoy a coffee while waiting for the stragglers. : )

As you are seated, an AWSOME basket of biscuits are set on the table.  These babies were dangerously delicious - all warm, flakey, and bite-sized for easy popping into your mouth.  Served with butter and jams mmmm.  I love bread basket with brunch! 

When looking at the menu, you'll notice a good mix of traditional brunch dishes such as Eggs Benedict along with some originals such as the House Made Pastrami & Eggs!