New York Brunch Blog

Posted by Jennifer W. Miner Dec 3, 2006

What is it about brunch that arouses such warm feelings? Maybe it's the idea of the late morning meal itself; almost time for lunch so I'm good and hungry, but still legitimately morning, enough, to crack open some eggs and get some bacon sizzling.

There's something almost primordially comforting about brunch. The savory smells of cheese melting into an omelette, with smokey ham or bacon layered in, can arouse my lumbering bear of a husband out of deep hibernation. And happily helping mix fresh berries into pancake batter clearly gets my children feeling that they're contributing to the health (and satiety) of the family unit.

It wasn't always this way. We used to live in New York City and, like many, many New Yorkers, we hardly ever cooked anything. Eating out is a way of life in the Big Apple. We managed to hit every one of my favorite brunch spots on the Upper West Side often enough that I had the menus practically memorized, and (also like real New Yorkers) we didn't blink at 20 minute waits to get seated. When we wanted to expand our horizons, we'd take the subway to the Grammercy area or Greenwich Village for brunch. Then, perhaps we'd visit one of the smaller art museums in NYC, see a movie, or stroll through Central Park.

My family doesn't live in New York anymore. We've lived in a warm part of the country for a few years now, in a house with a decent-sized kitchen. Weekend brunch is at home more often than not, these days, and I wouldn't trade these warm, homey, late morning meals for all the french toast in Manhattan. Still, those best brunches in NYC are part of my kids' early childhood, and as integral to my memories of parenting young children, as they are to my having lived in the city.