NextME's Guide: Top 10 Brunch Spots in New York City
Top 10 Brunch Spots - New York City
Brunch has become a staple of life in New York, with thousands of eateries across the city competing for your boozy breakfast dollars. The options are wide and varied, and it’s hard to pick just one to visit if you’re only in town for a day or two. We’ve curated a list of the most intriguing spots to enjoy a mimosa and a plate full of eggs on a lazy Saturday.
Spoons, Toons, and Booze at Nighthawk Cinema
Photo Courtesy of doNYC
Remember those lazy weekend mornings of your childhood, spent with a bowl of sugary cereal in front of the tv? Recreate that feeling, and add a dash of adult refreshment, at Nighthawk Cinema in Williamsburg. With all of your favorite Saturday morning cartoons showing, an all-you-can-eat sugar cereal bar, and plenty of cocktails to be had, it’s the perfect brunch spot for those who want to go back in time. Oh, and if cereal is not your idea of good brunch food, they have a full brunch menu on offer too, with offerings like Salmon Ricotta Toast or their delicious Breakfast Burritos, paired with a Breakfast Club mimosa or bloody mary.
Ukrainian Brunch at Veselka
Photo Courtesy of SoHungry
Veselka is a 24 hour Ukranian eatery in the East Village. Their brunch menu includes everything from brunch pierogis and salmon latka eggs benedict to hot oatmeal and omelettes. If you’re in the mood for some delicious Ukranian comfort food for brunch, you can’t go wrong here. And of course, there are plenty of mimosas and prosecco on hand too.
Gospel Brunch at the Red Rooster
Photo Courtesy of The Red Rooster
For many, it’s just not Sunday morning without some good old-fashioned gospel music. Fortunately, the Gospel Brunch downstairs at the Red Rooster boasts live gospel music featuring Vi Higginsen's Gospel For Teens Choir paired with some of the finest soul food you can possibly want. Enjoy dishes like Poppa Eddie's Shrimp And Grits or Hot Honey Yardbird and wash them down with drinks like the Bloody Rooster or Mamita’s Michelada.
Brunch Buffet at 230 Fifth Rooftop
Photo Courtesy of Thrillest
What could be better than brunch with a view? The 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar offers an all you can eat brunch buffet every weekend. Billed as New York’s Largest Outdoor Rooftop Garden, it offers stunning views of the Empire State Building and plenty of other points of interest on the New York skyline. Worried about a chill in the weather? During winter months they erect heated clear igloos on the roof, and their penthouse lounge is fully enclosed year-round. Meanwhile, the buffet features standards like scrambled eggs and bacon, as well as a variety of salads and even Cuban sandwiches.
Veggie-Filled Brunch at Dirt Candy
Photo Courtesy of Wall Street Journal
Dirt Candy is known for taking the lowly vegetable, injecting a bit of flair and plenty of humor, and creating dishes that are both delicious and craveable. Their brunch features delights like Green Huevos & No Ham, Corn French Toast, Red Pepper Fritters, Brussels Sprout Tacos, and Korean Fried Broccoli. It’s the kind of imaginative cooking even the meat and potatoes set can enjoy. Since everything is seasonal and fresh, you never really know exactly which dishes will be on offer on a given day, but you’re sure to find plenty of options to tickle almost any fancy. Plus, they’ve got creative cocktails, generous portions, and excellent service.
Bottomless Brunch at the Black Ant
Photo Courtesy of Thrillist
For those with a more adventurous appetite, you’ve got to try The Black Ant in the East Village. One part Mexican kitchen and one part “I dare you,” the eatery is sort of like a live version of some of Fear Factor’s food challenges. But the brunch offerings tend to be more on the tame side. So if you’ve ever wanted to try duck confit hash or grilled octopus with chorizo, this is the place to do it. Looking for a bit of sweet instead of spicy? You’re going to love the brioche pumpkin custard toast. And their 90-minute bottomless brunch gives you all the Mimosas, Bloody Marias, and Smoky Jalapeño Margaritas your heart desires.
Family Brunch at Loosie’s Kitchen & Cafe
Photo Courtesy of the Venue Report
When you brunch at Loosie’s Kitchen & Cafe in Brooklyn, you’re part of the family. Located under the Williamsburg Bridge, it’s a mini-community all its own. Their delectable brunch menu is heavy on the home cooking, and features brunch favorites like avocado toast or chicken and waffles. But they also have less-usual options like chicory salad or a fried shrimp burger. It’s delightful food served in a friendly, welcoming environment you’re sure to love!
Jazz Brunch at Dirty French
Photo Courtesy of the Dirty French
Dirty French at the Ludlow Hotel really knows how to do brunch right. They start you off with a complimentary array of baked goods, and they serve scrumptious cocktails by the carafe or punchbowl. You can then choose from their array of hors-d'oeuvres or french inspired entrees on their delightful brunch menu. But perhaps the most surprising and wonderful part of the meal is the live jazz music you’ll enjoy as you dine. It’s a little slice of the Big Easy hidden in the Big Apple.
Pickled Brunch at Jacob’s Pickles
Photo Courtesy of Jacob's Pickles
If you like a bold flavor profile with your brunch menu, Jacob’s Pickles delivers in spades. They have all of the usual southern brunch fare: french toast, omelets, egg sandwiches, and creamy organic grits smothered in cheese. But they also serve eight varieties of pickles and pickled eggs too, as well as spicy sandwiches and fun entrees like catfish tacos. It’s the kind of comfort food that is particularly pleasing on your brunch plate, with southern twists in every dish.
Everyday Brunch at Mother’s Ruin
Photo Courtesy of Mother's Ruin
Saturday and Sunday are practically made for brunch. But what about when you have a lazy free day during the week? Fortunately, there are places in the city offering this decadent and delicious meal on weekdays too. One of the best is the Everyday Brunch at Mother’s Ruin. This fun, casual eatery delivers delicious, boozy brunch dishes to the masses whose days off don’t fall on Saturday or Sunday. Located on Spring Street in Nolita, it’s home to the boozy slushie and a great place to try Cholula-honey fried chicken and waffles or a falafel burger with cucumber mint dressing.
Waitlist and Queue Management App for Event Planning
The Launch of NextME’s Waitlist and Queue Management App in the Event Production Space
Over the past few years, the restaurant industry has discovered the time and cost saving benefits of using NextME to manage waiting lists. Restaurant owners, staff, and diners alike have enjoyed the rewards of this incredibly easy to use tech solution for an age-old problem. But what if NextME could help other businesses and industries just as effectively?
With this idea in mind, we began working toward integration into a new and exciting industry: event production. This industry is becoming more and more important in the business world, and delivering a positive customer experience has never been more crucial.
Experiential Marketing
Trade shows, conferences, expos, and other industry events are making huge waves in the business to business sales world. In fact, Forrester Research estimates that events are almost a quarter of the B2B marketing budget. It’s been proven as a leading way to communicate with potential clients directly and clearly.
Events and experiences are an amazing way to create connections with consumers too. Big names from Amazon to Oculus VR are harnessing experiential marketing to create positive associations with their brand. As consumers zip through the commercials on their TiVo, or stream their favorite shows on platforms that skip the ads entirely, live events and product demonstrations are quickly becoming an important way to reach out to the public directly.
For those new to the event marketing space, the biggest fear is usually that nobody will show up. Experienced teams know how to generate buzz and overcome this hurdle. So what happens if your event goes well? You’re likely to have lines of people waiting to engage with your brand during busy trade shows, conferences, or events. Long lines can kill your marketing before consumers and clients even get near them.
Picture this: You spend months designing and promoting a top-notch interactive booth for an upcoming trade show. Maybe it’s a high-tech experience. Maybe it’s one-on-one time with your best experts. Whatever the draw, you’ve got potential customers salivating over the chance to engage with your brand.
A potential customer hears the amazing buzz you’ve created and puts it on a to-do list for the day of the show. After arriving on the show floor, they seek you out, only to be turned off by a crowd of people who are already impatiently waiting their turn.
Don’t let a long line turn potential clients away. NextME’s technology is tailor made to handle this sticky situation.
A Better Waitlist & Queue Manager
Here’s how the above scenario could have gone. Instead of seeing a crowd when they first approach your booth, they’re greeted by a friendly smile of your host, armed with a tablet. The host plugs in the customer’s name and phone number and immediately the customer receives a text confirming their place in line. They’re now free to wander the show as they please, and can check in at any time to see their place in line in real time.
Better yet, the text the customer received included a link. This link takes them to a page you’ve designed, introducing your company, product, experience, or anything else you like. You can even use this space to collect attendee data and generate sales leads with interactive promos, letting attendees enter drawings, or newsletter sign-ups. It also lets them visit your social media pages or suggests a hashtag for posting their trade show experience. So you get to introduce them to your brand while they wait!
When the customer’s turn is almost ready, she’ll receive a second text alerting her to return to your booth. She’ll have the option to confirm or cancel her place in line, so you’ll receive fewer no shows than standard appointment setting methods. When she returns to the booth, instead of being bored by a long waiting period, she’ll be just as excited and ready to go as the moment she first approached the booth.
A Proven Queue System
And of course, this isn’t all theoretical. We partnered with digital marketing and event planning agencies, like Deckel & MoneyPenny, to manage wait times for large conferences. They used NextME for big name corporate clients like General Electric Appliances and other large corporations, so it’s already been proven to scale well.
The result? Increased efficiency. Happier attendees. A standardized process for queue management. Better communication. And the ability to meet tight deadlines with little training required for implementation. And after the doors close? Plenty of analytics and reports to pore over so you can see exactly what worked well and what might need tweaking for next time. To read more about NextME’s case studies, check it out here.
So what are you waiting for? If you manage events of any size, NextME is the solution that will allow you to up your game in real time while engaging attendees and providing essential real-time communication tools. Feel free to request a demo or give us a ring at (877) 639-8631.