Or, better still, order the pancakes (or waffles or French toast) as an appetizer. And your companion gets the egg, goat’s milk cheese, and sausage skillet. You get the lemon-ricotta pancakes, or what have you. This is some of the best food on the planet. But it’s also so delicious, a choose-your-own adventure of sweet and savory delights: pancakes, waffles, French toast, eggs Benedict, huevos rancheros, breakfast burritos, chilaquiles, overstuffed omelets, breakfast skillets, corned beef hash, and breakfast pizza with a runny egg on top. They’re supposed to be about spending time with friends and loved ones-chatting about your latest Netflix binge or doing The New York Times crossword puzzle with your significant other. That’s the point! Brunches are all about a kind of exquisite indulgence. Most brunch menus offer lunch items as well. And yes, it’s perfectly kosher to have a cup of coffee and a banana if you get a little peckish before the meal. (Well, okay, not the priciness.) The weird time? It allows you to sleep in and luxuriate in a lazy weekend morning. Everything you hate about brunch is exactly what I love about it. Who needs to pile on your entire daily allowance of calories in one meal? Brunch “cocktails?” The whole mimosa and Bloody Mary thing is just an excuse to day-drink-no one is being fooled here. What if you get up early? Do you need to snack before brunch? It’s a total time suck: A long brunch can take up the better part of a day. The litany of complaints goes on: It’s a weird time. Others complain about its priciness-$14 for a plate of eggs? Fuggedaboutit. For starters, it has become associated with “basicness”-the meal equivalent of Dockers pants, a pumpkin spice latte, or a pair of Uggs. It seems odd to pen a defense of brunch in this, a package devoted to brunch, but the truth is undeniable: Lately, brunch has been getting a bad rap. Read on-these restaurants will make you a quick convert. And, if you happen to be one of those people in the con camp, chances are you just haven’t discovered the right spot yet. But, while brunch is beloved by some, and may be the Rodney “I-get-no-respect” Dangerfield of meals to others, we say, bring on the pile of pancakes with blueberry syrup and whipped cream-we’re all in. These days, brunch has proliferated across the world, especially into Asia and the Middle East on Sundays, but also on Fridays in Islamic and Middle-Eastern cultures. By the 1990s, the sacred end-of-the-week brunch was offered on Saturdays, too. “Some evidence suggests the American brunch was created in New Orleans,” says Ternikar, “while others claim that during the Gilded Age, we saw brunch first take off when city socialites such as Emily Post first brunched at the infamous Delmonico’s of Manhattan.” By 1939, as brunch became rooted in American culture, The New York Times proclaimed Sunday a two-meal day. But its true origins, however, are up for debate. By the 1920s, brunch spread across the Atlantic to New York City, Chicago, and New Orleans, explains Farha Ternikar, author of Brunch: A History. At the time, Beringer’s brunch was conceived as a lighter alternative to heavy, post-church Sunday meals-though the best-laid plans can go awry. In fact, it’s hard to remember a time when brunch didn’t exist (though it first appeared in England in an 1895 Hunter’s Weekly article, “Brunch: A Plea,” by author Guy Beringer). And with good reason-from the boozy drinks to the slower pacing (breakfast begins the day, brunch is the day), to the over-the-top dishes we might not otherwise eat, brunch, when done right, can be a truly satisfying meal.
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