Crazy little thing called...BRUNCH!

Brunch--that clever combination of breakfast and lunch--as American as apple pie, whose permutations across the continent run the gamut of culinary genius and savory skill...the bane of all chef's (there is literally nothing worse than slaving over bacon and eggs fighting the hangover from last night's post-dinner shift) and the joy of Saturday night owls (there is literally nothing better than scarfing down eggs and bacon to help the hangover from last night's shenanigans).  In the land of the 10,000 restaurants (actually, according to Restaurant Inspection Information New York City has closer to 20,000 restaurants) the iconic brunch has taken on a life force of it's own.

My understanding of brunch was a meal taken between 10am and 1pm featuring an assortment of breakfast classics with some clever savory lunch twists thrown in.  Obviously, a light cocktail is always an option (making brunch one of the great american excuses to drink during the day--the others being football Sundays, any sort of sporting playoff, wedding showers, etc.), light conversation with friends and family, and general merrymaking.

New Yorkers, however, (as they tend to do with most everything) have made brunch bigger and better--the meals are longer, the drinks are stiffer...brunch is, in effect, a day-long activity where drinking is encouraged and the possibilities for gastronomic expression are literally endless.  From dim sum to Latin American huevos to Malaysian curry crab, brunch in New York City is a culinary experience like no other that plays by its own rules:

1) Although Manhattanites are notoriously impatient with a knack for making reservations months in advance, brunch is something they will wait for--anywhere from 30 minutes to 2+ hours, all in the name of a fiery Bloody Mary, great locavore eggs, or the newest "it" chef (the lines at Prune make this abundantly clear). 

2) 11:30-12:00 is unfashionably early unless you have theater tickets.  Manhattan brunch is traditionally an afternoon affair lasting from 1 o'clock until anywhere as late as 5 PM.  If a friend calls to say she's at brunch and will be in touch afterward, don't hold your breath.

3) As an afternoon adventure, New York brunch is, for almost everyone, a drinking excursion.  Bloody Mary's and mimosas aside, brunch beverages range from microbrewed beers to the newest mixologist concoctions

4) Brunch is not, as in some parts, a special event.  It is a Sunday staple that can also be found on Wednesdays, Thursdays and the occasional Saturday.  It is celebratory of nothing in particular, festively sociable and never undertaken solo.  It is a free for all, a freebie and fallacy all in one.  

In NYC, brunch is "as much a state of mind as it is a meal," where the city that never sleeps can kick its heels up for an afternoon and just relax.  Summer brunches are the epitome of NYC where the lazy, the hungover, and go-getters and do-gooders come together in thousands of restaurants across the city to enjoy the delightful blend of savory and sweet, the high and the low-brow, astounding culinary combinations and the classics, all in the name of of that crazy little thing we call BRUNCH.