Best of New York 2013 • Eating

• Parish Hall

  109A N. 3rd St., nr. Berry St., Williamsburg; 718-782-2602

  At its core, and absent all the post-yuppie cultural baggage, brunch is simply breakfast plus lunch. And what could be better than that? Nevertheless, there are those who claim to hate brunch. These poor souls have apparently never experienced a weekend afternoon in the spare-verging-on-spartan, skylit back room of Parish Hall. If they had, they would have encountered many exotic delights not typically associated with a New York brunch: an almost spalike, restorative vibe, spot-on $9 cocktails, a crowd of all ages, happy families, non-squealing tots. They even take reservations. Of course, all would be moot if the food wasn’t up to snuff. This is happily not the case. Even beyond the excellently eggy eggs, there are crisp-edged johnny cakes with bourbon-barrel-aged maple syrup. Terrific housemade bacon and sausage. Savory oats mingled with roasted carrots, cauliflower, and parsnips. Two types of hash. A porchetta sandwich. And a wait staff that care as deeply about the food they’re serving (much of it sourced in season from the owner’s upstate farm) as they do about how you’re liking it. Like we said, Bizarro World brunch.

From the