When brunch means long lines and loveless, turn-and-burn plates of lukewarm eggs at alarming prices, it's understandable that the meal sometimes gets a bad name. But why put up with any of that, when our weekend options have lately gotten so out-of-control great? Here are 13 of Philly's newest brunches where the focus falls right where you want it: on really good food.
Newly updated for this season, the brunch heatmap now includes Mexican brunch in Fishtown with both bottomless prix fixe and a la carte options, an all-vegan brunch in EPX, and even a few options that will work for early risers.
The early word on Sancho's is strong, and now they've got brunch options, too. If you want to go all-out, there's a bottomless prix fixe option for $30, that includes an entree, appetizer, side, and bottomless margaritas or mimosas. But you can also go a la carte, and there are drink specials to go with. Brunch is on from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday.
The only thing we really need to say here is that chef Marshall Green, owner of the late beloved Café Estelle, is doing brunch again. This is one place where we fully condone ordering the Eggs Benedict, brunch cliché or no — but go for the Eggs Jerry, which swaps in latkes, gravlax, and caper-dill hollandaise. Brunch standards are treated with serious respect here, from the French toast (served with ice cream!) to the classic smoked trout salad to walnut-speckled sticky buns. A solid cocktail lineup includes a simple but compelling Lambrusco mimosa.
The replacement to long-time standby Fork:Etc. attained elite status among the city’s brunch options as soon as it opened its doors, thanks to a stellar, seasonal menu from chef Eli Kulp and exceptional breads and pastries from Alex Bois and Sam Kincaid. Egg sandwiches are piled with fatty pastrami, local bologna, or oyster mushrooms and kale; stand-out pastries include a molasses-and-blackberry creampuff called the Choux-fly and a Red Eye Danish with Benton’s smoked ham and gruyère.
Similar to Kennett Square’s toughest table, this Talula’s does an awesome prix fixe dinner, but the rest of the time it’s an upscale market and café perfect for casual brunching right on Washington Square. There’s an ever-changing variety of fresh breads and pastries, breakfast sandwiches and quiche — not to mention some of the most high-quality groceries around if you prefer to set up your own spread back at home. A well-chosen selection of beer and wine round out the offerings, and you can even grab a growler fill for the road.
Rosa's a diner, so technically it's not "brunch" so much as you can get breakfast foods whenever you want. And they open at 8 a.m., so morning people can get in and out before other places even start their brunch service. The full bar boasts a crazy number of rums.
Dim sum is just brunch that’s even better than brunch. And while the Garden is a well-known go-to for soup dumplings, the atmosphere at the original 11th Street location may not be exactly what most people have in mind when heading out into a sunny, lazy weekend morning. Luckily, this new location is larger, brighter, and more stylish, so it's more likely to appease those friends that need to be talked out of more hollandaise-laden options — and there are even more dumplings to choose from on the new menu.
The second location of Plenty is a great casual coffee-shop option, and it opens early on weekends (7 a.m.), if you're into that sort of thing. No booze, but killer sandwiches and locally roasted coffees, and this new location has some really nice mezzanine seating.
Coffee and crepes are brunch 101, and the newest location of Café L’Aube puts the pair front and center in a perfect central location. The new space right off Rittenhouse is bright and welcoming, with pretty stained glass accents and casual café seating. L’Aube roasts their own beans and turns out perfect crepes (with sweet and savory options available), in addition to heftier options like croque madames and monsieurs.
The sophisticated younger sibling to Pub and Kitchen (which does a killer brunch too, for the record) only offers brunch on Sundays, but it’s worth the wait. The elevated-cozy vibe comes across in decadent renditions of classic dishes, less-common finds like black pudding and house-made pork roll, a refined selection of wine and cocktails, a more relaxed service, and a room that seems perennially bathed in perfect brunch light.
There are those days when brunch would sound great, if only you didn’t have to put pants on and leave the house for it. So if the vast and creative take-out menu at Kermit’s wasn’t already a draw, you may want to reconsider now that they’ve started taking delivery orders. Order up a mini-banquet both sweet and savory, including their chai cinnamon buns and housemade versions of Hot Pockets and Pop Tarts, and you can brunch in your underwear, within crawling distance of your own bed.
This casual, affordable Passyunk Square BYOB has big shoes to fill — this address used to house the locally beloved Carman's Country Kitchen. The space underwent major renovations, and now it's serving breakfast, lunch, and brunch with Portuguese influences. Get the bacalhau cakes with poached eggs over linguica-potato hash because of the cafe's lineage; get the banana-s'mores French toast because you only get so many brunches in a lifetime and might as well just go for it.
Vegan brunch! The chalkboard menu changes regularly, but has featured dishes like tempeh hash with poached avocado, quinoa porridge, okonomiyaki, and biscuits and gravy. Brunch runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. (NB: Cash only.)
It may be a bit of a hike, but weekends are made for adventure — and if that adventure results in generous plates of pastrami and smoked fish, so much the better. Chef Laura Frangiosa’s menu brings together Jewish and Italian deli cultures to yield a really unique experience, so you can nosh on sfogliatelle while you wait for your whitefish platter or challah French toast. Or try some genuine fusion, like reuben arancini or Jewish wedding soup (that’s matzoh balls and meatballs).
The early word on Sancho's is strong, and now they've got brunch options, too. If you want to go all-out, there's a bottomless prix fixe option for $30, that includes an entree, appetizer, side, and bottomless margaritas or mimosas. But you can also go a la carte, and there are drink specials to go with. Brunch is on from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday.
The only thing we really need to say here is that chef Marshall Green, owner of the late beloved Café Estelle, is doing brunch again. This is one place where we fully condone ordering the Eggs Benedict, brunch cliché or no — but go for the Eggs Jerry, which swaps in latkes, gravlax, and caper-dill hollandaise. Brunch standards are treated with serious respect here, from the French toast (served with ice cream!) to the classic smoked trout salad to walnut-speckled sticky buns. A solid cocktail lineup includes a simple but compelling Lambrusco mimosa.
The replacement to long-time standby Fork:Etc. attained elite status among the city’s brunch options as soon as it opened its doors, thanks to a stellar, seasonal menu from chef Eli Kulp and exceptional breads and pastries from Alex Bois and Sam Kincaid. Egg sandwiches are piled with fatty pastrami, local bologna, or oyster mushrooms and kale; stand-out pastries include a molasses-and-blackberry creampuff called the Choux-fly and a Red Eye Danish with Benton’s smoked ham and gruyère.
Similar to Kennett Square’s toughest table, this Talula’s does an awesome prix fixe dinner, but the rest of the time it’s an upscale market and café perfect for casual brunching right on Washington Square. There’s an ever-changing variety of fresh breads and pastries, breakfast sandwiches and quiche — not to mention some of the most high-quality groceries around if you prefer to set up your own spread back at home. A well-chosen selection of beer and wine round out the offerings, and you can even grab a growler fill for the road.
Rosa's a diner, so technically it's not "brunch" so much as you can get breakfast foods whenever you want. And they open at 8 a.m., so morning people can get in and out before other places even start their brunch service. The full bar boasts a crazy number of rums.
Dim sum is just brunch that’s even better than brunch. And while the Garden is a well-known go-to for soup dumplings, the atmosphere at the original 11th Street location may not be exactly what most people have in mind when heading out into a sunny, lazy weekend morning. Luckily, this new location is larger, brighter, and more stylish, so it's more likely to appease those friends that need to be talked out of more hollandaise-laden options — and there are even more dumplings to choose from on the new menu.
The second location of Plenty is a great casual coffee-shop option, and it opens early on weekends (7 a.m.), if you're into that sort of thing. No booze, but killer sandwiches and locally roasted coffees, and this new location has some really nice mezzanine seating.
Coffee and crepes are brunch 101, and the newest location of Café L’Aube puts the pair front and center in a perfect central location. The new space right off Rittenhouse is bright and welcoming, with pretty stained glass accents and casual café seating. L’Aube roasts their own beans and turns out perfect crepes (with sweet and savory options available), in addition to heftier options like croque madames and monsieurs.
The sophisticated younger sibling to Pub and Kitchen (which does a killer brunch too, for the record) only offers brunch on Sundays, but it’s worth the wait. The elevated-cozy vibe comes across in decadent renditions of classic dishes, less-common finds like black pudding and house-made pork roll, a refined selection of wine and cocktails, a more relaxed service, and a room that seems perennially bathed in perfect brunch light.
There are those days when brunch would sound great, if only you didn’t have to put pants on and leave the house for it. So if the vast and creative take-out menu at Kermit’s wasn’t already a draw, you may want to reconsider now that they’ve started taking delivery orders. Order up a mini-banquet both sweet and savory, including their chai cinnamon buns and housemade versions of Hot Pockets and Pop Tarts, and you can brunch in your underwear, within crawling distance of your own bed.
This casual, affordable Passyunk Square BYOB has big shoes to fill — this address used to house the locally beloved Carman's Country Kitchen. The space underwent major renovations, and now it's serving breakfast, lunch, and brunch with Portuguese influences. Get the bacalhau cakes with poached eggs over linguica-potato hash because of the cafe's lineage; get the banana-s'mores French toast because you only get so many brunches in a lifetime and might as well just go for it.
Vegan brunch! The chalkboard menu changes regularly, but has featured dishes like tempeh hash with poached avocado, quinoa porridge, okonomiyaki, and biscuits and gravy. Brunch runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. (NB: Cash only.)
It may be a bit of a hike, but weekends are made for adventure — and if that adventure results in generous plates of pastrami and smoked fish, so much the better. Chef Laura Frangiosa’s menu brings together Jewish and Italian deli cultures to yield a really unique experience, so you can nosh on sfogliatelle while you wait for your whitefish platter or challah French toast. Or try some genuine fusion, like reuben arancini or Jewish wedding soup (that’s matzoh balls and meatballs).
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When brunch means long lines and loveless, turn-and-burn plates of lukewarm eggs at alarming prices, it's understandable that the meal sometimes gets a bad name. But why put up with any of that, when our weekend options have lately gotten so out-of-control great? Here are 13 of Philly's newest brunches where the focus falls right where you want it: on really good food.:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62041681/sanchosawning.0.0.jpg)
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