Clover Hill, one of the few areas of NYC that still almost passes for a hamlet, is situated on the one-block section of Columbia Place between State and Joralemon. It is just as quaint and leafy as the rest of the neighborhood, but the roadway towering above gives it a particularly remote feel.

Between a large picture window in the front and an open kitchen in the back, there are 34 seats inside (six at the bar). Its carefully crafted Brooklyn aesthetic appears sincere in execution. Above hardwood floors, white-painted brick walls are lined with prints and old portraits. There are scattered plants and small lamps all over. The background music might have served as the music for a middle school dance for older millennials.

By day (Friday through Sunday from 9am to 3pm), the brunch menu is a primer on the excellent sourcing and preparation that Mitchell brings to the kitchen. The reasonably extensive menu includes items like a croque fromage ($18), French omelette ($19), and short rib cannelloni ($36). The prix fixe dinner solidifies Clover Hill's reputation as a top destination.

Clover Hill's tasting menu will fluctuate according to seasonal availability, like many others in NYC. A recent menu featured a lot of seafood and spring vegetables for $135 for seven courses with French and New American influences. Each dish pairs well with a $95 bottle of wine. This is definitely one of the best brunch spots in NYC.

• Phone: +1 347-457-6850
• Google rating: 4.8/5.0
  
• Opening Hours: Wed to Fri 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM, Sun 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM & 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM
  
• Website: https://www.cloverhillbk.com/
• Location: 20 Columbia Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11201

The beginning of anything—whether it's a journey, a romance or a bottle of Champagne—is often the best part. However, Sidney’s Five makes a particularly memorable impression right before you leave. The new eatery, which opened on First Avenue in May, brings free chocolate-covered strawberries to your table as you get ready to leave. It's adorable, endearing, and it sets the mood at a crucial time that's frequently missed in hospitality: the time right before you leave.

At dinner, you can sample both of Sidney Five's signature appetizers. The freshly shucked garlic and herb charbroiled oysters ($4.50 each) are excellent; they're fired to the perfect firmness and punch, and they have perfectly executed classic flavors like Parmesan, pecorino, chives, parsley, dill, tarragon, and fresh Thai chilies for a touch of heat. The andouille corn dog ($15 for two) surpasses expectations by encasing a vibrantly spiced sausage in a nearly confectionery-like batter made from cornmeal, buttermilk, and honey. It is then fried to golden perfection and served on a stick with pepper jelly and Carolina mustard for dipping.

The lamb burger ($23) is also good, and surprisingly easy to handle. Plenty of similarly artfully stacked burgers are as nice to look at as they are hard to hold, but this one is architecturally sound. Its blend also brings out the lamb’s deep, subtly funky notes, and it’s juicy enough without veering into novelty burger project territory.

• Phone: +1 917-409-3368
• Google rating: 4.8/5.0
  
• Opening Hours: Mon to Wed 5:00 PM - 12:00 AM (Next day), Thu 5:00 PM - 2:00 AM (Next day), Fri 4:00 PM - 2:00 AM (Next day), Sat 11:00 AM - 2:00 AM (Next day), Sun 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM
  
• Website: https://www.sidneysfive.com/
• Location: 103 1st Ave., New York, NY 10003
  

Leland Eating and Drinking House, which briefly operated last December before fully opening in February, makes it easy to imagine return trips. It’s an easy place to be and one of the best brunch spots in NYC.

One benefit of the corner location is that it has two inviting dining spaces. The bar, a long banquette made of pale wood, and tables are to your right as you enter on the Dean Street side. Another dining room, further back and down a few stairs, is closer to the kitchen and has views of Underhill Avenue. Both rooms feature numerous white oak pieces and large windows. In a Nancy Meyers film, the protagonist is usually the chef or owner of a restaurant that is never shown.

There are three sections on the menu. The majority of the small plates and snacks could equally well be classified as appetizers, while the large plates are entrées. Any combination you order will make you appear to be an expert. Here, everything makes sense. The brunch-only menu at Leland Eating and Drinking House is tempting, even if you arrive earlier in the day in search of the excellent dinner dishes that are also served in the afternoon (trout rillettes, charred lemon skillet mussels, etc.). Try the egg sandwich with cheddar and arugula and a sourdough cinnamon roll. You can always return after it gets dark.

• Phone: +1 646-470-7008
• Google rating: 4.7/5.0
  
• Opening Hours: Wed to Fri 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM & 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM, Sat to Sun 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM & 5:00 PM - 11:00 PM
  
• Website: https://www.lelandbrooklyn.com/
• Location: 755 Dean St, Brooklyn, NY 11238

Jack's Wife Freda, one of the best brunch spots in NYC, is a simple, cute little café in Soho, opened by a couple that met while working at Balthazar. If "cute," "Soho," and "Balthazar," aren't the three most important Chronic Brunch keywords, then there are no words to adequately describe Chronic Brunch.

The cuisine is an interesting mix of regional specialties from around the globe, many of which will be recognizable to those who are familiar with Israeli or Middle Eastern cuisine. That means that even though the menu is very distinctive, it somehow doesn't seem intimidating. Even though dishes like green shakshuka (baked eggs in a spiced sauce) may sound adventurous and strange to some, they are very appealing when served at Jack's Wife Freda. Maybe that's because the menu is hand drawn, with little doodles all over it. The doodles are meant to soothe you.

Add all of those things up and throw in a few of their mimosas with fresh cantaloupe juice, and you've got a pretty great spot for your next girls' day out. When it comes to dinner, Jack's Wife Freda is a bit less appealing. The room loses some of it's charm when the sun goes down, and much of the dinner menu is a snooze.

• Phone: +1 212-510-8550
• Google rating: 4.4/5.0
  
• Opening Hours: Mon to Wed 08:30 AM - 10:00 PM, Thu to Sat 08:30 AM - 11:00 PM, Sun 08:30 AM - 9:00 PM
  
• Website: https://jackswifefreda.com/
• Location: 226 Lafayette St, New York, NY

This diner in Two Bridges is the first solo effort of Sam Yoo, formerly of Momofuku Ko and Torrisi. Yoo's spot aims to reverse the decline of the diner culture in New York. Omelettes, green tea coffee cake, and egg sandwiches on sesame scallion milk buns are all common breakfast options.

At Golden Diner in Chinatown, nothing prevents you from drinking beer while enjoying a breakfast sandwich. An analog clock that reads "chicken dinner" in red cursive is located here, next to grandmotherly white lace curtains. Swivel stools are placed in front of an open kitchen where a couple of skilled workers prepare everything on flat top grills.

As a tribute to the heritage of Manhattan's Chinatown, where the restaurant is located, a significant portion of the menu draws inspiration from Korean, Japanese, Thai, or Chinese cuisine. Your Cobb salad will also include extra crispy bacon, jammy eggs, bean sprouts, and Thai bird chili dressing. For weeks, it will outshine and outweigh any salad you consume. The club sandwich is made with a chicken katsu cutlet, creamy purple cabbage slaw, and soft white bread.

• Phone: +1 917-472-7800
• Google rating: 4.6/5.0
  
• Opening Hours: Tue to Sun 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
  
• Website: https://www.goldendinerny.com/
• Location: 123 Madison St, New York, NY 10002

Kokomo, the creation of well-known, in-the-know couple Ria and Kevol Graham, offers diners a fully immersive, multi-sensory dining experience through fine art, striking architecture, and delectable Caribbean-inspired cuisine. Kokomo's cuisine builds on well-known island ingredients and offerings with a contemporary flair, drawing inspiration from the rich and exotic culture of the Caribbean. The menu features a delectable assortment of flatbreads, premium meats, warm starches, and seductive cocktails.

The drinks on the Kokomo menu transport patrons to the islands' soft beaches and crystal-clear waters, thanks to renowned mixologist and beverage consultant Rael Petit. Unexpected flavor combinations, vibrant colors, and artistic presentation are all featured in the energizing cocktails and home-made elixirs.

Kokomo is a favorite at any time of day, but its three days of brunch are especially adored. Friday's $55 bottomless option is the official start of the event, which continues through Sunday with à la carte dishes like oxtail flatbread, chicken and waffles, and sweet plantain pancake.

If you are one of those people who like to order the dish that is most likely to fall on its face, you are going to notice the Rasta pasta flatbread right away. Penne coated in the Jamaican equivalent of Alfredo sauce cannot possibly be a great pizza topping, you think, with or without peppers. It is not a dainty appetizer; if you eat a whole one your stomach will know it. But it is very good, as is the flatbread dotted with bits of braised oxtail among caramelized onions and sweet tomato confit.

• Phone: +1 347-799-1312
• Google rating: 4.2/5.0
  
• Opening Hours: Tue to Thu 4:00 PM - 10:30 PM, Fri to Sat 11:00 AM - 3:30 PM & 5:00 PM - 11:30 PM, Sun 11:00 AM - 3:30 PM & 5:00 PM - 10:30 PM
  
• Website: https://www.kokomonyc.com/
• Location: 65 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249

You might even frequent Agi's Counter every day if it were close by. It's comparable to a cafe in a Netflix original series where the eccentric lead character spends hours making improbable artistic sketches and adding annotations in a Moleskine notebook. However, Agi's avoids becoming overly twee because of its own genuinely endearing personality.

The shorter side of Agi's L-shaped counter is where the glass door opens. The kitchen where they are made is just beyond the corner where lovely pastries are displayed. The longer side of the counter leads to a pale wooden banquette with subtly fashionable floral wallpaper behind it. The Jewish and Eastern European-influenced restaurant is named for former teen food blogger chef Jeremy Salamon’s grandmother, and its design also evokes cool matriarchs.

The leberkäse ($15) seems to be the item that people most frequently suggest: A thick slice of pork pâté, pear mostarda, and a fried egg are sandwiched between two hearty slices of toast in this breakfast sandwich that lives up to the standards of New York City. It is big enough to share and a giddily rich way to start the day.

Lunch includes a nosh plate ($17) with the aesthetic appeal that you’d expect at any august NYC restaurant. Thin, palm-sized spelt crackers are suspended in a generous portion of pâté alongside a dense, piquant Hungarian pimento spread, pickled cauliflower and cucumber and deviled eggs topped with a sunny dollop of egg mousse and a pop of dill. The plate is poised on a silver stand, literally elevating the very notion of a snack plate.

• Phone: +1 718-822-7833
• Google rating: N/A
  
• Opening Hours: Wed to Fri 5:30 PM-10:00 PM, Sat to Sun 9:00 AM-3:00 PM
  
• Website: https://agiscounter.com/
• Location: 818 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11225

At Stowaway, a southern-influenced operation that opened in Greenpoint late 2021, it's listed as the Shoreline Breakfast: All of the dishes with a choice of bacon, smoked and cured on-site, or house made sausage for $17. The medium-density sage sausage patty is substantial, the scrambled eggs are properly fluffed, and the thin, slightly greasy hashbrowns are reminiscent of fast food favorites.

The hash brown from the shoreline is replaced by a copiously battered fried chicken thigh in the Hen House Breakfast ($15). It has a good crunch and is nicely prepared, if lightly seasoned. Additionally, the chicken is offered as a sandwich on Stowaway's intriguing buttermilk biscuits in a southern style. The biscuits’ interior’s a little denser than expected, especially given their photogenic finish, but they’re still a fine vehicle for the chicken, painted with a dash of bright yellow bread and butter pickle aioli and paired with sweet heat peppers.

Small plates like the deceptively generous portion of terrific fried okra with remoulade ($8) and the airy pimento cheese on grilled rye ($10) are lovely as starters, sides or as first-class snacks at Stoways’s cozy marble bar.

Stowaway achieves the exact notes that create a neighborhood cafe-bar where it's easy to imagine becoming a regular, sipping hot and iced coffee and tea drinks in the morning and beer, wine and cider a bit later on. It offers a lot on its relatively brief, brunch-leaning menu, and its bountiful Shoreline Breakfast in particular is a home run any time of day.

• Phone: +1 917-612-3260
• Google rating: 4.9/5.0
  
• Opening Hours: Tue to Wed 09:00 AM – 04:00 PM, Thu to Sun 09:00 AM –10:00 PM
  
• Website: https://www.stowawaynyc.com/
• Location: 159 Greenpoint Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222

Located inside Roman and Williams Guild in Soho, La Mercerie by Chef Marie-Aude Rose celebrates the delights of everyday French cooking. Raised in a bon vivant home, Chef Marie discovered her path early, cooking often with her grandparents in Paris and the French countryside. Chef Marie brings her unique interpretation of France to New York at La Mercerie. Le Joli Weekend brunch is served on Saturdays and Sundays, and the restaurant is open daily for lunch and dinner.

Inspired by calm reveries, La Mercerie has an overall watery-blue cast, with pale-gray floors, and a stunning enameled kitchen, custom-outfitted by Athanor. The counters are covered in thick slabs of marble, and the botanically inspired "Angelica" dining tables the restaurant created for the space have paper lining the tops. These tables are a part of Roman and Williams GUILD NY's Founding Collection of furniture and lighting, as are the ceiling-mounted pendant lamps.

• Phone: +1 212-852-9097
• Google rating: 4.3/5.0
  
• Opening Hours: Mon to Sun 12:00 PM - 3:30 PM & 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM, Sat to Sun 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM & 5:00 PM - 10:15 PM
  
• Website: https://www.lamercerieny.com/
• Location: 53 Howard St, New York, NY 10013

This Southern-fried grease trap, which started as a drunk-food closet at the back of a bar and is now run by three chefs—Carolyn Bane, Erika Geldzahler, and Sarah Buck—who met while working at Diner, maintains the DIY, seat-of-the-pants spirit of the dive that it sprang from, including scrawled food specials on sheets of paper, chairs and tables that may have been salvaged from a public school, and and borderline aggressive bright overhead lighting. The food, not the venue, is clearly the draw.

Simply brined, floured, and fried, the fried chicken is some of the city's most succulent, with an extra-crisp, greaseless crust. The fried catfish is also excellent and has a cornmeal coating that has been expertly seasoned. The baked beans, which are molasses-heavy and studded with brisket scraps, and the buttery cheddar-swirled grits stand out among the outstanding sides. A classic buttery biscuit containing a small pounded chicken cutlet covered in an irresistibly trashy emulsion of honey-butter and hot sauce may be the tastiest item on the menu, though it isn't a meal or a side.

The pies that are as much responsible for the Pies ’n’ Thighs's cult following as the chicken are on display in a glass case right next to the cash register. These sweet, traditional American favorites, like Nilla-wafer-studded banana cream and bitter chocolate pudding with whipped cream topping, are so traditional that you can picture Jerry Mathers's Beaver snatching a slice from the window.

• Phone: +1 347-529-6090
• Google rating: 4.3/5.0
  
• Opening Hours: Mon to Thu 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM, Fri to Sat 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM, Sun 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
  
• Website: https://piesnthighs.com/
• Location: 166 S 4th St, Brooklyn, NY 11211