BOSGuide

The Boston Brunch Guide

These are the 9 best places to get brunch in Boston.
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photo credit: Natalie Schaefer

Brunch isn’t necessarily the most important meal of the week, but it carries a big burden. Mainly, being the last opportunity to enjoy your free time before you have to go back to being a person who “probably shouldn’t stay up too late.”

Here are some places that that will help you squeeze just a little more fun out of the weekend. Monday’s coming whether you like it or not, so eat some pancakes, order a few mimosas and some Bloody Marys, and prepare to ride out the workweek until Weekend You returns once more.

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Sometimes you want to do brunch in jeans and a hoodie, and other times you want to feel like mid-level European nobility filling up on fine food and champagne before your afternoon quail hunt. Bistro du Midi is for those latter times. It’s a fancy space overlooking the Public Garden, with a menu inspired by the South of France. Go with the salmon benedict if you’re looking for something lighter, but you should probably just get the burger and add some smoked blue cheese.


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At some point, every single person in America has said to themselves, “I should get into jazz.” Only one person has actually followed through with it: his name is Don, he lives in Blountstown, Florida, and he has A LOT to say about the spiritual value of art. But just because the rest of us can only call each other “cats” ironically doesn’t mean we still can’t enjoy some good jazz and southern cooking. Darryl’s in Roxbury is the perfect place to do it. For their all you can eat brunch buffet on Sundays, our favorites are the fried catfish cheddar grits and the fried chicken.


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Brassica is normally a casual cafe during the day and an elevated French bistro at night. On the weekend, though, this place takes regular brunch and puts rims on it - the eggs benedict has torched duck, the chicken and waffles has maple umeboshi, and the mimosas have cava and Aperol instead of champagne.


photo credit: Natalie Schaefer

There are plenty of great places in Chinatown to get your dim sum fix, but Myers & Chang in the South End is where you go for a less-traditional experience that always feels like a party. If you like spice for breakfast, they offer the same dan dan noodles and chicken wings you can get on the regular lunch and dinner menus, but you should also try brunch specials like the nirvana chicken congee. And if you want something other than a mimosa, the lotus blossom is a good place to start.


Lincoln Tavern is a giant warehouse of a restaurant in the heart of Southie, and also the rare place that serves brunch seven days a week. It’s reliably good, but on Friday they bring out a “test kitchen” menu that gets fun and weird with things like fruity pebble pancakes and a poke bowl topped with a sunny side up egg. So the next time 16 of your friends come to town for a long weekend, make you blow off work, and demand something “unique,” take them down to West Broadway, order a round of mimosas, and have some brunch.


With its nice shaded patio, Lulu’s may be the most pleasant restaurant in a part of Allston where red Solo cups usually litter the sidewalks. If you haven’t been here since graduation, know that they now have a bocce court in addition to a menu of comfort foods that could cure any hangover. Order the White Trash Hash, toss a few bocce balls outside, and reminisce about all the nearby bars that once confiscated your fake ID.


Let’s talk about exactly what you might be looking for in a brunch place. Spicy Bloody Marys? Large plates covered in hollandaise and breakfast meats? Maybe a jazz trio playing in the corner? Well, Mike and Patty’s has none of those things. In fact, it only has a single table. But their breakfast sandwiches might be the best in the entire city. So the next time you don’t want a full brunch situation, pick up a Breakfast Grilled Crack (a grilled cheese that’s been upgraded with bacon and egg and adds up to way more than the sum of its parts) and head to the Public Garden with a blanket.


If you don’t live in the South End, you probably wish you did. If you do live in the South End, all that’s left to wish for is Paris. Metropolis Cafe is a good place to pretend you live in either place. Go for the omelette, because even though making an omelette at home is easy in theory, you screw up the flip every single time.


Rosebud is an adorably cute name for a restaurant, so it’s fitting that it’s partially housed in one of those adorable old train cars that have been turned into diners all across America. It’s great for brunch, especially if your group grabs one of the tables on the trellised patio off to the side. We recommend the veggie hash with brussels sprout and butternut squash.


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Suggested Reading

Where To Have Your Birthday Dinner  image

Where To Have Your Birthday Dinner

The best restaurants in Boston to host your birthday get-together, assuming Chuck E. Cheese is no longer an option.

The Best Boston Restaurants For Date Night  image

You’re better than takeout and Donnie Wahlberg movies on the couch. Here are the best restaurants for date night in Boston.

Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen image

Darryl’s is a jazz bar that serves Southern classics like fried chicken and waffles and shrimp and grits.

Brassica Kitchen & Cafe image

Brassica kitchen is a restaurant in Jamaica Plain that’s a cafe by day and a inventive New American tasting menu place at night.

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