The Ultimate Guide to Boston Brunch

Faccia a Faccia continues to serve its handmade pastas and Italian seafood specialties during weekend afternoons. But the Back Bay favorite lets its hair down a little bit with a “brunch-ish” portion of the menu, where a diner might discover a cacio e pepe scramble with shaved black truffles and broccolini, has browns with mortadella and French toast or a not-so-simple-as-it-sounds fried egg sandwich enlivened by hot capicola, sumac peppers and fontina cheese.

Pub food with a twist is the modus operandi at Tip Tap Room, and the ethos applies equally to the Beacon Hill restaurant’s brunch menu. Here, corned beef hash comes with chorizo and brussels sprouts and is seasoned by black lava sea salt and salsa verde, whereas its bagel sandwich is stuffed with steak tips, horseradish, hollandaise, and a bacon-and-cherry-pepper cream cheese spread. Furthermore, we hope you like your Bloody spicy—Tip Tap prepares its with horseradish, hot sauce and spicy pickles.

The Franklin Café has cultivated a reputation for feeding night owls and post-shift chefs, thanks to a dinner menu that’s served until 1:30 a.m. What’s lesser known is that the 25-year South End mainstay also serves a formidable Sunday brunch, where said night owls might recover over plates of chicken-fried steak and eggs or challah French toast beside a house-recipe Bloody Mary prepared with tomato, horseradish and tamari.

True to its name, the offbeat brasserie brings out fowl-centric dishes for brunch, including a fried chicken Benedict with spicy pepper relish and a cheekily conceived “Chicken & Not Waffles” that piles fried poultry over crushed croissants with candied pecan butter and maple syrup (vegetarians, meanwhile, might take part in a rotisserie mushroom tart or a breakfast wrap with hash browns, avocado and scrambled eggs). A similar streak runs through its slightly anarchic cocktail list, which includes the Spicy Espresso Martini kicked up by coffee brandy and chile liqueur.

Some restaurants offer brunch as an extension of their usual service; others have built their reputations around it. Kendall’s Café Luna falls firmly in the second category, a claim supported by an extensive (and indulgent) brunch menu that spans everything from “surf and turf” steak and lobster Benedict to chilaquiles to lemon ricotta pancakes.

A comfort-food centric concept from Chopped champ Sarah Wade, Sloane’s takes brunch deadly seriously. In edible terms, that means smoked ham Benedicts on toasted challah, banana bread egg in a hole with bacon marmalade and hot maple syrup, and the “A.M. Burger” made by topping a charcoal-grilled beefy patty with bacon, a sunny-side-up egg and Bloody Mary ketchup. Like we said, deadly seriously.

The “Bodega Brunch” first made famous by the now-shuttered Vincent’s lives on at its sister establishment State Park. Each Saturday and Sunday, the bar and restaurant keeps the tradition alive with smoked brisket or crispy shrimp breakfast tacos, in addition to fried chicken tortas and a “bodega breakfast sandwich” stuffed with fried eggs, American cheese and pickled pepper mayo.

With 27 years of service under its belt, Metropolis manages to stand out in a neighborhood that might be considered the brunch capitol of Boston. Metropolis delivers spot-on bistro vibes with a cozy dining room filled out by white tiles and homey booths, plus comforting brunch dishes including buttermilk pancakes topped by Belgian chocolate and caramelized banana or cheesy grits and eggs with spicy chorizo.