Cafeography
New York

Brunch cafés in New York

Smoked fish on Orchard Street, 7th Avenue in Park Slope, Smith Street and flat whites with smashed avocado.

Photo: Kyle Roxas, Pexels License

Sunday brunch in New York got two extra hours of drinking in 2016. Since Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the so-called Brunch Bill that September, restaurants and bars may serve alcohol from 10:00 on Sundays instead of noon.1 Café brunch starts earlier: in Park Slope, Cousin John's on 7th Avenue opens at 07:00 from Monday to Saturday, and Cafe on 7th at 05:00 on weekdays.

Park Slope and Prospect Heights have the most brunch cafés by a wide margin, followed by Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook, and then Bushwick. In Manhattan, brunch can mean bagels and smoked fish from an appetizing counter, the Jewish shop that sells the foods eaten with bagels.2

Local tip: Russ & Daughters Cafe on Orchard Street is walk-in only, so on a weekend arrive for the 08:30 opening; the last seating is at 15:30 from Friday to Sunday.2

Where these cafés are: Park Slope & Prospect Heights (31), Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens & Red Hook (16), Bushwick & Ridgewood (12), Bedford-Stuyvesant (8), Midtown (7), East Village & Lower East Side (6), Crown Heights & Prospect Lefferts Gardens (6), Greenwich Village & West Village (5), Chelsea & Flatiron (5), Fort Greene & Clinton Hill (5), Williamsburg & Greenpoint (5), DUMBO & Brooklyn Heights (5), SoHo & Nolita (4), Long Island City & Astoria (2), Sunnyside & Woodside (2), Upper East Side (2), Harlem & Morningside Heights (1).

At a glance

122Cafés listed
76With opening hours
05:00Earliest opening
04:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Cafe on 7th, from 05:00 (Mon–Fri 05:00–19:00 · Sat–Sun 07:00–16:00).
  • Closes latest: Skytown, until 04:00 (Daily 12:00–04:00).
  • Most listed streets: Smith Street (3), Nostrand Avenue (3), Bergen Street (3).
  • Most common features: specialty (66%), bakery café (27%), takeaway (20%).
Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens & Red Hook

Bee's Knees Provisions

  • 217 Smith Street
  • Mon–Wed 10:00–22:00 · Thu 10:00–23:00 · Fri–Sat 10:00–00:00 · Sun 10:00–22:00
  • +1-718-971-1197
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Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens & Red Hook

Bond Street Coffee and Goods

  • 365 Bond Street
  • Mon–Fri 07:00–17:00 · Sat–Sun 07:30–17:00
  • +1-718-852-7323
  • Air-con
  • Indoor seating
  • Card payment
  • Wheelchair access
  • Smoke-free indoors
  • Specialty
  • Brunch
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Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in New York.

Russ & Daughters and the appetizing tradition

Joel Russ signed a lease for an appetizing shop on Orchard Street in 1914 and moved it to 179 East Houston Street in 1920, where the main store still stands. The family describes appetizing as smoked and cured salmon, homemade salads and cream cheeses: the foods one eats with bagels.2

For the business’s 100th anniversary in 2014, the fourth-generation cousins Josh Russ Tupper and Niki Russ Federman opened a sit-down café at 127 Orchard Street. It takes no reservations and no takeout orders; service starts at 08:30, with the last seating at 14:30 from Monday to Thursday and 15:30 from Friday to Sunday.2 Uptown, Zabar’s Cafe at 2241 Broadway opens at 08:00 from Monday to Saturday.

Seventh Avenue and Park Slope

Park Slope’s brunch cafés line 7th Avenue. Brew Memories at number 295 opens at 07:00 on weekdays and 08:00 at weekends, Brooklyn Bread at 347 keeps 07:00–17:45 daily, and Little Honey at 487 serves 08:00–15:00 on most days, staying until 20:00 on Fridays.

Off the avenue, Colson Patisserie at 374 9th Street opens at 07:30 and stays until 17:30 from Friday to Sunday, Roots Cafe at 639 5th Avenue opens at 08:00 at weekends, and Root Hill Cafe at 262 4th Avenue has outdoor seats. In Prospect Heights, Ciao Gloria at 550 Vanderbilt Avenue serves daily 08:00–16:00.

Smith Street, Court Street and Emma’s Torch

Emma’s Torch, at 345 Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, started in 2017 as a weekend brunch pop-up in Red Hook where refugees trained through an eight-week paid apprenticeship; the permanent space in Carroll Gardens opened in May 2018.3 It is named for the poet Emma Lazarus, whose words are on the base of the Statue of Liberty.3 It opens 07:00–16:00 from Tuesday to Sunday.

Nearby, Poppy’s Cafe at 243 Degraw Street and Smør Bakery at 361 Court Street both serve daily 08:00–17:00. In Red Hook, The Black Flamingo at 281 Van Brunt Street opens at 07:00 on weekdays and 08:00 at weekends.

Avocado toast and flat whites

Australian breakfast culture helped put avocado on toast on brunch menus around the world.4 Leon Unglik, from Melbourne, opened Little Collins in Midtown Manhattan in the early 2010s, when smashed avocado was a novelty in the city; in 2024 it was still one of the café’s best-sellers.4

Little Collins is at 708 3rd Avenue and opens at 07:00 on weekdays and 07:30 at weekends. In Greenpoint, OH MERCY at 128 Franklin Street serves daily 08:00–16:00.

Sources

  1. Governor Cuomo signs ‘Brunch Bill’ allowing Sunday morning alcohol sales into law, ABC7 New York (September 8, 2016), accessed October 2026
  2. Russ & Daughters Cafe, Russ & Daughters, accessed October 2026
  3. Kerry Brodie ’12: Emma’s Torch Lights a New Path for Refugees, Princeton Alumni Weekly (September 7, 2018), accessed October 2026
  4. Flat whites go global: The coffee connoisseurs taking Australia’s cafe culture overseas, realcommercial.com.au (November 21, 2024), accessed October 2026
Keep exploring

Other ways to browse New York

Specialty coffee

335 cafés

Outdoor seating

162 cafés

Wi-Fi

171 cafés

Bakery cafés

208 cafés

Open late

124 cafés

By area: SoHo & Nolita Greenwich Village & West Village East Village & Lower East Side Chelsea & Flatiron Midtown Upper East Side Harlem & Morningside Heights Williamsburg & Greenpoint Bushwick & Ridgewood DUMBO & Brooklyn Heights Park Slope & Prospect Heights Long Island City & Astoria

FAQ

Brunch in New York: questions

What time can New York restaurants serve alcohol at Sunday brunch?

Since Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Brunch Bill in September 2016, restaurants and bars in New York may serve alcohol from 10:00 on Sundays, two hours earlier than the old noon start. Many brunch cafés open well before that: Cousin John's on 7th Avenue in Park Slope opens at 07:00 from Monday to Saturday.

Where can you get bagels and lox for brunch in New York?

Russ & Daughters Cafe at 127 Orchard Street, opened in 2014 for the business’s 100th anniversary, serves smoked fish and bagels at sit-down tables; it is walk-in only, from 08:30. The original appetizing shop has been at 179 East Houston Street since 1920. Uptown, Zabar’s Cafe at 2241 Broadway opens at 08:00 from Monday to Saturday.

Which New York neighborhood has the most brunch cafés?

Park Slope and Prospect Heights, by a wide margin, followed by Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook, and then Bushwick. On 7th Avenue, Brooklyn Bread keeps 07:00–17:45 daily and Little Honey serves 08:00–15:00 on most days; on Smith Street, Emma’s Torch opens 07:00–16:00 from Tuesday to Sunday.

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