Rise and Shine New Yorkers! 2020 is starting and what better way to cure the New Year’s Eve hangover than by having a full brunch? If you want to please your stomach with a nice meal on the first day of the year, check out these amazing restaurants that will be open for brunch on January 1st.
Malibu Farm
For those who want to start the year eating healthy, this restaurant at Pier 17 is a great choice. All traditional brunch dishes, like eggs, pancakes and french toast can be found on the menu – but they are all made with healthy and organic ingredients. Besides, at Malibu Farm you can enjoy a great view from Seaport District! The restaurant will be serving brunch from 11 am to 4 pm.
Photo Credit: malibufarm.com
89 South Street
Epistrophy
This lovely italian restaurant in Nolita is a great spot for brunch. On their so-called “day menu” there are special egg dishes for breakfast like the Butternut Squash and Fontina Omelet, but also sandwiches, salads and, of course, Italian pasta. If you want to cure your hangover with more alcohol, this is also a good spot for drinks. Epistrophy is open from 9 am to midnight.
Photo credit: Fernanda Mueller
200 Mott Street
Bubby’s
Is there a more traditional restaurant for brunch in New York? Bubby’s is definitely the place to have good American comfort food: fried chicken, eggs benedict, omelets, and the famous fluffy pancakes! The brunch is served from 8 am to 4 pm in Tribeca and the Highline location – which is great for the early birds.
Photo credit: ny.eater.com
73 Gansevoort Street and 120 Hudson Street
Sauvage
This restaurant located in Greenpoint celebrates the best of French cuisine. For those who are looking for a more sophisticated meal in New Year’s day, the expert time in Sauvage‘s kitchen will not disappoint you. Meat lovers should try the Steak and Eggs Frites, but vegetarians will also be well served there. Sauvage will be open for brunch from 11 am to 3:30 pm.
905 Lorimer Street
Le Fanfare
Another great spot in Greenpoint is Le Fanfare. If you love Italian food (who doesn’t?), this is a must-go restaurant. The brunch menu will be served from 11 to 4 pm, with egg dishes, sandwiches, and pasta. The burrata and the lemon-ricotta pancakes are amazing!
Start the year off right with Downtown’s New Year’s Day dining guide. We know you won’t want to cook on New Year’s Day, so we’ve selected some of our favorite places for you to roll out of bed (probably a little later than usual) and chow down at on your day off.
This all day cafe is one of the cutest spots in Nolita and if it’s not already in your regular rotation add it quick! Epistrophy will be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on New Year’s Day, but make sure to stop by for everything from poached eggs with creamy potenta and pancakes to cacio e pepe and hanger steak. Need some booze to get your through the day? You can’t go wrong with their spicy cucumber margarita or any of their spritzes.
Nothing screams day off like dining on fried rice, Taiwanese sausage and chicken wings. If St. Mark’s Place is in your neighborhood, you can make a reservation for dinner at 886 on Resy.
If giving up carbs isn’t one of your resolutions (or if you need one last day of indulgence) head to Aunt Jake’s in Little Italy or Greenwich Village. All diners on New Year’s Day will receive a free brunch cocktail with the purchase or any entrée from 11 AM to 4 PM, so get ready to toast to avocado toast.
Is there anything better than an egg sandwich? Egg Shop in Nolita has perfected them, and if you head in on New Year’s Day you’ll get half-off Bloody Marys and Mimosas plus a can’t miss deal: a Bloody Mary and Pepper Boy Sandwich (MAPLE CURED PEPPER BACON) for $20.
Thinking burgers and beer are the best ways to start the year? Clinton Hall agrees. All of their locations, including the original FiDi outpost, will be offering their award winning double smashed burger and a Gigawatt beer for only $20.19.
Head to Lafayette Street for some cheesy, lobster filled goodness. Get a free Bloody Mary with an order of Ed’s Lobster Bar’s famous lobster mac and cheese or lobster roll all day.
Not enough lobster for you? Two words: Lobster Poutine. Pair cheesy, lobster topped fries with a Bloody Mary for only $25. Flex Mussels, whose downtown location is on 13th and 7th, is also offering $1 oysters from 5–7 PM, talk about happy hour!
Kick off the New Year in the West Village at Downtown favorite Bagatelle! They will be hosting a banging brunch party from 1:00–6:00 PM with family style dishes and music pumping all day long. For reservations email nyerestervations@bistrotbagatelle.com or call 212.488.2110.
Still looking for what to do on New Year’s Eve? We’ve got you covered with this list of festive feasts at some of our favorite downtown restaurants.
Bar Moga
Photo by Kuo-Heng Huang
Enjoy a classic Japanese-style four course meal at Bar Moga, a 1920’s Japanese cocktail bar on West Houston Street, for only $55 per person. The menu is available all night with a reservation through Resy.
Gather your friends for a Spanish New Year’s Eve at Boqueria and ring in 2019 with a seated family style tapas feast. Two shared menus pair tapas and celebratory dishes with a selection of unlimited beer, wine & sangría. The first seating is at 6:00 PM ($85 per person) and the second at 9:30 PM ($125 per person), each running for three hours. Learn more and make a reservation for their Flatiron, SoHo, or UES locations here.
This cozy Nolita spot is offering its regular menu from 5:30–7:00 PM and a three-course, prix fixe menu for $56 from 7:00 PM onwards. Don’t miss the pastas or the amazing flourless pistachio cake with grapefruit marmellata.
If you’ve been wondering what a restaurant created by a luxury car brand could be like, New Year’s Eve is the perfect time to check it out. The six-course tasting menu includes foie gras with pastrami and beef tenderloin with black truffles and an optional wine tasting. The 6:00 PM seating costs $145 per person and the 9:00 PM seating, which includes a champagne toast, goes for $195. Make your reservation here and head over to the Meatpacking District to enjoy!
Downtown favorite STK has multiple offerings to help you celebrate! If you’re starting early, make a reservation for the 5:30 PM, 3-course prix fixe dinner for $150 per person, featuring luxuries like lobster and black truffle risotto and prime rib cap with a foie gras emulsion. The 8:30 PM seating features a 4-course expanded menu for $225 per person, and can be reserved here. Lastly, The Lodge by STK features an open bar from 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM with light bites and a midnight champagne toast for $125 per person. Reserve a spot at The Lodge here!
This Yunan inspired noodle shop in the East Village will be ringing in 2019 in style. The 6:00 PM Dynasty Dinner features 7 courses for $88 and offers an optional beverage pairing. If you want to go all out, reserve a spot at the Emperor’s Party from 9:30 PM to 12:30 AM. Drinks and food will be bountiful all night, and there will be a champagne toast at midnight. This standing room feast goes for $108 per person.
Simply put, Mixer is a global private network for individuals working in art, fashion, film, music and other creative industries. Members must be invited to join the app-based social network, and in turn, they are able to showcase past and current projects while making one-to-one connections. Some of its current members include Rose McGowan, André Saraiva, Adrian Grenier, Lindsay Lohan, Cédric Hervet, Luke Pritchard, Adam Green, Zafar Rushdie and musicians from Major Lazor, St. Lucia, and Leon Bridges’ band.
The founders of Mixer come from very different backgrounds. Cody Simons graduated from Harvard with a degree in Statistics. Anis Bennaceur earned a Masters in Business from ESCP Europe, having worked in marketing at Tinder in France. Alex Carapetis is a drummer for both Wolfmother and Julian Casablancas + The Voidz; he has also toured with the likes of Ke$ha, Nine Inch Nails and Phoenix. Downtown had the pleasure of catching up with Cody, Anis and Alex for some Q&A about Mixer’s past, present and future.
Alex Carapetis: Anis and I met two years ago over a pre-show steak frites lunch while I was on tour in France with Julian Casablancas + The Voidz. Anis booked me for an after show DJ gig at Le Baron in Paris. He told me about how him and his business partner Cody Simons were at the beginnings of creating a platform / app. They expressed interest in bringing me in as the chief creative. It was actually quite a serendipitous moment as the three of us were all looking to create an app for creatives kind of like LinkedIn meets Soho House. Over those next few months we integrated our visions and began to shape the scope of Mixer.
Did any of you work together on a project prior to launching the app?
Anis Bennaceur: No. Although, Alex DJed at a party I threw in Paris. Does that count?
Sure. How did the decision come to make your social network app-based rather than a website?
Cody Simons: Since we were focused on artists connecting with other artists, we wanted something that would be quick and easy to connect rather than something heavy-handed. We are also working on a website.
Cody Simons
What is it that you look for in new members? Is there criteria for someone to get an invite?
AB: I’m looking for interesting art, alternative music from whatever you can listen to on the radios these days. Mostly, I think, before approving someone on the network, “How would this person be a good addition to all this userbase that we already have?”
CS: We are generally looking for people who have devoted their career to their trade — not hobbyists.
AC: Creatives — people in fashion, film, music, art, influencers, movers and shakers
Are there any projects that have come about as a result of your app that you are especially proud of?
AB: We are seeing extensive daily use and interaction on Mixer. All internal collaborations and projects are generally confidential unless they’re announced on other social media.
Is there a region where most of your users are? Or are they truly all over the place?
CS: Right now, Mixer’s membership is mostly concentrated in Los Angeles, New York, and Paris. We are working on growing our membership in London, Berlin, and some of the other creative markets in the U.S. — Nashville, Austin, Atlanta, Seattle, etc.
AC: We’ve just introduced our jobs section, which is growing daily and features some brilliant workplace opportunities for creatives. A beautifully-practical way to post jobs and look for paying jobs in the creative and arts industry.
CS: We are focused on growing the membership and getting more jobs on the platform. We have some major updates we’ve been working on coming out in the next month — stay tuned.
When not busy with Mixer, how do you like to spend your free time?
AB: Reading, I’m a bookworm, and I love biographies. I’m currently reading Claude Grudet’s. It’s fascinating.
AC: Music + Travel + Love.
Do you have a favorite restaurant in New York?
AB: Epistrophy in Nolita, I always go for the hanger steak. And Blue Ribbon Sushi on Sullivan [Street], I go there every week — their popcorn shrimp tempura is a killer.
CS: We work in Nolita so we often go to Lovely Day and Tartinery for lunch
Any upcoming concerts or events you have tickets to?
AC: I play drums with Wolfmother and I’m currently in Australia opening up for Guns N’ Roses. Pretty sweet tickets.
AB: I just go to smaller and more intimate concerts. I missed Splashh’s concert last week because of the snowstorm. So I’ll definitely see them at the Mercury Lounge at the end of next month
CS: Lemon Twigs Feb. 21 at Bowery Ballroom — they’ve got a cool sound.
Finally, any last words for the kids?
AB: Don’t ever, ever, ever worry about what other people think of you.
AC: Have fun, stay safe, live with love, put time into following your ultimate desires daily. Follow your dreams. Be good to your mother.
