Top-Notch Brunches Around Boston (2024)

When one of the best pastry chefs in Boston gets into the brunch game, we sit up and take notice. Case in point: Inman Square stalwart Puritan & Co. relaunched its brunch service this past summer with pastries from sibling spot Cafe Beatrice, led by award-winning pastry chef Brian Mercury. Get the pastry basket to start, and then order up a lavish spread of brown butter pancakes, barbecued shrimp and grits, smoked brisket hash, and more. It’s a Sunday-only brunch, available from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Puritan & Co.

Vincent’s, the beloved, pandemic-born Kendall Square restaurant, may be gone, but its fan-favorite Bodega Brunch lives on at State Park, one of the team’s other spots in the same neighborhood. From 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, head to the subterranean bar and eat your fill of breakfast tacos, tortas, and sweet and savory kolaches — which often sell out, so plan to go early.

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The Taiwanese dim sum brunch at Chung Shin Yuan is a weekend-only event not to be missed. There’s creamy turnip cakes, savory and sweet soy milks with all the fixings, noodle soups with pork or calamari, chive pies, and so much more. The brunch service runs from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

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Get an early start or prepare to wait for a seat at Winsor, a snug Chinatown restaurant known for its excellent dim sum. Don’t miss the turnip cakes, spare ribs with black bean sauce, and preserved egg and pork congee, all on the $5.69 dim sum menu. Cash only. (If you prefer your dim sum whizzing by in carts while you’re seated in a banquet hall, nearby Empire Garden and Hei La Moon are great options.)

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Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Make sure to get to this Back Bay spot early for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday brunch (9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.), as the Parisian-inspired café gets packed. For good reason: The eggs Benedict, served with duck hash and a rich hollandaise sauce cut by herby caraway, is enough of a reason to visit. Or if you’re not swayed by the quiche of the day or the breakfast sandwich of soft-scrambled eggs, gruyere, and chives on a croissant, check out the sweet side of the menu. A starring plate is the the banana bread French toast with its topping of sliced bananas that get a kiss from the brûlée torch. Or just go all in with a meal of a carrot cake. Hey, have a cup of coffee with it and call it brunch.

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Order up a Greek feast for brunch at Bar Vlaha, the Brookline restaurant that focuses on the food of the Vlachs, the nomadic shepherds of central and northern Greece. Pile your table with make-your-own gyros, eggs that have been poached, baked, scrambled, and fried, cheeses, dips, charcoal-grilled lamb chops, and more. It’s impossible to pick just one dish, and we could say the same about the eye-catching array of brunch co*cktails on the menu. Grab a group of friends and go all out. Brunch is served from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

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With both weekday brunch and weekend brunch, this Southie hot spot knows its way around this beloved meal. From the griddle, the fruity pebble pancakes — which have become somewhat of a signature dish for the restaurant —are doused in a cereal milk anglaise, and there is brioche French toast topped with berries and cream. There are plenty of options leaning in the lunch direction as well, from entree-sized salads to wood-fired pizzas. Brunch served daily until 3 p.m.

• Book with OpenTable
• Open in Google Maps
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Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Brassica’s crispy, crunchy fried chicken is legendary around Boston. Get it at brunch via a hefty plate of fried chicken and waffles, but don’t stop there. Grab a fluffy, thick doughnut from the pastry case near the door and then settle into a brunchtime feast of epic proportions, from the brown butter pancakes to the bean and cheese pupusas with chili crisp and the compulsory kimchi B.L.T. Brunch is served on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Open in Google Maps
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Brassica

Via Cannuccia has a solid reputation for its cozy dinner service, but those in the know are returning during the daytime on Saturday and Sunday (from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) for chef Stefano Quaresima’s eye-catching array of Italian pastries and excellent brunch service. Don’t miss the crostata romana carbonara, a quiche with egg yolks, cream, cheese, and pancetta poured into a pastry shell made from decadent French brisée dough. It comes with salad and fried, smashed potatoes on the side; which sounds simple, but Quaresima treats these potatoes with the kind of care usually reserved for high-end proteins. According to the chef, the spuds are blanched, roasted, and fried over a painstaking 48-hour period, and the time and effort shows in the crispy, well-seasoned results.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Via Cannuccia

When one of the best pastry chefs in Boston gets into the brunch game, we sit up and take notice. Case in point: Inman Square stalwart Puritan & Co. relaunched its brunch service this past summer with pastries from sibling spot Cafe Beatrice, led by award-winning pastry chef Brian Mercury. Get the pastry basket to start, and then order up a lavish spread of brown butter pancakes, barbecued shrimp and grits, smoked brisket hash, and more. It’s a Sunday-only brunch, available from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• Book with OpenTable
• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Puritan & Co.

Vincent’s, the beloved, pandemic-born Kendall Square restaurant, may be gone, but its fan-favorite Bodega Brunch lives on at State Park, one of the team’s other spots in the same neighborhood. From 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, head to the subterranean bar and eat your fill of breakfast tacos, tortas, and sweet and savory kolaches — which often sell out, so plan to go early.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

The Taiwanese dim sum brunch at Chung Shin Yuan is a weekend-only event not to be missed. There’s creamy turnip cakes, savory and sweet soy milks with all the fixings, noodle soups with pork or calamari, chive pies, and so much more. The brunch service runs from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Get an early start or prepare to wait for a seat at Winsor, a snug Chinatown restaurant known for its excellent dim sum. Don’t miss the turnip cakes, spare ribs with black bean sauce, and preserved egg and pork congee, all on the $5.69 dim sum menu. Cash only. (If you prefer your dim sum whizzing by in carts while you’re seated in a banquet hall, nearby Empire Garden and Hei La Moon are great options.)

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Make sure to get to this Back Bay spot early for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday brunch (9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.), as the Parisian-inspired café gets packed. For good reason: The eggs Benedict, served with duck hash and a rich hollandaise sauce cut by herby caraway, is enough of a reason to visit. Or if you’re not swayed by the quiche of the day or the breakfast sandwich of soft-scrambled eggs, gruyere, and chives on a croissant, check out the sweet side of the menu. A starring plate is the the banana bread French toast with its topping of sliced bananas that get a kiss from the brûlée torch. Or just go all in with a meal of a carrot cake. Hey, have a cup of coffee with it and call it brunch.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Order up a Greek feast for brunch at Bar Vlaha, the Brookline restaurant that focuses on the food of the Vlachs, the nomadic shepherds of central and northern Greece. Pile your table with make-your-own gyros, eggs that have been poached, baked, scrambled, and fried, cheeses, dips, charcoal-grilled lamb chops, and more. It’s impossible to pick just one dish, and we could say the same about the eye-catching array of brunch co*cktails on the menu. Grab a group of friends and go all out. Brunch is served from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

• Open in Google Maps

With both weekday brunch and weekend brunch, this Southie hot spot knows its way around this beloved meal. From the griddle, the fruity pebble pancakes — which have become somewhat of a signature dish for the restaurant —are doused in a cereal milk anglaise, and there is brioche French toast topped with berries and cream. There are plenty of options leaning in the lunch direction as well, from entree-sized salads to wood-fired pizzas. Brunch served daily until 3 p.m.

• Book with OpenTable
• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Brassica’s crispy, crunchy fried chicken is legendary around Boston. Get it at brunch via a hefty plate of fried chicken and waffles, but don’t stop there. Grab a fluffy, thick doughnut from the pastry case near the door and then settle into a brunchtime feast of epic proportions, from the brown butter pancakes to the bean and cheese pupusas with chili crisp and the compulsory kimchi B.L.T. Brunch is served on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Brassica

Via Cannuccia has a solid reputation for its cozy dinner service, but those in the know are returning during the daytime on Saturday and Sunday (from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) for chef Stefano Quaresima’s eye-catching array of Italian pastries and excellent brunch service. Don’t miss the crostata romana carbonara, a quiche with egg yolks, cream, cheese, and pancetta poured into a pastry shell made from decadent French brisée dough. It comes with salad and fried, smashed potatoes on the side; which sounds simple, but Quaresima treats these potatoes with the kind of care usually reserved for high-end proteins. According to the chef, the spuds are blanched, roasted, and fried over a painstaking 48-hour period, and the time and effort shows in the crispy, well-seasoned results.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Via Cannuccia

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