Recette-Your New Brunch Buddy

Recette is my new favorite place for brunch.

I do not identify as a bruncher. I love meals where it is acceptable to drink during the day, but since that is every meal for me, I feel no need to validate this activity under the guise of brunch.  My sister is a bruncher- in Sex and the City style, she will make brunch plans with her friends, often after exercise, and she even has a friend that requests a chair for her handbag.  I don’t judge, but Daryl is definitely better versed in the sport of brunch. I generally don’t seek out brunch restaurants and don’t love brunch items (pancakes! eggs benedict! yogurt parfait! avocado toast!), but I do love good food, and Recette serves amazing food that just happens to be for brunch. I will confidently recommend Recette for anyone who wants a meal that is both breakfast and lunch.

Recette is movie-perfect quintessential West Village; it is located on a sleepier stretch of West 12th after the hustle and bustle of the Meatpacking district. Big windows provide light but dark wood tables make the space cozy.  Recette is not big but the noise level never gets too loud as to prevent dishing about whatever you talk about hungover on a weekend morning. Speaking of hangovers, Recette kills the Bloody Mary game; their version features fried pork belly, shrimp, and olives as garnish, a perfect way to take the edge off before your food arrives. And that food is fantastic- it is a mix of some familiar favorites, and some unique creations,both exhibiting an unreal attention to detail that makes even brunch standards sensational.

There is a burrata grilled cheese with romesco sauce, served on hearty, earthy bread.  The combination recalls tomato soup and grilled cheese, but the gooeyness of the  melted burrata is on another level. The bacon egg and cheese sandwich also features pork belly, and the ingredients are all of extremely high- quality. The biscuit that the BEC is served on is buttery, and made all the more tasty by the pork that it soaks up. The starter of lamb sausage toast is a zingy little bite to fire up your taste buds, almost like a  brunch hors d’oeuvres. The real showstopper of the table though, the item that will induce envy from everyone at your table who didn’t order it, is the peanut butter and jelly pain perdue. The peanut butter stuffing is to die for ( if you love peanut butter like me),  but the real star  is the texture of the pain perdue.  It is firm and soft and crusty and you really need to try it.  Just get one for the table and cancel all of your plans for the rest of the day.

On the lighter side there is a crabmeat egg white omelette, and also fresh salads, but healthy food is for every other day of the week, those days when “brunch” is just that snack I have at 11:00 am, so I should mention that the fries come with three sauces, and the sausages are fantastic.  I love the day time weekend meal at Recette, and if that means I like brunch, then I guess I can live with that.