Entrepreneur Larry Morrow brings buzzy new restaurant and bar, Monday, to Mid City, where chef (and Morrow’s mother) Lenora Chong serves up an eclectic mix of Creole classics and Southern specialties. For Sunday brunch, choose from breakfast tacos, smoked salmon toast, a variety of waffle dishes, and lamb chop and grits, among other dishes.

Piece of Meat’s second incarnation (the first being a butcher and sandwich shop) is as a modern steakhouse, serving beautiful cuts of beef, fish, classic sides, and creative cocktails — and brunch. The newly renovated space is a warm but chic setting for Saturday and Sunday brunch, served from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the menu is bold but familiar: Classic eggs Benedict, short ribs hash, and blueberry stuffed French toast, for example, but also a brunch chili dog — wagyu and black-eyed pea chili, poached egg, sour cream, and cheddar cheese on a Mayhew Bakery bun.

Brunch seven days a week? It’s a blessing, appropriate since this hotspot is located in a renovated former church complex. Sit outside on the interior courtyard or inside in the kitschy rectory with its happy colors for dishes like a classic French rolled omelet, eggs baked in tomato, ricotta, and chimichurri; and fried grits with chorizo gravy and a sunny side egg. It’s a great spot for brunch cocktails.

Sunday brunch is a highlight at Palm & Pine, the inventive French Quarter restaurant that blends flavors from the Caribbean, Southern U.S., and Central America. An oft-changing brunch menu might include a duck boudin omelet, Texas wagyu and eggs, or chilaquiles. Cocktails are top-notch.

This brand new restaurant from Edgar “Dook” Chase IV, grandson of the legendary Dooky Chase’s restaurant founder and culinary icon Leah Chase and her husband Dooky Chase, has arrived downtown. While the Chase family may be best associated with gumbo, fried chicken, and shrimp Clemenceau, Chapter IV aims to do something different while honoring its legacy. The daytime spot celebrates brunch on weekends with live music, lively cocktails, fried oyster BLTs, fish and grits, and fried chicken sandwiches, to name a few dishes.

Caitlin Carney and Marcus Jacobs’s fun Oak Street seafood hub now serves brunch, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A Baywatch-themed menu with a blue crab omelette, shrimp and grits, and boudin beignets is served against a backdrop of old episodes of the show, except when there’s a Saints game on of course. Sangria, peach bellinis, and a shrimp-and-bacon-loaded bloody mary round out the drinks menu.

The city’s newest special occasion destination is Miss River, the main restaurant in the new Four Seasons hotel. Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday, featuring creations like duck eggs Creole; beignets and ham; and poached eggs and creamed spinach on toasted brioche bread with hollandaise and caviar. Of course, the cocktails are just as over-the-top: Bloody marys with garnishes like pickled quail eggs, okra, and steamed shrimp; and mimosas served from a roving mimosa station.

For a family-friendly, crowd-pleasing brunch option, the folks behind District Donuts have nearly every base covered at District All Day Delicious: a wide-ranging menu, a big menu of frozen and brunch cocktails, and an in-house ice cream shop to finish it off. Choose from a number of Mexican breakfast dishes, a slew of biscuit breakfast sandwiches, and three kinds of pancakes, or go with well-balanced lunchtime fare from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Great news: Sunday brunch returns to Nina Compton’s hugely acclaimed Compère Lapin on June 4, 2023. From 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Compère serves items like an everything bagel with tuna tartar and chili cream cheese, braised pork with polenta, confit tomatoes, and sunny egg; and smothered rabbit with biscuit croquette. Don’t miss trying one of the restaurant’s delicious brunch cocktails, like the In the Valley Below (Cimmaron tequila, coffee-infused mezcal, Campari, cherry, and cacao), or opt for the bottomless brunch punch for just $20. Sweet endings include buttermilk pie with strawberry compote and zeppole with pecans and rum caramel. 

Brunch is served Tuesday through Sunday at this LGD neighborhood gem, now with a menu from former Bacchanal chef Lydia Solano. Both dinner and brunch got a revamp, with the former offering a succinct handful of classic and over-the-top dishes. There’s chia seed pudding with custard cardamom strudel, an oxtail cake eggs Benedict, and Spanish-style torrijas, topped with blackberry compote and plantain custard.

Uptown has a sunny new breakfast and brunch destination housed in the former Toast on Laurel Street. Steven Green’s menu is creative and fun, not to mention vast given the current trend toward five-item lists — a pretty shakshouka and fresh scrambled tofu bowl mix with over-the-top plates of peanut butter mousse waffles and cannoli French toast to offer something for everyone. It’s open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and until 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

This exciting new bakery and cafe in Gretna offers a unique all-day menu that works well for any meal of the day, amazingly — small plates like shrimp toast, beignets, and almond berry toast mix with American breakfast and banh mi chao, a plate of sauteed beef tenderloin served with sunny side eggs, pate, tomatoes, and a baguette. It’s open at 6 a.m. daily, but to enjoy a weekend brunch there — Dough Nguyener’s even serves cocktails — just be there by when the kitchen closes, at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.