We set out early Sunday afternoon with one goal in mind — to find another standout all-you-can-drink boozy brunch spot in the East Village/Lower East Side. We had checked out Yerba Buena (Ave. A b/t Houston and 2nd) last month and both agreed it’s one of the best AYCD brunch spots in Manhattan. Here’s why: they don’t just pop open cheap $5 bottles of champagne for their $12 unlimited drinks option (cash or AMEX only) or pre-make big mimosa pitchers, but instead offer 3 cocktails that actually receive a fair amount of attention from a mixologist, including a fiery jalapeno bloody mary. (NB: YB’s brunch menu says there’s a 1-hour limit on the AYCD — but they didn’t enforce it when we were there) Also, the food didn’t take a backseat to the booze like happens at so many brunch spots (did I say Sunburnt Cow — actually, Jill just reminded me that our omelette of the day with sausage and Monterey cheese on our last visit to Sunburnt Cow was definitely better than the omelette at some other brunch spots). The bartender recommended the Steak “a Caballo”, or steak n’ eggs, which I devoured, while Jill loved her Ensalada de Pollo (chicken breast with baby spinach, jicama and avocado) and a side of tasty wild mushrooms. The place is small and gets packed so would recommend making a reservation. If you’re spontaneously lazy like myself, you should be able to find yourself a couple of seats at the bar no problem. So back to this past Sunday. We thought Absinthe Wine Bar was going to be our place so we made our way over to 1st Ave (nr 6th St.). We had heard about the $9 unlimited drinks on Grub Street here that includes specialty cocktails like pineapple mimosa, pomegranate mint bellini, absinthe sangria and more. An additional $11 for food, juice and coffee would make this a pretty hard to beat brunch. Unfortunately, the honeymoon is over for brunchers at Absinthe Wine Bar. Now it’s $20 for menu item + 3 cocktails, which wouldn’t be half bad if they hadn’t now also limited the cocktail options to the typical mimosa and bellini. Kiss goodbye to the 6 intriguing cocktail choices we had read about. I think this may explain why there was literally nobody in the place at 1pm on a nice Sunday. A few other AYCD options in the area came to mind — Bondi Road (the sister of Aussie Sunday-Funday spot Sunburnt Cow), the Sixth Ward and Tre. We passed a number of other brunch spots on the way down and I snapped a few shots. Some observations: Essex was packed as always ($16 nets you 3+ bloodys, mimosas or screwdrivers + brunch item — tons of choices and the chicken fried steak is mind-blowing — cash only). Spitzer’s was surprisingly packed given that there is no complimentary brunch drink offered — yet further proof of the beer revolution taking place in the city. Thor was dead despite their pretty good brunch deal — menu item, coffee and 2 brunch cocktails for $18. Schiller’s was wall-to-wall and spilling out into the streets despite no free brunch cocktail(s). And the Fat Hippo was dead. The Stanton Social was not nearly as busy as I remember it being — you’re not that hip anymore, give brunchers a free friggin’ drink. Bondi Road was packed (the $18 AYCD option still pulls ‘em in — cash only) and it was a 30-minute wait just to sit at the bar. The Sixth Ward ($14 for brunch item + unlimited mimosa) was empty and we found the menu to be a bit limited. So we settled on Tre and its $17 AYCD brunch (cash only) that includes bellini, mimosa or champagne + a brunch item. The champagne was light and refreshing and my potato pancakes (pic below) were just like Nana used to make (ok, not really but they were still pretty damn good). Jill went with the two eggs with tomato pepper salsa and smoked mozzarella (pic below) which she enjoyed, but I got the feeling she wished they had a build-your-own omelette option. Overall, Tre is a helluva brunch deal. We had 4 glasses of champagne each and 2 tasty brunch items for just about 40 bucks. The service was friendly and efficient. While not quite Yerba Buena good in terms of either the food or cocktails, we will definitely be back and would recommend Tre as an AYCD brunch spot to anyone.

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