Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I love brunch items so I can't name just one

1. Another meat choice in addition to bacon, pork sausage or ham...maybe a great chicken apple sausage

2. Crepes

3. Huevos Rancheros

4. Smoked salmon in anything-on a bagel, an omelet, or smoked salmon eggs benedict

5. definitely a Bellini

1. Anything with Chorizo in it
2. Roasted potatoes
3. Combination of 1 and 2

Really great potatoes.
Really great coffee.
Lox and/or gravlax in many forms (wild-caught, of course!).
Upscale migas, with fresh avocado on the side.
Nice, fresh scones with clotted cream or good butter.
Bananas Foster french toast with candied pecans (easier to make than it sounds!).
A really elegant fruit and cheese plate?? But only seasonally appropriate fruit... no melons or strawberries flown in from Chile - blech!
Some kind of riff on dim sum!
I'm thinking if you're in So Cal you have lots of cultures to draw from... mix it up!

Chocolate chip pancakes!! Although, the Nutella and strawberry panini at Panino'teca in Brooklyn was probably the best brunch item I've ever eaten. I'll order anything with chocolate chips or Nutella.

A yummy quiche of the day served with a spinach salad. Too perfect!!

I am a total sucker for eggs benedict and its many brothers, sisters and cousins. I don't really care what you stick between the egg and the English muffin as long as its drowning in hollandaise. Mmmhhmm. A fine, spicy Bloody Mary is essential--especially if its made with Clamato or a similar "thin" tomato juice. V8 is far too sweet. Blech! The best brunch cocktails that I've had recently were at two local haunts--Stone Park Cafe and applewood in Brooklyn.

NO RIFF ON DIM SUM. Grr. I am anti-fusion. Please do not introduce fusion to brunch. White people food and asian people food must stay separate.

I agree with the chicken apple sausage.

I like just standard brunch food done really really well.

I agree with the eggs benedict suggestion...but it's really hard to find a place that makes it right. sometimes the eggs are overdone (or underdone! yuck!), or the hollandaise sauce is too runny. so if you can make really great eggs benny, i think you'll be set. oh, and variations (i.e., with smoked salmon, spinach, etc.) are good too.

and yea the bloody marys at stone park cafe in brooklyn are killer!

a dastardly bloody mary. make your boss send you to nyc on his dime and have a brunch eating tour through prune, clinton street bakery, good enough to eat and freeman's---you will develop the menu to beat all brunch menus!!

Anything not a variation on Eggs Benedict. I love the stuff, but there are other things to eat.

Nueske's Bacon or Benton's Bacon, Perfect Pancakes, Really good hash browns, fresh-squeezed orange juice

speaking of gussied-up french toast - how about creme brulee french toast? i had it last weekend, and it was AMAZING!!!

stay tuned for the recipe, i'm still waiting for it myself.

Strata ,savoury crepes , German baked pancake with warm fruit compote,
Hangtown Fry ( skillet scrambled eggs with fried oysters) sherried mushroom filled brioche.. napoleon of sliced steak ,rosti potatoes, grilled tomato.Baked fresh peaches with ameretti "stones"
Pink & white grapefruit supremeswith grilled pineapple layered in a martini glass with lime vanilla vinaigrette. Longstem Strawberries filled with gingered orange mascarpone.

Ok, this kinda turned into a long post but I really am passionate about this stuff.

Starting with what's most important and it's been said but really, make sure you get coffee that is not only good but stands out. Ensure all your service staff understand how important coffee is to brunch, it often makes or breaks a tip for me. If you aren't on the ball with refilling the cup, it will usually cost you. Nothing dampers a meal more than repeatedly going to take a sip of coffee from an empty mug for half or even a quarter of your meal. This does apply to any meal but is especially important for brunch. For a type of coffee I'd recommend finding a unique local roaster to get your coffee from. Advertise the fact that you get it from them and it really doesn't hurt to have more than "regular" and "decaf". Some of you may scoff, but coffee is comparable to wine and should be treated in some regards similar. If you treat it with even a third of the regard you give wine, people will take notice. Noteworthy is that good decaf always costs more than good regular, if it doesn't you gotta hope your supplier is taking the hit because often the cost of extra processing results in using inferior beans and since the processing detracts flavor, decaf lovers will be left in the shadows. Although, seriously, I wouldn't bother with decaf but would offer decaf americanos for the same value. I might be underestimating how much decaf is served but it seems better to take the hit on giving free refills for the decaf americanos than having a decaf pot that gets stagnant and disgusting, souring the decaf drinker's entire meal because he keeps taking sips of bitter or burnt tasting decaf coffee. Of course, having a fine selection of espresso drinks will go a long way, people love those things. (Still a black coffee man)

Something else is make your own petite croissants fresh for people and serve them hot. Maybe with a little compound butter or preserves. A place by my house does that and I love it. It's such a great start to a nice brunch.

As for french toast, make it like no where else. People will tell you to gussy it up with flavorings and such but try this. Cut all your bread for the next day the day before and leave it out to go stale. Make the egg mixture the night before and let it sit overnight in the fridge too. Soak the bread for at least a half minute or so a side, let that sit, fry it till golden brown, bake in the over at like 350 or something for 10 to 15. Trust me, it beats the pants off of any fresh bread french toast I've ever had. I can't order french toasts in restaurants anymore because I started doing it this way. I started with the recipe from Good Eats and went from there. If you don't get what I mean, watch the episode Modern Toast and give it a whirl. You'll never go back, I guarantee.

Another thing I find is never done right, hollandaise. It's SUPPOSED to have lemon in it. Over 80% of eggs benedict I've had give me more a bechemel or bearnaise. Just having a nice lemony hollandaise with the traditional ham and English muffin goes a long way. I do like a lot of the fancy ones, especially if you incorporate the caviar mentioned earlier. Delicious.

Don't underestimate the importance of simple choices on stuff like breads and jams. Getting high quality jam or marmalade for your toast (preferably made by your restaurant both bread and preserves). Make sure you have sourdough at the very least. Brunch is a lot of getting all the little things right and innovation.

I know I just keep going but I'm really passionate about brunch and can never find a place that really fills my needs or expectations.
Having set dishes that are unique is great when they are things people won't think of putting together themselves but if you are flexible in your more basic breakfast like the hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, sausage and toast collection of breakfasts it will make a lot of people happy. Being able to add, exchange or take away things for a sensible cost goes a long way. I mean a really long way, most places charge about 4 bucks just for a few more sausages, or to add bacon. Some places won't let you interchange the two, or mix and match.

Lastly, I agree on not going with any kind of dim sum fusion thing. If people want dim sum, they will go out for dim sum. You want to bring in the brunch crowd. A topper on all this, I love a good not overpriced mimosa. One place that forevers tops my list for brunch did the croissant thing I mentioned, does dishes a'la carte and has $2 mimosas. Classy atmosphere to boot. It's the closest to what I've always wanted in a brunch place except they don't have great sausages.

These are just the suggestions of a man that loves food and is especially fond of brunch, the meal and the concept. A meal that should be spent in leisure and good company.
Again, I apologize for the length, I hope things go awesome and I'd love to hear how things turn out.

Slab bacon. Any kind really of fancy bacon -- that would draw me anywhere.

The traditional LEO with some kind of spin -- a place around here does it with carmelied onions -- just to die for.

I know the tendency with alot of bunchy places is to go heavy on the waffles, pastries, etc, but I (and any other low carbers) appreciate a decent variety of protein packed options, I hate going out for a nice brunch and ending up having no choice but scrambled eggs.

What I've just had. A buttered baguette with wiltshire ham, emmenthal and cornichons. Classic...

Sitting down with the Chef today and incorporating many of the ideas you all have shared. Thank you so much for your help. Keep the ideas coming!!!