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Update: Pastis no longer serves Eggs Sardou on their brunch menu, alas. The le panier bread basket is still good, as is the French Toast, but the Blood Mary was too thick.

One more thing!

I forgot about juice. Freshly squeezed orange juice is good at Cookshop and Popover Cafe. And I also enjoy it at 9th Street Market -- once I was there and they also had fresh apple cider. Delicious!

As for specialty juice drinks, Prune makes a nice one called "Prune Juice" that's Meyer lemon, orange, lime, and grapefruit and Five Points does a good Morning Refresher that's cranberry, orange, grapefruit, lemon, and lime. It's a little more tart than the Prune Juice. And don't forget Sarabeth's Four Flowers juice -- orange juice, fresh pineapple, bananas and pomegranate juice. The pomegranate gives it a nice, unexpected flavor.

Yeah, for Sarabeth's you have to show up on the early side (10ish) or the later side (like 3pm) to grab a seat. But I really love their biscuit-style scones with jam, and lemon ricotta pancakes. Lucky for us there's two more Sarabeth's: one inside the Whitney Museum on the UES, and a newer one on Central Park South. Their Goldie Lox is also very good. If you like Sarabeth's, Kitchenette is along the same lines, going for that solid, homey feel.

I lived on the UWS for a while...if Sarabeth's is too crowded, you can always check out Good Enough to Eat (good biscuits), The Neptune Room (great country breakfast), Nice Matin (eggs in a puff pastry), Barney Greengrass (salmon, of course) or the Popover Cafe (I'm partial to the cranberry-bacon-cheddar omelet, and, of course, the fresh popovers with strawberry butter).

Oh, hell, here's my list of favorites:
French Toast -- Pastis or Neptune Room/Jane (creme brulee battered), 9th Street Market is also very good and less indulgent. They are very generous with the fruit compote there.
Waffles -- Balthazar (sour cream) or Devin Tavern (comes with strawberry butter)
Pancakes -- Clinton Street Baking Company is second to none since I love their maple butter and fresh Maine blueberries
Egg dishes -- I like the eggs sardou at Pastis and the aforementioned eggs in a puff pasty at Nice Matin or Goldie Lox at Sarabeth's, or a breakfast sandwich at Clinton Street Baking company, on their famous buttermilk biscuits and excellent tomato jam. The skillet eggs at Cookshop are also good if you like your eggs sunny side up.
Bread baskets -- Balthazar (love their fruit foccacia), Devin Tavern (excellent muffins), Nice Matin, Ouest (it was so good I wanted them to wrap it so I could take it home)
Blood Marys -- I'm not a fan but my boyfriend likes 'em at Great Jones Cafe (spicy) and Devin Tavern (fresh tomato juice and horseradish). Prune has the crazy blood mary menu list for your nontraditional Bloodys -- a lot of people like the Chicago style one with a bunch of different pickled veggies. We haven't been to Essex yet but I hear they are good there too.
Donuts and the like -- I like the buttermilk beignets at Cookshop, and the churros at Five Points (they serve them with mexican hot chocolate). Jane has good donuts on the menu was well. And I've heard Prune has great marveilles, haven't tried them yet.
Bacon -- Cookshop has this amazing house-made, double-smoked, Berkshire pork bacon that's included with one of the entrees. It's different from their regular bacon. I also like Balthazar (thin-cut and juicy), Good Enough to Eat (thick cut and a little tough but good)

Quirky, out of the box brunch award goes to Prune, who make a mean deep-fried Monte Cristo sandwich. I also like their coddled egg, sausage and oysters dish, and Dutch pancake.

I liked Ouest's brunch when I went there but found it heavy overall, but that might be because I got the deep fried poached eggs with duck confit. But the fresh yogurt was excellent.

Alias on the Lower East Side also does a nice brunch. They have two variations on Blood Marys, which are good. They focus on greenmarket and local ingredients but at affordable prices. Biscuits, gravy, eggs, etc. They also have goedda which everyone needs to try at least once in their life. Oh, and fried chicken and waffles.

I mourn for the short-lived Knife and Fork brunch, as well as the newly closed Shopsin's. I haven't really tried as much as I'd like in the West Village since I live on the East side and am fairly lazy on weekend mornings.

OK, I think I'm done. For now.

There are a couple of places up Greenwich Ave towards 7th ave that have unlimited champaign with your brunch. The food and decor range from mediocre to adequate, but you can't beat that value!! I'm partial to Benny's.

Is there a neighborhood you're specifically interested in? Ouest has a very good if expensive brunch on the upper west side. Nice Matin is also pretty good, but the service is iffy. Fairway Cafe has excellent pancakes and very good brunch in general at very fair prices, but it's very crowded and has the most uncomfortable chairs in NYC.