Chez Ma Tante
Quite possibly the best brunch I’ve ever had.
As a recovering LA girl, I am intimately familiar with the weekend meal known as brunch. I’ve had countless such meals, and while they are always very fun—any excuse to dress up and drink champagne first thing in the morning is welcome—from a pure culinary standpoint they’re oftentimes disappointing.
Enter Chez Ma Tante: a neighborhood eatery in Greenpoint that would be unassuming if not for the large crowd it attracts waiting outside for a table, and a place that does brunch very, very well. Luckily, when Viraj and I arrived on a cold Saturday morning to celebrate his birthday, we had a reservation that I had made a month before and skipped the wait. Chez Ma Tante was a restaurant that kept popping up on my feed, and I decided to finally give in.
While their menu is quite simple, their execution is everything but. Viraj and I were completely overwhelmed by the menu, and it took us a while to settle on what we were going to order, with the caveat that we would definitely need to return. The most contentious item was the pancakes, listed unassumingly at the top of the menu. Neither of us like pancakes—I dislike sweet breakfast foods in general—but their pancakes are extremely famous. (It's pretty much the only menu item that pops up when you look through their location tag on Instagram.) We settled on getting a single one, just to try it.
After starting with oysters (unremarkable, but not bad), I had the egg sandwich, which was a buttery brioche bun sandwiching egg, breakfast sausage, cheddar and artichoke. It was love at first bite, the acid of the artichoke balancing out all the classic breakfast sandwich ingredients. Oh, and I was absolutely addicted to the perfect bun, which had a satisfying toasted crunch while still being mostly pillowy soft. I think it’s a great example of what to expect at Chez Ma Tante: familiar foods done real well. Viraj ordered the english muffin topped with smoked whitefish and trout roe—the bite I stole off his plate was excellent, although it was a bit unwieldy to eat.
Between the oysters and our mains, I went to the bathroom and stood behind another person who was already in line. After she went into what I thought was the sole bathroom in the restaurant, I watched as another person walked around me (in line, I thought) to go into the other bathroom that wasn’t visible from where I stood that was unoccupied. (I played myself. Let this be a lesson to you all.) This was already quite distressing, but what made it even worse was I had told our server it was Viraj’s birthday, and I watched as another server I wasn’t able to intercept brought out a pancake with a candle in it into full view of Viraj, only to turn back around and go into the kitchen. My guess is that they realized I wasn’t at the table too late.
After I devoured most of my breakfast sandwich, the birthday pancake finally arrived, and Viraj and I can both say with confidence that it was the best damn pancake we’ve ever had in our lives. I promise that words can’t do it justice, but let me try: they have an almost burnt exterior, making them very, very crispy on the outside, while the thick interior is light and fluffy. Even with syrup poured over, it maintains the impressive crust. (It seems that the secret is baking powder, lots and lots of butter, and possibly lemon zest.) It’s unlike other pancakes I’ve had before, and Viraj and I agreed that the ideal breakfast would just be a heaping plate of them—a crazy thought coming from two pancake haters.
In my ideal world, I would start every morning at Chez Ma Tante. The dining room is inviting and cozy, and the menu is both simple and filled with endless possibility. (The next time we go, Viraj and I want to try the pigs head terrine and smoked trout rillette.) Visit Chez Ma Tante for all your brunching needs.
Bite it!
You can book a table up to a month in advance on Resy. Brunch reservations go fast, so plan ahead!