(Photo: Courtesy of Wallsé)

• What do you want in a brunch? Bloody Marys as strong as the coffee, no line (or at least a fast-moving one, which rules out perennial favorites Prune, Diner, and Clinton Street Baking Co.), and enough choices to satisfy your bacon-lovin’ brother and your vegan aunt. Herewith, the ten best brunches for every situation:

• GRAND SPACE FOR IN-LAW INTRODUCTIONS AND OTHER DELICATE FIRST ENCOUNTERS

• Eleven Madison Park

  11 Madison Ave.; 212-889-0905

  What to get: Pecan-praline pancakes, or torchon of foie gras with Venezuelan cocoa and quince—while you still can.

• BECAUSE ARTSY INTELLECTUALS NEED TO EAT, TOO

• Wallsé

  344 W. 11th St.; 212-352-2300

  What to get: Wiener schnitzel to start, Kaiserschmarm to finish.

• A POST-SHOPPING PIT STOP FOR THE BOUTIQUE-INCLINED

• 202

  75 Ninth Ave.; 646-638-0115

  What to get: The full English breakfast or the chicken curry.

• TO FEED YOUR INNER HIPSTER

• Freemans

  Freeman Alley, off Rivington St.; 212-420-0012

  What to get: Artichoke dip to share, smoked trout with horseradish cream and buttered toast, and bananas Foster.

(Photo: Courtesy of Cookshop)

• TO GIRD UP FOR GALLERY-HOPPING

• Cookshop

  156 Tenth Ave.; 212-924-4440

  What to get: Huevos rancheros or Catskill rainbow trout with white-Cheddar grits and maple-ancho-chile butter.

• ÜBER-SEASONAL AND QUASI-MEXICAN ON THE LES

• Alias

  76 Clinton St.; 212-505-5011

  What to get: Cornmeal waffle and fried chicken, or the carnitas breakfast burrito, a holdover from the late aKa Cafe.

• WHERE TO TAKE A VISITING ITALIAN WINEMAKER

• Centovini

  25 W. Houston St.; 212-219-2113

  What to get: Fried eggs—duck or quail—with whatever seasonal garnishes chef Patti Jackson lugs back from the Greenmarket, and a bomboloni for the road.

• FOR DESIGN GEEKS AND FANS OF FINE-TUNED FUSION

• Public

  210 Elizabeth St.; 212-343-7011

  What to get: Turkish eggs on garlic yogurt, or sweet-potato-and-Feta tortilla.

• FOR THOSE WHO TRULY LIKE IT HOT

• Fatty Crab

  643 Hudson St.; 212-352-3590

  What to get: An incendiary Bloody, “Fatty sliders,” and Zak Pelaccio’s funky, porky take on bacon and eggs.

(Photo: Courtesy of Aquavit)

• ONE WORD—SMORGASBORD!

• Aquavit

  65 E. 55th St.; 212-307-7311

  What to get: Sunday’s Swedish spread is stocked with all the herring, gravlax, and meatballs you can eat; $48 includes a Carlsberg.

From the 2007 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine