8 best brunch spots in Boston

Café Sauvage brings French café food to the Massachusetts Avenue end of Back Bay, with room on the menu for beet hummus, plantains and hibiscus drinks. The banana-bread French toast is available Friday through Sunday; brioche French toast and duck confit Benedict offer two other directions. The menu lists a 3% operation fee. Saturday and Sunday brunch is first come, first served, even though the restaurant accepts reservations for other services. That distinction matters when planning a weekend visit.

Krasi’s Greek brunch gives the table plenty to share: dips with pita, tomato fritters, a spiral cheese pie with honey and a spinach-and-feta croissant. The peinirli holds leeks, spinach, Metsovone cheese and a sunny-side-up egg in boat-shaped dough. Order across the menu if you want to try several things, or choose the mushroom-and-feta scramble for a more familiar plate. Brunch runs Saturday and Sunday, and the restaurant takes reservations.

The Beehive puts live music into weekend brunch in the South End. Performances run Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., so time the meal around that if music is the reason you are going. The food includes corned beef hash, baked French toast and shakshuka with polenta. Its brunch menu discloses a 7% entertainment fee, which it says can be removed on request, and a 22% service fee for groups of six or more. Factor those into a group outing.

Lincoln Tavern in Southie serves brunch seven days a week until 3 p.m., which is useful if your weekend falls on a Tuesday. Fruity Pebble Pancakes come with cereal milk anglaise, while the savory side of the menu includes an egg BLT and breakfast sandwiches. Friday brings its Brunch Test Kitchen, with the week’s offerings posted on Instagram. The restaurant has booths up front, a main bar and a back dining room, giving a group more than one sort of setting for a long lunch.

Winsor Dim Sum Café on Tyler Street makes a good case for abandoning the usual brunch plate. Pork soup dumplings, pan-fried pork dumplings and congee with lean pork and preserved egg let you build a meal across several textures and dishes. Add turnip cake or a plate of Chinese broccoli if you want more for the table. Order a few things to share first, then decide what else you need. You are in Chinatown, with plenty of reason to stay in the neighborhood after eating.

Brassica Kitchen + Café in Forest Hills puts maple umeboshi on its chicken and waffles and offers tofu in place of the chicken. Its brunch menu also includes duck fried rice and a pretzel biscuit with gravy. This is a useful choice when you want familiar breakfast ingredients treated differently. Weekend brunch has an earlier last seating than the closing time: 1:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. The restaurant discloses a 20% administrative fee and 3% benefits fee in place of traditional gratuity.

North Street Grille serves brunch daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., so you can get an early start or take your time getting to the North End. The pancakes include cannoli with ricotta cream and crushed shells, Boston cream with Bavarian cream and chocolate ganache, and ordinary buttermilk for anyone who would like dessert to wait its turn. The restaurant now offers OpenTable reservations. Owner Robin Sidell opened it in 2004, with family recipes including her grandmother’s banana bread.

Comfort Kitchen’s weekend brunch in Upham’s Corner includes suya beef and eggs, masala omelets and Nepali dumplings. For something sweet, there is a plantain waffle with jerk butter or banana-pudding French toast. The Dreamer sandwich has thick-cut bacon, fried egg and dill Havarti on brioche, served with Nepali fried potatoes. Reserve for the small dining room or consider the patio when the weather allows. Last seating is 1:30 p.m.; the brunch menu says the kitchen and bar close at 2 p.m.