A Brunch Deferred

I’m not exactly sure what happened; I had our Sunday planned out so perfectly. My friend and I picked my mother up from Penn Station at 11:15 and we drove back over to Merchants on the Upper East Side at First Avenue at 62nd, which opens for Jazz Brunch on Sundays at 11:30. I have been meaning to check this out for a while now: I enjoy live jazz in just about any scenario, and there’s just something about how it combines with eggs and coffee. Stir in some good convo, and this to me is the essence of living in the city.

But when we arrived, there was no live music, not even a band in sight. Evidently, the music doesn’t start until 1 pm, so I either didn’t read the fine print (quite possible), or there wasn’t any fine print specifying this. Our coffee had already been poured, so we decided to just draw the meal out as long as possible in order to catch at least a little of the entertainment. You know, the we’re-not-ready-to-order-but-sure-we’ll-have-more-coffee stall tactic, even though the three of us immediately made our choices and had more than enough time to memorize the whole menu.

Fortunately, we were consoled by a “trio” of orange and cinnamon muffins. And we didn’t feel guilty about occupying a table for too long: apparently, everyone else had gotten the memo that this party wasn’t starting for a while.

It’s funny to non-New Yorkers like my mom, in from Delaware for a few days, how late people go out for eggs on the weekends. We tried to explain to her that, after “gallivanting” (her word) all night, many of us don’t want to (or can’t) roll out of bed until noon, at the earliest. Speaking of which, I’d formerly been to Merchants for drinks upstairs where I remember having a potent chocolate martini. And a few times, with friends, I’ve coughed my way through the cigar bar downstairs, which is what Merchants is mostly known for.

Eventually, though it was still only 12:20, we buckled. I ordered the Spinach Omelet with grilled chicken and swiss and my mother ordered the Goat Cheese Omelet with asparagus and wild mushrooms. They arrived very quickly – of course just this once we would have welcomed slow service. She and I cut our orders in half and shared; we both ended up liking the goat cheese selection better and found that the omelet innards outshone the eggs themselves. The skillet potatoes on the side were great and included another trio – this time of yellow, red, and green peppers. Not my thing, but I’m sure many others appreciate this colorful combo.

My friend enjoyed the Huevos Rancheros. From where I sat, it looked like an island of eggs in a sea of tortilla chips. For the table, he ordered the Dulce de Leche French Toast, which came with a heap of berries, a dollop of whipped cream, and a drizzle of caramel. This decadence put into practice my long-held (yet admittedly hazardous) theory that every meal deserves dessert. This menu also offers a nice selection of sandwiches and salads.

As our plates were cleared away, we noticed that the tables were filling and the band was finally setting up over by the bar…a trio. Though, by now, my coffee jitters were reaching seizure-like proportions, and my mother tisked tisked at me judgmentally (she quit the stuff in June), I accepted yet another refill. And then, there it was, in the distance: the sound we’d come for and the reason we’d waited. Loud enough to hear, but not pervasive, a perfect city backdrop.

Merchants on the Upper East has been hosting Jazz Brunch for nearly three years now from 1-4 pm. They also have live jazz on Tuesday and Wednesday nights from 8-11:30. They have a rotation of about three different groups coming through, each of them specializing in classic jazz.

So we got to hear two songs before our trio was scheduled to head downtown to coo and cuddle with the new baby of some friends before heading to a dinner party in the Bronx.

I walked out of there wistfully, wishing the timing had worked out better. But I’ll be back again. If you go to jazz brunch at Merchants, and you want to hear the music (which I very much recommend) just make sure you party all night beforehand, then arrive for the late shift.