Pranna, Madison Avenue’s opulent palace where the mimosas flow like waterfalls (and so does the vomit), may not be long for this world. Despite making small changes to appease its long-suffering neighbors, the brunch spot that gave us the fake heir to “half of fucking Manhattan” had its application for a new liquor license aggressively rejected by the community board Wednesday night.
Last time on Manhattan’s Drunkest Brunches, daytime cocktail peddler Pranna was at risk of losing its liquor license after its Madison Avenue neighbors complained about customers’ belligerent, bottomless-mimosa-soaked antics. A notable incident involving a drunk NYU student who claimed to be the heir “half of fucking Manhattan” certainly wasn’t helping their case.
"Pizza" is a popular type of restaurant. "Brunch" is a popular type of meal. For this reason, some pizza restaurants believe that they can serve brunch. Not true.
Brunching with your best friends is supposed to be the best part of your sad and hopeless existence, but sometimes, doing Sunday brunch is hard work. You will surely have to wait in a very long line. After finally getting seated, you will be given terrible service because the restaurant is just way too busy. These two things make the meal very long and you might run out of things to talk about very quickly. Use this cheat sheet and your friends might start calling you queen bloody mary.
In a morning full of bleak news about tragedy and economic woe, this story is particularly worrisome, especially considering what I just had for breakfast (bacon, two eggs and cheese on an everything bagel): Swedish scientists "suggest" a link between processed meat, like bacon and sausage, and pancreatic cancer. According to the BBC, which cites this study in the British Journal of Cancer:
Some days you wake up and are in the mood for omelets and showtunes sung by aging former child stars inside theaters named for Russian comedians who peaked in the '80s. That's just life! It's weird that way. Luckily, you can now feed those infrequent cravings with "The Brady Brunch": a fully catered, A.M. variety show at the Yakov Smirnoff Theatre in Branson, Missouri, hosted by none other than Barry "The Real Greg Brady" Williams. There's nothing like digging into a plate of golden waffles while listening to a beloved entertainer segue from a near-pitch-perfect rendition of "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables into a hilarious anecdote about the time he tried to seduce his television mother over a bottle of Chardonnay. Call 1-800-942-8226 or visit yakov.com for tickets! What are you waiting for? In Soviet Russia, dinner theater ticket hotline call you. [yakov.com via Buzzfeed]
Midtown nightlife hellhole Lavo has become known for their celebrity bottle service and hard-partying weekend brunches. Now it's taking the tackiness to a whole new level: "Bikini Brunch". Yes, female patrons will be encouraged to wear the skimpiest item in their wardrobe while eating their omelets.
• A list of restaurants that just opened or are opening shortly. [Eater, TONY]
• A peek around the East Side Social Club, which opens tonight. [TONY]
• Brunch is getting a boost thanks to the sour economy, apparently. [Time]
• The In-N-Out knockoff that opened last week is no In-N-Out, clearly. [AHT]
• If you're an alcoholic in search of a Thanksgiving meal, look no further. [NYP]
• Martha Stewart says she has no beef with Rachael Ray. Phew! [EMD]
With the presidential election just hours away, it's worth taking a moment to reflect on what George Bush will miss most when he goes from running the most powerful nation on earth to becoming the most hated president in modern American history. Will it be the power? The ability to twist the law to suit his own political agenda? Not according to his former chef, Walter Scheib. What he's really going to miss are the delicious huevos rancheros whipped up for him on Sunday mornings. Fortunately Scheib was willing to share Bush's fave recipe with Fox News, which you can see for yourself in the video to your left.
Click to viewBoomp3.com Before heading off to a delicious brunch with a friend, Elizabethtown star Orlando Bloom tried to recall the events of the prior night and how he ended up with a sun tattoo on his belly. Bloom’s night started with a simple game of backgammon before heading off to Ye Olde Kings Head for a quick pint with a friend, and then Bloom’s memories become hazy at best. Bloom recalls eating slices of pizza that were as long as his arm and bacon wrapped street dogs, but it could’ve been something from a script he recently read. Bloom does recall waking up in the morning sprawled out on a sofa with a piece of Saran Wrap on his stomach. After much thought, Bloom decided to keep the sweet piece of ink since it will fit in within his overall tough guy make over. [Photo Credit: X17] *A Call To The Bullpen is a work of fiction. Although the pictures we use are most certainly real, Defamer does not purport that any of the incidents or quotations you see in this piece actually happened. Lighten up, people ... it's a joke.
The New York Post has once again rejected their mandate and chosen a bunch of well-groomed professionals for their weddings section, leaving us speechless and a little nostalgic for humbler days. If these trends keep up, Ad Hoc might be headed for the guillotine. That said, there are a few gems in today's batch of lovers—most notably, a dude named Albino who manages that delicious Peruvian place on 5th Avenue in Park Slope; also a couple who met on Nerve.com.
One of the most important things about the weekend is brunch, that crazy eating idea invented in New York that's not quite breakfast and not quite happy hour. We've been hungering for some brunch coverage here at Gawker Weekend since we started, and this week we finally found our muse. Remember that pre-YouTube web-video where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have sex with foxy newscaster April O'Neal (very, very NSFW, but hey, it's Sunday)? Well, the guys responsible for that delightful abomination, Matthew Janicak and Ben Dougan, have created a new internet comic strip, and it's called—wait for it—"Brunch"! We read some of the strips they've posted so far, and since we couldn't really figure out what any of them had to with eggs Benedict, lox, or Bloody Maries, we called up Janicak in Los Angeles and asked.
• Katie Couric gets her nun on. [Tabloid Baby]
• Seth Mnookin wants some context from the press. Here's some context for ya: Seth Mnookin rides a scooter. [Seth Mnookin]
• "When we launched For Me a little over a year ago, we thought that there was a market for a young woman's lifestyle magazine which was not focused on gossip." Well, that's your problem right there. [FishbowlNY]
• Jodi Kantor gives you the angle on airports that Greg Lindsay couldn't. Don't try and do everything on your first day back, Jodi. [NYT]
• How much do we love Slate's "investigation" of brunch? Um, a lot, actually? Almost as much as we love their look at Chuck Klosterman? Slate, we're sorry we've been mean lately, full stop. [Slate]
