PlanJam!From your screen to the scene

Brunch is a beautiful thing – there are multiple courses, you can choose between breakfast and lunch items, and of course, you can get sloshed before noon without looking like a borderline alcoholic. New Yorkers love their brunch for these reasons and more, so it’s not hard to find a decent place in the city to get your Eggs Benedict fix. However, if you’re looking for something a little different, you might want to make a trip to Park Slope, where Sette Enoteca e Cucina serves up brunch, Italian style.

Sette is a neighborhood mainstay serving light and innovative Italian fare in an elegant but unassuming setting. The dining room is dominated by an open kitchen, while the expansive outdoor patio (which is covered during colder months) offers diners a view of bustling Seventh Avenue and Park Slope’s ongoing parade of interesting personalities. Sette’s wait staff is always helpful and friendly, and they certainly keep the drinks flowing, which is one of the reasons my friends and I return time and again. We like our mimosas and we like them filled up often.

The $16 Prix Fixe brunch menu includes an antipasti and secondi course, as well as coffee, tea, fresh bread, and of course, unlimited Bloody Marys and sparkling wine cocktails. The attention to quality ingredients and simplicity of preparation make for some phenomenal dishes here. Appetizers like Ricotta Fritters with fruit puree, and Roasted Beet Salad with hazelnuts and goat cheese, are nearly a meal in themselves, but save room for the amazing entrées. My favorite is the Egg, Fennel Sausage, and Caciocavallo Cheese Panini, but other standouts include the Uovo al Forno (an oven-baked egg over polenta, baked with tomato sauce and ricotta), and Amy’s Semolina Raisin Bread French Toast, which puts a sweet twist on a classic dish. If you are ready for something more substantial, the Secondi menu also includes such dinner favorites as Pizza al Pomodoro e Mozzarella, Baked Lasagna with Tomato and Meat Ragu, and Braised Chicken with Fried Polenta.

So if the thought of eating yet another Belgian waffle at yet another overpriced Manhattan bistro leaves you less than enthused, give Sette a try. By the third Bloody Mary, you’ll wonder why you ever went anywhere else.