Recommendations

This LES brunch spot is notorious for serving great food with a big side order of 'tude.

Guide: Actress (Jordan)
Location: Lower East Side

Strengths

• This is New York's best brunch spot for a hangover feeding frenzy. You'll love the food and the 'tude. The portions are huge and the characters are bigger than life.
• Shopsins has always been famous for its 900-item menu. They recently closed and reopened at the Essex Market. While the menu is a more compact 200+, Kenny Shopsins promises they'll be back up to 900 in no time.
• The soups are awesome and so are the egg and pancake dishes.

Shortcomings

• Shopsins has rules like the Soup Nazi's and if you don't follow them, they will show you the door. No cell phones, no wishy-washy ordering, no special orders, no ordering the same thing as your dinner partner and no parties over four.
• The waiters can be downright rude. Roll with it, though, and you'll have a fun story to talk about for weeks.
• Beware the bizarro menu items, like sausage walnut potato volcano.

Insider tips

• Their hours are unusual (Tues-Sat, 9-3pm) so don't go looking for a Sunday morning brunch fix.
• The owner, Kenny Shopsin, is the subject of a wacky and endearing documentary called "I Like Killing Flies," which was produced by Matt Mahurin. Shopsin and his late wife, Eve (and their 5 children who pass in and out of the restaurant) are hippy eccentrics and eating at Shopsins is the classic NYC experience in every way.

Anecdotes

• Sorry, but all those hung over mornings at Shopsins have become a blur.

Credentials

• 30 years of feeding cranky New Yawkas.