Double Agent

The rear of Northern Spy Food Co. operates as a postmodern general store, where you can browse a sterling selection of local and artisanal products.

But make a beeline for those shelves and you'll miss the East Village's best new brunch spot.

In the front of the restaurant, chef Nathan Foot (a veteran of San Francisco restaurants Jardinière and Campton Place) puts those impeccably sourced ingredients to inspired use in his all-day menu.

But the chef's exacting approach is most apparent during weekend brunch, when one of the specialties is cornbread ($6), made with polenta from Wild Hive Farm upstate. The kitchen splits a square, glazes it with butter, cooks it on the griddle, then serves it with house-made yogurt that's laced with scallions, honey and cayenne.

Eggs--poached 3 minutes and 15 seconds so they "ooze instead of explode"--top a meticulous hash ($12) assembled from house-cured Heritage Foods brisket and olive oil-poached potatoes.

Fruits and vegetables are treated with equal care. Quince and concord-grape syrups are the basis for house-carbonated seltzers ($3). Winter squash is roasted and tossed with chunks of Sullivan Street's pizza Bianca and sherry vinaigrette ($10). And kale ($9)--that underappreciated, cruciferous green--is shredded and jumbled with scraggy bits of Cabot Creamery's clothbound cheddar, roasted turnips, almonds and a lemony vinaigrette, then finished with a flurry of Battenkill Brebis sheep's-milk pecorino.

Good morning, indeed.

Northern Spy Food Co., 511 E. 12th St. (at Ave. A); 212-228-5100 or northernspyfoodco.com