The Only NYC Restaurant Geoffrey Zakarian Would Ever Visit For Brunch

Ever wonder where celebrities go for brunch? It's a question that sometimes keeps us up at night. Luckily for us, we caught up with celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian at the 2024 Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival and got to ask him what his favorite brunch spot was in NYC. It turns out, there's only one restaurant he would visit in NYC for brunch. 

"I don't do a lot of brunch. I tend not to do brunch places. If I'm going to go have brunch on a Sunday, I'm going to go to Balthazar," Zakarian told Tasting Table. Ah, Balthazar, the iconic NYC French restaurant nestled in the heart of SoHo. There's a catch, however. Zakarian won't be ordering from the brunch menu at Balthazar. He explained, "I'm going to have a tower of seafood and I'm going to sit there for three hours, and then maybe I'll have dinner too. I'm not into the whole brunch menu, costs $55 with the glass of sh**ty Prosecco, orange juice. So awful."

For someone who has owned restaurants in the past that served brunch, the Iron Chef surely has some strong opinions about restaurant brunch menus and bad mimosas. In fact, he recommended we have brunch at a place that has no menus. He stated, "I think you should go to a restaurant with no menu ... Like 'what do you want?' ... That's what I want."

Who wouldn't want to leisurely go through that seafood tower at NYC's Balthazar that celebrity chefs love on a chill Sunday? The popular tower comes in two sizes, with the larger size, Le Balthazar, setting you back over $200 after taxes and tips. Alas, however, we can't all be Zakarian, and be so fancy with our brunch choices. But if all this talk about that Balthazar seafood tower has got you craving oysters and shrimp, we've got some great tips and tricks for you to build your own raw bar at home.

You can set up a shellfish tower from scratch without spending a fortune. If you're looking for a quick seafood fix this week and don't want to build a bar or tower, try our classic shrimp cocktail recipe. You'll simply have to poach some shrimp, prepare cocktail sauce, and slice some lemon wedges to make this satisfying seafood appetizer.