The Red Cat In Chelsea | Tasting Table NYC

It's taken almost 15 years to launch brunch (Saturday and Sundays, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.) at West Chelsea's The Red Cat.

Fittingly slow-moving for the most lackadaisical meal of them all.

So why brunch now? To find out, we caught up with chef-restaurateur-owner Jimmy Bradley over a meal at a sun-lit window table at the restaurant.

Jimmy Bradley | The Red Cat's distinctive flag
The decision all came down to the "staunchly loyal customers, who asked and asked and asked again," Bradley (who also owns Tribeca's The Harrison) explains.

He has always made The Red Cat feel like a neighborhood restaurant, even if the long Chelsea blocks are nowhere near where you call home. It's an all-occasion go-to–a place to take visiting relatives, to celebrate an anniversary or patronize on a random Tuesday. The Red Cat retains the most elusive restaurant quality of them all: a slow burn of steadfast delicious consistency–which translates easily to the menu of lusty brunch offerings.

Dishes stretch from chicken liver terrine with pickled shishitos ($14) to cornflake-crusted French toast ($16). A Spanish neighbor lent the name (and the recipe) behind the deeply satisfying Aparicio Torta Espanola ($14) to executive chef Bill McDaniel.

Zucchini matchsticks with Pecorino
As with lunch and dinner, the tempura green beans ($10) with a dipping sauce of sweet hot mustard and the sauté of buttery zucchini matchsticks ($11) hidden under a swath of Pecorino are menu perennials.

Tempura-fried green beans
Bradley: "It's my belief that the best compliment in the restaurant business is return patronage."

Isn't it time you became a regular?