Brunch Lovers: Chapter One in the West Village of NYC

Typically, those who dine on the cusp of breakfast and lunch are offered the same-old, same-old eggs any style, French toast, grilled sausage and quiche. But every so often a creative kitchen produces a brunch menu that rises above the pack.

Chapter One, a West Village restaurant just shy of a year old, encourages foodies to try something a little bit different. It's a spacious room, with handsome dark wood tables and chairs and tufted burgundy banquettes. A rectangular table in the middle seats eight and scattered tables-for-two or more fill the space. If you're a people-watcher, ask for one of the window tables for prime viewing of Greenwich Avenue.

Tables evoke a rustic country ambience with copper salt and pepper shakers and a white and red-striped cloth napkin tightly encasing your knife and fork. A preserves jar contains brown sugar cubes. The atmosphere was festive: you will hear chatter and laughter, but neither encroached on our conversation.

The book-loving theme percolates in the details. Look for a rustic wood bookcase in the middle of the room. A culinary theme is represented in the titles: "All About Meat," by Leon and Stanley Lobel, Emile Zola's famed "The Belly of Paris," and "Shake, Stir, Pour-Fresh Homegrown Cocktails," by Katie M. Loeb among them. Black and white vintage Americana photographs decorate the wall, some with a culinary motif.

The one-page menu comes on a clipboard, the typeface resembling that of a vintage typewriter. A choice of Bloody Mary, mimosa, coffee or tea is offered with brunch. Both the Bloody Mary and mimosa were atypical delights. The Bloody Mary was extra spicy thanks to a generous dollop of horseradish. It was served in a mason jar accompanied by a lemon slice, a skewered green olive, pickled carrot and string bean. The mimosa was also unique-made with grapefruit juice instead of orange, served in a champagne flute. It was more tart than sweet, much to my liking. The robust coffee was delicious.

But it's the inventive food that pleases most of all. Brunch doesn't usually feature duck egg with chorizo-apple pudding and maple brussels sprouts; cauliflower-Parmesan flan with mushrooms, Virginia ham and poached-egg hollandaise; or cast iron-baked eggs. But you'll find those here.

If you're a carnivore torn between breakfast and lunch, order the breakfast burger with white cheddar, bacon, onion jam, sunny egg and hash browns. Bacon macaroni and cheese is a popular item, said our server, Arun.

Under the category "Other Than Eggs" you'll find house-smoked Scottish salmon; grilled turkey club with guanciale bacon, avocado, bibb lettuce, apricot dijonnaise on toasted sourdough with fries or greens; maple-almond granola with Greek style yogurt, NY honey, banana; Wild Hive Farms steel-cut oatmeal with caramelized apple, brown sugar and crema; and buttermilk biscuits with apple butter and bacon.

Ricotta pancakes come with lemon curd and blueberry syrup, topped with powdered sugar. Our neighbor ordered it and the aroma was tantalizing.

We settled on the duck confit hash with potato, celery root, sage, poached egg and smoky hollandaise. My companion pronounced it "very satisfying," a robust re-engineering of corned beef hash. A curious side dish accompanied the hash-two tasty stalks of grilled scallion.

Arun listed the most ordered brunch items in order of popularity: duck hash, baked eggs and the ricotta pancakes.

I ordered the cast iron baked eggs, served with spicy tomato, Swiss chard, fried garlic and grilled country bread. The consistency was intriguing-instead of quiche-like, this dish was more of a sautéed mélange--a perfect partner for the bread. The garlic lent an added accent.

For fun I asked to see the dinner dessert menu and was pleasantly surprised to see on it a beer float, made with stout, vanilla ice cream and whiskey caramel. You'll also find smoked chocolate pudding and spiced parsnip cake.

A chalkboard lets you know where the food comes from: trout is from Jackson Valley, N.J., duck from Crescent Farms on Long Island and chicken roams freely in Amish country, Pennsylvania.

Chapter One is at 33 Greenwich Avenue in the West Village. chapterone.nyc. (212) 842-9146

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