Brunch

Fans of Sunday brunch at Clementine at the Creative Alliance have more to choose from. New brunch options include oatnut French toast with caramelized bananas and maple syrup, grilled center cut Duroc pork chop with poached eggs, gravy and toast; pork belly with potato salad or hominy and, lastly, a wild mushroom omelet with arugula and feta. You can see the full menu here . Meanwhile, Jack Moore, aka "El Suprimo" is coming back on Dec. 27 to spin soul jazz. Expect very deep cuts off many rare and classic LPs from Moore's extensive private record collection.

With Mother's Day in the offing, consider Sunday brunch as a great gift. Actually, brunch seems like a well-deserved indulgence any time of year, for any of us.  The sit-down-and-be-served Sunday brunch at The Kings Contrivance Restaurant is easy and effortless. Except, of course, for deciding what you want to order. But then you get to enjoy a bit of the bubbly while you ponder what goodies you want next. Part of the attraction of The Kings Contrivance, which opened in 1962, is the charming Federal-style mansion that is its home.

The Chameleon Cafe on Harford Road has a new executive chef. It's Andrew Weinzirl, recently of the Wine Market in Locust Point. Weinzirl takes over from The Chameleon 's owner, Jeff Smith. Replacing Weinzirl as The Wine Market 's executive chef is Wilbur Cox, formerly sous chef at B&O Brasserie . Weinzirl's debut menu, which is up and running, signals a gentle change in programming at the popular restaurant. Think of it as glasnost. There are more small plates now, and diners are invited to make more casual drop-in visits.

Easter 's on its way. We're rounding up brunch options in the area. If you want your restaurant's Easter Sunday brunch offering listed, drop us a line at the email address at the bottom of this post. Before the brunch listings, we threw in a cooking demonstration. B&O Brasserie is offering an Easter Sunday buffet with hand-carved turkey and honey-roasted ham, vanilla-battered French toast, Maryland fried chicken and barbecue duck confit cassoulet. The cost is $30 ($12 for children 12 and under)

With Mother's Day in the offing, consider Sunday brunch as a great gift. Actually, brunch seems like a well-deserved indulgence any time of year, for any of us.  The sit-down-and-be-served Sunday brunch at The Kings Contrivance Restaurant is easy and effortless. Except, of course, for deciding what you want to order. But then you get to enjoy a bit of the bubbly while you ponder what goodies you want next. Part of the attraction of The Kings Contrivance, which opened in 1962, is the charming Federal-style mansion that is its home.

More than 30 chefs from the some of the country's best restaurants and culinary schools (including New York's Culinary Institute of America and Rhode Island's Johnson and Wales College of Culinary Arts) will be poised to cook you a wine brunch Sunday in Wilmington, Del. While the event may be out of town, there's a local tie: The herbs and seasonings the chefs are using all come from Baltimore-based Vanns Spices. The annual event, called Meals From the Masters, raises money for local chapters of Meals on Wheels, a nationwide nonprofit program that delivers hot meals to homebound seniors.

You've got to give the chef at Hampton's points for stoicism. How can he bear to create homemade lobster tortellini in a shellfish broth, or chilled smoked pheasant with wild mushrooms and sherry dressing -- and know they're being eaten with blueberry muffins and croissants and washed down with endless glasses of orange juice?But that's brunch for you. Or rather that's brunch at Hampton'swhere the sparkling wine -- and more impressively, the fresh orange juice -- flows like water; the water is chilled bottled spring water; the plates are garnished with orchids, and "eggs poached the way you like" means eggs Sardu (with spinach, artichoke bottoms, crab and hollandaise)

While many Baltimoreans associate Shuckers of Fells Point with its outdoor patio and picturesque views of the harbor, it has long been a good, if underrated, place to watch a game. Like Looney's Pub in Canton, Shuckers separates itself from surrounding bars with its abundance of TVs. On Sunday, 40 flat-screen TVs will be on at a time, with most tuned (appropriately) to the Ravens' Battle of the Beltways against the Redskins. So even if you can't grab the comfortable leather couch in the back, there will still be plenty of seats and screens available.

McDaniel College is opening the doors of its Englar Dining Hall to the public on select Sundays for a Sunday Brunch on the Hill in conjunction with the its exhibition on newspaper comic strips. The brunch buffet will feature live music and free Sunday comics from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays, Oct. 23 and Nov. 13. The cost for  brunch buffet with complimentary mimosas and Bloody Marys is $10. The exhibiton, Kings of the Pages: Comic Strips & Culture 1895-1950 , will be open to the public 11:30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. on these two Sundays.

I've done a Top 10 list of brunch places you might not think of, but I was surprised to realize I've never done a Top 10 list of the brunch places I recommend when people ask (which is frequently). Readers suggested several others, that I hadn't thought of, but definitely should be on my list: the Wine Market in Locust Point and the Milton Inn in Sparks. Here's my list from last Tuesday's entry on baltimoresun.com/diningatlarge in alphabetical order: 1 Abacrombie in Mount Vernon. A short but sweet menu of dishes like crepes with homemade applesauce and a grilled ribeye with scrambled eggs and hollandaise.

You'll have to get through Monday night first, but there are some worthwhile restaurant options waiting on Tuesday morning. Slainte in Fells Point will start serving breakfast at 7 a.m., and the first of six English Premier League matches, West Bromwich Albion vs. Fulham, goes on at 7:30 a.m. It's a good reason to show off the kits you got for Christmas. Miss Shirley's restaurants in Keswick and the Inner Harbor are open from 7:30 a.m to 3:30 p.m. on New Year's Day, serving breakfast, brunch and lunch.

Fans of Sunday brunch at Clementine at the Creative Alliance have more to choose from. New brunch options include oatnut French toast with caramelized bananas and maple syrup, grilled center cut Duroc pork chop with poached eggs, gravy and toast; pork belly with potato salad or hominy and, lastly, a wild mushroom omelet with arugula and feta. You can see the full menu here . Meanwhile, Jack Moore, aka "El Suprimo" is coming back on Dec. 27 to spin soul jazz. Expect very deep cuts off many rare and classic LPs from Moore's extensive private record collection.

While many Baltimoreans associate Shuckers of Fells Point with its outdoor patio and picturesque views of the harbor, it has long been a good, if underrated, place to watch a game. Like Looney's Pub in Canton, Shuckers separates itself from surrounding bars with its abundance of TVs. On Sunday, 40 flat-screen TVs will be on at a time, with most tuned (appropriately) to the Ravens' Battle of the Beltways against the Redskins. So even if you can't grab the comfortable leather couch in the back, there will still be plenty of seats and screens available.

John Shields hosts a Maryland Public Television Appreciation evening at Gertrude's Thursday night. The restaurant will donate 33 percent of its evening's sale to MPT. Reservations are advised. Also, beginning Nov. 10, Gertrude's will now open for brunch on Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m., one half hour earlier than it had been opening. Follow Baltimore Diner on Twitter @gorelickingood

The Creative Alliance has released the lineup for Art to Dine For, its annual series of fall dinner parties benefiting the Highlandtown-based arts organization The schedule includes some 30 dinners, brunches, cocktail parties and get-togethers, taking guests inside artists' studios, private homes, galleries, public parks and even a cemetery. The first event, on Sept. 10, is Backstage Scoop, "an evening of white wine and high energy" with Center Stage artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah, to be held at the Roland Park home of Creative Alliance trustees.

The Food Market opens Friday on the Avenue in Hampden. The new restaurant is the project of Chad Gauss, former executive chef at City Cafe, and Elan Kotz, a veteran of Aldo's in Little Italy. The 3,000 square-foot restaurant has seating for 90 in the dining room, a 12-seat bar and an open kitchen whose focus, Gauss has said, will be "basically blue-collar food in a white-collar execution. " The Food Market will be open for dinner seven days a week, serving a full menu until 1 a.m. An a la carte Brunch will be served on Saturday and Sunday -- and Friday.

The spirit of Christmas present is alive and living quite well at Downtown Southern Blues. You might not actually see the curly-haired fellow from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. But if you go for Sunday brunch here, you will see a feast on par with the lush repast that the infamous old miser Ebenezer Scrooge found in his parlor on that pivotal Christmas Eve. I found the feast by mistake. Normally, I review dinner for Eats. But because of a scheduling mishap, I wandered into Downtown Southern Blues during brunch.

What could be better than a leisurely brunch cruise on a spring Sunday afternoon aboard a brand new ship?Lots of things, if you're brunching aboard the Spirit of Baltimore, docked off Key Highway on the south side of the Inner Harbor. Even the weather didn't cooperate the day we were there.We could overlook the occasional gray clouds and chill breezes, but not the largely mediocre food, unnecessary entertainment and spotty service, especially at $24.75 per person. (The price does not include juice, soft drinks or alcoholic beverages; there is a full bar on board)

The Chameleon Cafe on Harford Road has a new executive chef. It's Andrew Weinzirl, recently of the Wine Market in Locust Point. Weinzirl takes over from The Chameleon 's owner, Jeff Smith. Replacing Weinzirl as The Wine Market 's executive chef is Wilbur Cox, formerly sous chef at B&O Brasserie . Weinzirl's debut menu, which is up and running, signals a gentle change in programming at the popular restaurant. Think of it as glasnost. There are more small plates now, and diners are invited to make more casual drop-in visits.

Open Table is out with the 2012 Diners' Choice Award winners for Best 100 Restaurants for Brunch in the United States. Gertrude's , the restaurant at the Baltimore Museum of Art, is on it. Also, on the list, close to home, are Mrs. K's Toll House in Silver Spring and Peacock Cafe, Belga Cafe, The Front Page, Ted's Bulletin, L'Enfant Cafe and Bar, Level One and Madhatter, all in D.C. Gertrude's really is a sweet brunch spot. The flagstone patio at Gertrude's is set in the museum's Wurtzburger Sculpture Garden, with views into the winding paths of the Levi Sculpture Garden below.  These days, Gertrude's is doing the jazz brunch thing on Sunday.