Over the course of numerous years of brunching throughout NYC, Casimir is decidedly my favorite spot. Usually, when you’re on your last bite, the waitress is already at your table offering to top-off your drink as she hands you the check. In my experience, Casimir is the only restaurant that offers endless Bloody Marys and Mimosas, and they don’t rush you out of the place. When you want to have “drunk brunch” for an excessive amount of time, Casimir is the perfect spot.
When my friends and I were still newbies to NYC, we headed into the Lower East Side for brunch on a snowy Sunday morning. We soon found out that this leads to a long waiting list. We couldn’t bear to wait in the cold like the NYC veterans, so we walked up and down the block until we happened upon Casimir. The lights were so dimmed that they seemed turned off. Unsure if it was open, we peeked inside to find a full, bustling restaurant. We could see the back door open at the end of this long, narrow building, leading to a garden packed with patrons, feck ant plants and trinkets—such as the naked baby doll and G.I. Joe in one of the trees.
When we walked into the restaurant, we were hit with an ambience of French conversations coming from the bar. A stereotypical European guy—skinny, hair in a low pony-tale and very tight jeans—grabbed our attention and busted out a thick French accent and directly asked, “We have one table, you want to sit and have a brunch?” I remembered the plus side of the European restaurant culture: you can stay all day if you please. So we did. For $20, you can eat off of the brunch menu and drink endless pitchers of Mimosas and Bloody Mary’s for five hours.
There is more to this restaurant than the continuous drinks, like the very French menu and atmosphere. The menu, brunch and otherwise, is traditional Parisian brasserie style. The entire menu at Casimir is comfortably priced, which brings in a crowd post university, in their 20s and 30s. Casimir’s busiest time is during happy hour, when the crowd floods into the street. Expect lots of young French expats chain-smoking in the garden out back, or lingering around the bar all day.
