When Village Square Café in Cross Keys closed in 2021, loyal diners mourned the loss of a beloved neighborhood spot, turning to social media to share memories of good will and good food. Now, with a charming redo and a creative American breakfast, brunch, and lunch menu, Easy Like Sunday is hoping to re-create that sense of bonhomie.

If recent visits are any indication, the family-owned restaurant—named to capture the vibe of laid-back meals with dear ones and friends—is a welcome addition to Baltimore’s breakfast scene. While sipping everything from espressos to morning cocktails, diners can sit back and relax inside or outside and sample eggs Benedict, stuffed French toast, crab melts, and more.

The cafe’s owners—Sean MacCuish, who is the chef; his wife, Anna MacCuish, who handles the social media and marketing; and Antonios Kokolis, Anna’s cousin and the front-of-house face—are no strangers to the hospitality business. They opened their Village of Cross Keys location in March after running a similarly named operation in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The couple was drawn to Baltimore because Anna grew up here. (Her parents, Andy and Alexia Farantos, operate the long-running G&A Restaurant, now in White Marsh.) And when she and Sean started having children (Kingston, 2 ½, and Alexia, 1), they realized they wanted to be closer to family, so why not bring their brunch concept to Maryland?

The restaurant doesn’t take reservations, and on sunny days, the umbrella-shaded tables on the patio are sought-after. But the serene, pale-pink-and-cream interior has its own pluses. One wall is covered with dried flower bouquets, and elsewhere in the space, baskets of ivy and a trellis of greenery create a verdant feel. A dazzling chandelier from a second-hand shop is a stately presence over the bar area. Sean, who is also an artist, fashioned the resin tables by hand.

If you’re not in a hurry and can take the Easy Like Sunday name to heart, start your meal with a mimosa flight—a bottle of sparkling wine presented with three purées: Hawaiian (a mix of guava, passion fruit, and orange juices), passion fruit, and peach-lavender. Each flavor has its own seductions, though if you decide to order only a single mimosa, choose the Hawaiian one for its refreshing tropical flair.

Sean, 38, who started working in kitchens as a dishwasher when he was around 18, learned his craft at various restaurants around the country. Since he and Anna often worked evenings, they enjoyed going out to brunch in their free time, eventually deciding to focus on daytime fare at Easy Like Sunday.

Their version has many high points. The succulent beef in the short-rib hash, which also showcases two eggs cooked however you want, pickled Fresno hot peppers, crème fraîche, and home fries, was so good, we couldn’t wait to try the short-rib grilled cheese. It was a mouthwatering sandwich, with the slow-braised beef tangling with cheddar and goat cheeses in the best way.

If you’re not into beef, at the other end of the menu spectrum, the vegan hash is quite satisfying, with sautéed vegetables, including mushroom, onion, zucchini, and spinach, over roasted red pepper potatoes and crowned with a tangy vegan cilantro-lime aioli and avocado wedges.

Another menu highlight is several eggs Benedicts, including a classic version with Canadian bacon. Baltimoreans will feel a visceral connection to the crab-cake Benedict on first bite. Two English muffin halves were lay ered with spinach, tomatoes, hefty crab cakes, and topped with poached eggs and a delicate hollandaise sauce. The Florentine Benedict, which had a nice amount of spinach and a touch of avocado, was lovely.

We didn’t expect to be so captivated by a hunk of ground beef, but we succumbed to the brunch burger like a convert to a new religion. The juicy patty wooed us with its cowboy bacon (strips cooked with maple syrup and sprinkled with red peppers flakes and brown sugar), over-easy egg, white cheddar cheese, and avocado chipotle slaw on a brioche bun.

There’s also a lovely twist on chicken and waffles. Here, it’s been reconfigured into buttermilk-fried chicken tenders and cornmeal pancakes. Peach-habanero jam, maple-cinnamon butter, and maple syrup give it a sweet-heat kick.

Not everything was up to par. The shrimp and grits was a soupy mess. The Cajun shrimp dish was overcooked, and the cheddar grits were drowning in sauce, though generous coins of andouille sausage were a saving grace. We had that dish on an afternoon when the restaurant was slammed, and it took almost 45 minutes for our food to arrive. We’re chalking it up to growing pains, because service on several other visits was seamless.

But even on the restaurant’s busiest days, the staff makes you feel relaxed and comfortable. Just like its name says.

EASY LIKE SUNDAY: 5102 Falls Road, Suite 66, courtyard, Village of Cross Keys, 410-701-9840. HOURS: Daily, 8 a.m.-3 p.m.; reservations not accepted. PRICES: Breakfast: $6.95-18.95 (crabcake Benedict, market price); brunch, $9.95-28.95; lunch, $12.95-17.95 (crab melt, market price). AMBIANCE: Charming, relaxed indoor and outdoor seating.

One Sunday last June, Phil LaBarge spent the morning pulling weeds from the sidewalk outside of his Canton home to help out the elderly people on his block. Feeling inspired by the therapeutic cleanup, he treated himself to brunch at Of Love and Regret afterwards. Midway through his meal, the San Diego transplant realized he had stumbled upon a way to make friends and give back to his new city—thus, the Beautify Baltimore Brunch Club (B3C) was born.

“This is the seventh city I’ve lived in, and I’ve had to learn to network myself in every city,” says LaBarge, a district sales manager at FedEx. “When I moved here, I didn’t know anybody, and I was looking for a way to build a community again.”

Since he posted his idea for a cleanup-and-brunch club in Canton’s neighborhood Facebook group in June, the concept has grown into an association of more than 600 members. B3C’s premise is simple: Club members nominate blocks that need weeding and then vote on their next brunch destination. Then, every other Sunday in the warmer months, a team of volunteers spends the morning tidying up the block with self-funded tools before rewarding themselves with stacks of pancakes and mimosas.

Although it’s less than a year old, this do-good club has already earned local kudos, including winning the Patterson Park Neighborhood Association’s Community All Star Award and adding noteworthy members such as Maryland Delegate Robbyn Lewis.

“It’s been so great to see people’s reactions to our work,” says Chelsea Maloney, who has been a member of B3C since its second session. “But my favorite part has been all the new and truly wonderful human beings I’ve met through the club.”

As B3C continues to grow in its second year, LaBarge hopes that the club’s actions will inspire others to take care of Canton, too. “You always want to be happy and proud of where you live and feel like you’re contributing to your community,” LaBarge says.

Wake up and smell the hairspray—local drag queens have taken over Baltimore’s brunch scene, and they’re leaving a trail of glitter in their wake. With high-energy performers drawing masses of mimosa-sipping patrons to restaurants such as Minnow, El Bufalo Tequila Bar & Kitchen, and Trinacria Cafe, it’s time for a refresher course on how to act when a queen sashays around your table or challenges you to a twerk-off.

We asked Brooklyn Heights, host and lead performer of Points South Latin Kitchen’s Sunday brunch, to give us the lowdown on drag brunch etiquette.

• Always tip your entertainers! It takes a lot of money to look this fabulous, darling.
• Do not touch, unless given permission.
• Unless you work for Picture People, get off your damn phone!
• The more you drink, the prettier we’ll look.
• If anything we do offends you, you probably don’t belong here, anyway.
• Respect the staff as much as the entertainers. We ALL work hard to please you!
• Make a reservation, confirm your reservation, and show up to your damn reservation.
• Have fun!

What makes brunch brunch? Many would say it’s the combination of late-morning reservations, eggs on everything, and gingerly nursed hangovers that sets the weekend ritual apart from other meals. But Jason Bass and Ryan Rhodes, cofounders of The Night Brunch, are questioning that formula, and the success of their bimonthly foodie fête proves that brunch isn’t relegated to lazy Sunday mornings anymore.

Bass and Rhodes met five years ago through mutual friends, and although neither partner has a background in food—Bass is the cofounder of local bag shop Treason Toting Company, and Rhodes spins records as DJ Impulse—Rhodes points out, “We’ve been eating brunch a long time.”

After years of sampling how cities such as New York and Los Angeles approach the weekend meal, the Maryland natives wanted to bring a taste of that bustling lifestyle home. The duo launched The Night Brunch series this past April at Remington’s popular R. House food hall, and since then, hundreds of gourmands have flocked to the exclusive Wednesday and Saturday night gatherings at local eateries such as Wet City, Gertrude’s, and Topside.

Each event boasts a specialty menu of brunch eats ranging from shrimp and grits to coffee cinnamon rolls, with Bloody Marys and mimosas flowing throughout the night. Tickets run between $5-10, and they go quickly: August’s event at Southern Provisions in Canton sold out in just 14 hours.

The Night Brunch redefines brunch not just as a meal, but as a meeting place where people of all ages and from all corners of the city can rub elbows. Bass and Rhodes have already expanded their concept to include Night Brunch-branded cooking classes, and they hope to continue to use brunch as a way to unite all eaters.

“People are starting to come together more than ever,” says Bass. “Through these kinds of events, we can create the culture we want to see in our city.”

Few holidays provide us with as many warm fuzzies as Mother’s Day. After all, who better to honor than the lady who packed all those school lunches, wiped all those runny noses (even involuntarily, and on her sweater hems, no less), and listened to the same senseless knock-knock jokes over and over—and laughed every time?

Maybe it’s time to return the favor. Not that she probably needs (or wants) her nose wiped, but you could make her a nice meal to start her Mother’s Day out right. Serve it gathered around the dining room table with candles or on a little tray in her cozy bed, but leave Mom out of the cooking and cleaning up—you’ll make her day.

We asked some of Baltimore’s female chefs for their favorite Mother’s Day brunch recipes and got some great suggestions. Most of these would be a cinch for Dad to whip up with the kids before Mom gets up for the day—you were going to let her sleep in just this once, right? So find your whisks (ask Mom where they are the night before) and get those aprons on. Time to spoil Mom a little!

Chocolate Challah French Toast

Meredith Jacobs
Author,
The Modern Jewish Mom’s Guide to Shabbat

Meredith Jacobs is a parenting columnist and runs the website ModernJewishMom.com; she frequently speaks at local synagogues. Her favorite memory from a past Mother’s Day was when her husband Jonathan spent all afternoon the day before with their kids, Sofie and Jules, recording a video for her. The video had the kids telling funny jokes and all the reasons they loved her. They presented the video, along with breakfast in bed, to her on Mother’s Day in their home in Rockville. She calls this the “perfect brunch” for that special breakfast with Mom.

“I bake fresh challah every Friday,” she adds.  “It’s so delicious when it comes hot out of the oven—my family and I just pick at it throughout dinner. Thank goodness I make a large enough loaf that there’s always extra for French toast.”

• 3 large eggs
• ¼ cup skim milk
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• A pinch of salt
• 1 loaf challah
• chocolate chips
• sliced fresh strawberries and whipped cream (optional)

To prepare:

1. In a large bowl, stir together eggs, milk, cocoa, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt.
2. Slice challah 1 inch thick. Soak slices in mixture for 10 minutes.
3. While bread is soaking, melt 1 tablespoon unsalted butter in a large pan over a low flame. When butter melts, add slices (only enough to fit in pan) and cook. Using a spatula, press down on the slices to flatten them as they cook. Flip over once to brown both slices evenly (about 3 minutes per side). Sprinkle some chocolate chips over the top of the toast.
4. Remove from pan, and top with sliced strawberries and whipped cream for some extra decadence.

Southern Salmon Cakes

Sarah Monroe
Hyatt Regency, Baltimore

Sarah’s mother first served this recipe on Mother’s Day, 1957. Since then, it’s become a family tradition, and all Monroes from North Carolina to Washington, D.C. serve it on that special May Sunday.

• 8 ounces pink salmon, cooked
• and chilled (canned works best)
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 white onion, diced
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoon Old Bay
• seasoning
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 ounce oil

To prepare:

1. Mix chopped salmon, flour, onions, Old Bay, and black pepper. Add eggs and mix well. Let stand in the refrigerator for 5 minutes.
2. Form mixture into six equal portions.
3. Heat a skillet—Monroe says cast iron works best—and add the oil. Pan-sear each salmon patty on each side (about two minutes per side), until golden brown. Remove from heat and drain excess oil.
4. Serve with grits and scrambled eggs.

Cherry Fruit Squares

Lynn States
Pastry Chef, McCormick and Schmick’s, Baltimore

Lynn’s mom used to make this for her, and she says it’s a great, tasty recipe for a Mother’s Day Brunch. “The kids can make this with some help, and you don’t have to go to a specialty store for the ingredients,” she says.

States says she’s worked in the restaurant industry for the past 22 years, which means she works on Mother’s Day. But when she finishes feeding hundreds of other Baltimore-area moms on their special day, she returns home to her 8-year-old son, and they spend the afternoon together.

“He usually makes me a card and he has a treat for me,” she says. For the past few years, the treat has come in the form of jewelry—earrings and necklaces. “It’s really nice,” she says, and then laughs. “He has really good taste!”

• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or
• pecans (optional)
• 1 can cherry pie filling
• (any flavor pie filling can be used)

To prepare:

1. Cream butter with sugar. Add vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour. Add nuts.
2. Spread three-quarters of batter in a greased 13-inch-by-9-inch pan. Cover batter with pie filling. Drop remaining batter by spoonfuls on top of filling. Spread out as much as possible—batter will be very sticky and the filling will show in spots.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Let cool. Cut into squares and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Whole Wheat Banana Walnut Pancakes

Tracey Watson
Watson Caterers, Timonium

This recipe was developed to provide a healthy—but still sweet and tasty!—approach to the celebration of Mother’s Day. Why not honor the ones we love by offering them a more wholesome form of nourishment?

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 cup milk
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• 2 bananas, sliced

To prepare:

1. Combine eggs, oil, milk, baking powder, and cinnamon. Mix well. Add flour and mix again. Allow mixture to stand for 15 minutes.
2. In a hot skillet, melt enough butter to sparingly cover the bottom of the pan. Spoon scoops of batter into 4-inch rounds. Immediately place banana slices and walnuts on tops of cakes and press down lightly with the back of a spoon.
3. As soon as the cakes begin to form bubbles, flip them gently and continue to cook for an additional minute or two.
4. Serve hot with warmed maple syrup.

Makes about a dozen.

Bagrationi Extra Dry Sparkling Wine
$14, Georgian Wine House
This festive sparkler comes to us from the country of Georgia, where it is used to kick off feasts both fanciful and humble. Three native varieties—Mtsvane, Tsitska, and Chinebuli—make for the tastiest sparkling wine you’ve never heard of. It certainly pairs well with eggs and sausages, but has enough sweetness around the edges to complement pastries and even maple syrup. Best of all, it’s affordable enough for mimosa makings, too.

Montinore Estate Borealis 2012
$13, Prestige Beverage Group
Montinore Estate crafts elegant, flavorful wines from certified organically grown grapes in Oregon. Their “Borealis” white is a blend assembled from Riesling, Pinot Gris, Müller-Thurgau, and Gewürztraminer. The result is a deftly light, ever-so-slightly sweet white wine that was practically born to brunch. Serve chilled, it will easily wash down whatever you’re having.

Paul Autard Côtes du Rhône 2013
$16, The Country Vintner
Red wine can be tough to tackle for brunch. Easy options include softies like Pinot Noir or the French grape Gamay, most famously grown in Beaujolais. For something equally versatile, but with a bit more punch, consider a wine made from Grenache. With this wine, all it takes is a little tomato in that omelet to transform the experience into a Southern French affair. It also pairs well with deli meats, pâté, and cheeses.