Easter in New York City arrives early in 2026. Here is where to find the egg hunts, book the brunch, and make the most of the weekend, from Governors Island to Dyker Heights.
Updated March 2026.
Easter weekend is one of the first times New York fully steps back outside. Fifth Avenue turns theatrical, neighborhood parks fill with egg hunts, and brunch tables across the city become part of the day’s ritual. In 2026, with Easter falling early on April 5, planning matters more than usual.
Whether you are planning a stylish Sunday brunch, hunting for golden eggs with little ones, watching the bonnet procession on Fifth Avenue, or simply walking into the first real warmth of the season, this guide covers Easter weekend across both boroughs.
2026 PRO TIP
Easter falls early this year—Sunday, April 5. Most Manhattan and Brooklyn egg hunts require pre-registration that opens in mid-March. Do not wait until the week of to secure your spot for the LIC, Governors Island, or Thomas Jefferson Park hunts.
For the full guide to the Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival on Fifth Avenue, see our Easter Parade NYC 2026 guide at brooklynslifestyle.com/easter-parade-nyc.
Table of Contents Show
THE 2026 CALENDAR
| Easter Saturday [The Hunt Day] | Saturday, April 4, 2026 |
| Easter Sunday | Sunday, April 5, 2026 |
| Easter Parade & Bonnet Festival | Sunday, April 5, 2026 | 10 AM – 4 PM Fifth Avenue, 49th to 57th Street |
Because Easter arrives two weeks earlier than last year, the city’s cherry blossoms may be at first bloom rather than peak. The Shakespeare Garden in Central Park and the west side cherry trees are worth checking in early April. The Orchid Show at NYBG runs through the month and is the right indoor alternative if the morning is still cool.
How to Plan Easter Weekend in New York City
Easter weekend in New York works best when Saturday and Sunday are treated as two entirely different days with two entirely different intentions. Get this right, and the entire weekend falls into place.
Saturday, April 4, is for movement. The egg hunts, the ferry crossings, the neighborhood events that reward early arrival and punish hesitation. Governors Island, Gantry Plaza, Williamsbridge Oval, the Broadway Street Fair, these are outdoor, high-energy, and gone by mid-afternoon. Get there early and build your Saturday around them.
Sunday, April 5, is for stillness. The parade, the brunch, the long walk through a park that has finally remembered it is spring. The pace slows. The city dresses up. The bonnets come out on Fifth Avenue, and the afternoon belongs to whoever planned ahead.
On Timing and Movement
The parade timing.
The Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival runs from 10 AM to 4 PM, but the most extraordinary bonnets are on Fifth Avenue between 11 AM and 1 PM, concentrated near St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 50th Street. If you are coming for the spectacle, that is your window. Start at Rockefeller Center at 49th Street and walk north. The light works in your favor for photographs.
The dead zone. Between 2 PM and 4 PM, Midtown reaches its peak density. This is when locals move south to the quieter streets of SoHo and the West Village for a late lunch, or east toward the Seaport, or across to Brooklyn entirely. If you are still in the parade area after 2 PM, you waited too long. Take a side street immediately. Broadway between 34th and 50th Street is not where you want to be.
On brunch. Walk-in brunch on Easter Sunday in New York is not a strategy; it does not work. Every restaurant on this list takes reservations. Book now.
Plan it this way, and Easter in New York stops feeling crowded and starts feeling intentional.
BKLS NOTE
The Easter Parade requires nothing of you except showing up. No ticket, no wristband, no costume required—though a hat of any kind puts you in the spirit of it immediately. Fifth Avenue on Easter Sunday belongs to whoever arrives.
The Saturday Strategy
Most of the premier egg hunts happen on Saturday, April 4, not Sunday. Smart families do the neighborhood hunts on Saturday and save Sunday for the Fifth Avenue parade and a proper brunch. Pre-registration for several of these opens in mid-March and fills quickly.
Egg Hunts: Manhattan
These are the egg hunts in New York that are actually worth planning around. Not every park listing, just the ones that deliver.
NYSoM Easter Eggstravaganza
📍 Location: Sherman Creek Park, 3725 10th Avenue — Washington Heights. Manhattan | 🌐 Website: NYSoM Easter Eggstravaganza | Date: Saturday, April 4, 2026 | Time: 2 PM – 5 PM | Free
NYSoM’s annual Easter event at Sherman Creek Park runs 25 structured hunts across the afternoon. Groups of five children enter every ten minutes, with hunts organized for children aged 12 and under. Between rounds, the Activity Village runs alongside: painted Easter egg giveaways, crafts, and appearances by the Easter Bunny.
Sherman Creek Park sits along the Harlem River waterfront in Washington Heights, NYRP. It is one of the more beautiful and underused park settings in Upper Manhattan, and a meaningful backdrop for a neighborhood event that has drawn families here for years.
BKLS NOTE
Free and first-come, first-served. Arrive before 2 PM to secure your group’s spot in the rotation. For children 12 and under.
Reserve Your Place: Eventbrite
Easter Super Egg Hunt
📍 Location: Thomas Jefferson Park, East Harlem, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Thomas Jefferson Park | Date: Friday, April 3, 2026 | Time: 3 PM
The Thomas Jefferson Recreation Center hosts its annual Easter egg hunt with treats, games, and an Easter Bunny appearance, a neighborhood institution that draws East Harlem families year after year. The indoor format means no weather contingency—this one happens.
Please note: The date has changed from Saturday, April 4, to Friday, April 3, at 3 PM. If you were planning around the Saturday schedule, adjust accordingly.
BKLS NOTE
This is a local community event. Space in the Multi-Use Room is limited—do not rely on walk-up availability. Call (212) 860-1383 to confirm registration or stop by the front desk at 2180 First Avenue in advance. Free admission.
Bunny Wonderland
📍 Location: Hamilton Fish Park,128 Pitt Street — Lower East Side, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Bunny Wonderland | Date: Saturday, April 4, 2026 | Time: 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM
The Hamilton Fish Recreation Center occupies a Beaux-Arts brick-and-limestone building on Pitt Street, one of the Lower East Side’s most quietly distinguished park spaces, and the right setting for a morning built around younger children. Bunny Wonderland runs an egg hunt alongside arts and crafts, music, dancing, popcorn, games, and prizes, with Easter Bunny photo opportunities throughout.
The format is unhurried and age-appropriate, designed for families who want the full Easter morning experience without the scale of the larger borough events.
BKLS NOTE
Pre-registration is recommended. Check the NYC Parks website to secure your spot before the event fills. Best for toddlers and younger children.
Egg Hunts: Brooklyn and Queens
Prospect Park Bandshell Hunt
📍 Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn | 🌐 Website: Trinity Grace Church | Date: Saturday, March 28, 2026 | Time: 10 AM | [Hunt begins at 10:30 AM] | Admission: Free | Rain Date: Sunday, March 29, 2026
Trinity Grace Church has been running this annual hunt at the Prospect Park Bandshell long enough that it has become a neighborhood institution. The event is all-ages and genuinely inclusive. Games and crafts run alongside the hunt, built for everyone from toddlers to adults who have not outgrown a well-run Saturday morning in the park. For South Brooklyn families, this is the right choice if you want to get ahead of the April 4 crowds, a full week earlier, in one of Brooklyn’s most beautiful settings, at no cost.
BKLS NOTE
No pre-registration required—arrive before 10:30 AM, the eggs move fast once the hunt begins. Rain date is Sunday, March 29. After the hunt, you are a short walk from 7th Avenue: Winner at 367 7th Avenue for pastries and coffee, or Purity Diner at 289 7th Avenue—a Park Slope fixture since 1929—for a proper sit-down breakfast.
Register: Trinity Grace Church
Broadway “Union Square” Fair
📍 Location: Union Square Area, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Broadway “Union Square” Fair | Date: Saturday, April 4, 2026 | Time: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Sponsored by Community Board 2, this annual spring street fair runs six blocks along Broadway between Greenwich Village and Union Square. Local vendors, food, crafts, and the particular energy of a Manhattan avenue returned to pedestrians for a day. It fits directly into a Saturday itinerary that starts at Governors Island and winds back through Lower Manhattan.
BKLS NOTE
If your Saturday begins at Governors Island, the ferry back to Lower Manhattan puts you within walking distance of the fair. Walk the stretch, then continue south into SoHo for the evening. Fanelli’s Cafe at 94 Prince Street—open since 1847, the city’s second-oldest continually operating establishment—is the right place to end it.
Governors Island Egg Hunt
📍 Location: Governors Island, NY [Main events at Colonels Row and the Parade Ground] | 🌐 Website: Governors Island | Date: Saturday, April 4, 2026 | Time: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM [Egg hunts typically start at 11:00 AM]
The Trust for Governors Island and the Friends of Governors Island co-present the city’s largest egg hunt, 50,000 candy-filled eggs spread across the island’s open spaces, with a dedicated hunt for children ages 5 and under running alongside the all-ages search. The eggs are first-come, first-served and move fast: in prior years, every egg had been found before noon.
The hunt is one part of a full day: island-wide scavenger hunts, spring-themed arts and crafts with Red Hook Art Project, puppet performances, a Spring Bunny photo opportunity, and food vendors including Makina Café, Little Eva’s, and NAO’s Caribbean Flavors on-site throughout the afternoon. Rain or shine, no pre-registration required, but the ferry is a different matter entirely.
BKLS NOTE
Book your ferry tickets now at govisland.com—they sell out weeks in advance for Easter weekend. Ferries depart from Lower Manhattan [Battery Maritime Building] and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Aim for the first ferry of the morning; in past years all 50,000 eggs were gone by 11:45 AM. The 2026 event page will be published closer to the date—check the Governors Island website for confirmed details and ferry booking.
LIC Queens Easter Festival
📍 Location: Gantry Plaza State Park, 4-09 47th Road — Long Island City, Queens | 🌐 Website: LIC Queens Easter Festival | Date: Saturday, April 4, 2026 | Time:
Hosted by Renew Queens and Wellspring Church NYC, the LIC Queens Easter Festival takes place against one of the most striking backdrops in the outer boroughs. The restored industrial gantries of Gantry Plaza State Park frame the event, with the Midtown Manhattan skyline sitting directly across the water.
The egg hunts are organized by age group, from crawlers through ten-year-olds, with each group assigned a designated time slot to keep the event well-paced and genuinely enjoyable rather than chaotic. Carnival games, live entertainment, and spring activities run alongside the hunts throughout the morning.
BKLS NOTE
Pre-registration is required for each child participating in the egg hunt—no walk-up registration is available. The festival itself is open to all without tickets. Register at queenseasterfestival.com as soon as spots open. Take the 7 train to Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue or Court Square.
Queens County Farm Museum: Barnyard Egg Hunt
📍 Location: 73-50 Little Neck Parkway — Floral Park, Queens | 🌐 Queens County Farm Museum | Dates: Saturday, March 28 & Saturday, April 4, 2026 | Time: 10 AM – 5 PM | Tickets: $17 per person [Free for infants 0–12 months]
At 47 acres, Queens County Farm Museum is the longest-running continuously farmed site in New York State, and on these two Saturdays, it becomes the city’s most considered egg hunt. Children search for prize-filled eggs through the orchard while the rest of the farm runs alongside. Sheep, goats, and alpacas in the animal area, hayrides across the grounds, and a dedicated Bunny Patch for photos.
This is a full Saturday, not a quick stop. The trip from Manhattan takes effort. For families, it is worth it.
BKLS NOTE
Ticketed—walk-up availability is not guaranteed and this event sells out well before Easter weekend. Buy now at queensfarm.org. Take the F train to Jamaica–179th Street, then the Q46 bus to Little Neck Parkway. Allow extra travel time from Manhattan.
Get Tickets: Queens Country Farm Museum
Egg Hunts: The Bronx
Williamsbridge Oval Spring Hunt
📍 Location: 3225 Reservoir Oval East — Norwood, Bronx | 🌐 Website: Williamsbridge Oval Spring Hunt | Date: Saturday, April 4, 2026 | Time: 11 AM
Organized by NYC Parks in partnership with community groups and local elected officials, the Annual Spring Egg Hunt at Williamsbridge Oval has become one of the Bronx’s most well-attended Easter traditions. The oval is a WPA-built park listed on the National Register of Historic Places, built on the site of a former reservoir. Few egg hunts in New York have a backdrop to match it. The hunt runs in age-specific time slots: younger children first, older children following.
Alongside the hunt: arts and crafts, face-painting, dancing, yoga, reading with the Easter Bunny, and the event’s signature attraction, old-school potato sack races that draw longer lines than almost anything else on the grounds. Over 1,000 children and families attended in prior years. The community turnout is the whole point.
BKLS NOTE
No registration required—one of the few major NYC hunts where you can simply show up. Open to children ages 3 to 11. Take the 4 train to Mosholu Parkway or the 2/5 to Nereid Avenue, then walk to the oval. For questions contact the Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center at (718) 543-8672.
Beyond the Hunts: Spring Spectacles Worth Planning Around
The Orchid Show
📍 Location: NYBG, 2900 Southern Boulevard — Bronx | 🌐 Website: The Orchid Show | Date: Running through April 26, 2026 | Admission: Timed entry tickets required
The 2026 Orchid Show is one of the more distinctive installations the NYBG has produced. The concept translates street culture into floral sculpture, with ten-foot installations built from exotic orchids referencing the visual language of streetwear and sneaker culture inside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. The result is a show that feels far more compelling in person than it sounds on paper.
For the Orchid Show specifically, Easter Sunday, April 5, falls within the exhibition. Timed tickets for that date are in high demand. The Conservatory is the right call if the morning is still cool, a fully immersive indoor garden that rewards the Bronx trip regardless of the weather outside.
Orchid Nights run on select Saturdays in March and April, an adults-only evening format with cocktails and live music that transforms the conservatory into something closer to a dinner party than a botanical visit.
BKLS NOTE
Book timed entry in advance—April 5 tickets move quickly. Take Metro-North from Grand Central to the Botanical Garden stop, which deposits you at the entrance. Weekday mornings are significantly less crowded than weekends. For Orchid Nights dates and tickets, check nybg.org.
Dandy Wellington’s Easter Egg Strut
📍 Location: Paradise Club,701 7th Avenue — Midtown, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Dandy Wellington’s Easter Egg Strut | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 | Time: 4 PM
The Easter Parade ends at 4 PM. Dandy Wellington’s Easter Egg Strut begins at 4 PM. The timing is not a coincidence. Wellington is a bandleader, vintage style icon, and one of the city’s most committed keepers of early jazz and swing. This annual post-parade gathering is his, for the bonnet crowd who are not ready to let the afternoon go.
The Paradise Club in Midtown is the right room for it: intimate, dressed for the occasion, built for live music, and a crowd that arrived in full Easter finery. The playlist runs from Dixieland to classic swing. The dress code is implicit but understood.
BKLS NOTE
Tickets via Eventbrite. Book in advance—this sells out every year. Come directly from Fifth Avenue in your bonnet. The walk from the parade route to the Paradise Club is under ten minutes.
Tickets: Eventbrite
Jane’s Carousel
📍 Location: Brooklyn Bridge Park, Dock Street & Water Street — DUMBO, Brooklyn | 🌐 Website: Jane’s Carousel | Date: Easter Weekend, Saturday April 4 & Sunday April 5, 2026
Installed in a pavilion designed by Jean Nouvel on the Brooklyn waterfront, Jane’s Carousel is a 1922 hand-carved merry-go-round restored over two decades by Jane Walentas, one of the city’s most carefully restored historic attractions.
On Easter weekend, with families dressed in their spring finery against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge, it becomes one of the most photographed spots in the borough. The walk from the carousel along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade adds the full skyline view and is worth building into the afternoon.
BKLS NOTE
Carousel tickets are purchased on-site. No advance booking required for the park or promenade walk. Take the A or C to High Street–Brooklyn Bridge, or the F to York Street. The walk to the promenade from the carousel takes under ten minutes and the view at either end is the reason to come.
Easter Cruises
📍 Location: Pier 40 at Hudson River Park, 353 West Street — West Village, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Liberty Cruise Easter Brunch | Date: Saturday, April 4 & Sunday, April 5, 2026
Two operators, two different experiences, both worth knowing about, depending on who you are bringing. Liberty Cruise runs a two-hour Easter Brunch on both days: bottomless mimosas, an onboard egg hunt, and an Easter Bunny appearance, with the Hudson River and the New York skyline as the backdrop.
Event Cruises NYC offers a Premier Plated Brunch sailing past the Statue of Liberty, a more formal sit-down experience better suited to out-of-town guests for whom this will be a first-time New York holiday memory.
BKLS NOTE
Book both operators directly online—these sell out well before Easter weekend. Liberty Cruise is the right call for families with younger children. Event Cruises NYC is better suited for adult groups or guests experiencing New York for the first time. Pier 40 is accessible via the 1 train to Houston Street.
Central Park First Bloom Watch
📍 Location: Central Park — Manhattan| 🌐 Website: Central Park Cherry Blossom Trees
The Shakespeare Garden sits on the western slope of the park near 79th Street, a terraced, informal garden planted with flowers and trees referenced in Shakespeare’s plays, and one of the most beautiful early-spring spaces in the five boroughs. The west side cherry blossom trees along the path between 72nd and 102nd Streets typically reach first bloom in the first week of April.
On Easter Sunday, with the parade behind you and brunch ahead, a walk through this section of the park costs nothing and competes with anything ticketed in the city that morning.
BKLS NOTE
Because Easter falls early this year, the blossoms may be at first bloom rather than peak—which means fewer crowds and the particular quiet of a park that has not yet been discovered for the season. Enter at 72nd Street on the west side. The Shakespeare Garden is a ten-minute walk north from the 72nd Street entrance.
Easter Brunch: The 2026 Shortlist
Organized by vibe rather than neighborhood, because the right brunch depends on what kind of Easter you are having.
For the Classic Manhattan Occasion
Tavern on the Green
📍 Location: 67th Street & Central Park West — Upper West Side, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Tavern on the Green | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026
Fewer Easter Sunday settings in New York match the Tavern on the Green garden terrace when the weather holds. The lantern-lit pergola, the Central Park tree line directly beyond the fence, and the particular light of a late morning in early April, earn every word ever written about it.
The menu leans toward classic American brunch, priced accordingly. Reserve by phone well in advance; the terrace seats fill before the interior.
BKLS NOTE
Request the garden terrace specifically when reserving—interior and terrace bookings are managed separately. Reserve by phone well in advance of April 5. The 1 train to 66th Street deposits you half a block from the entrance.
Ai Fiori
📍 Location: 400 5th Avenue — Midtown West, Manhattan [Near the parade route] | 🌐 Website: Ai Fiori | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 | Price: From $85 per person
Michael White’s Italian Riviera-inspired dining room sits on Fifth Avenue, which on Easter Sunday places it directly in the orbit of the parade. The three-course prix fixe is built for the occasion: lobster frittatas, white-glove service, and window seats that look out onto the avenue the bonnet procession has just left. For anyone who wants to move from the parade into a proper meal without losing the energy of the morning, this is the most seamless transition on the list.
BKLS NOTE
Reserve a window seat when booking—they overlook Fifth Avenue and fill first. Reservations via the Ai Fiori website or OpenTable. Book well in advance of April 5.
Villard
📍 Location: Lotte New York Palace, 455 Madison Avenue at 50th Street — Midtown East, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Villard | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026
The Villard dining room inside the Lotte New York Palace occupies one of the most architecturally significant interiors in Midtown. The original 1882 Villard Houses, designed by McKim, Mead & White, with gilded ceilings and a room that rewards dressing for the occasion. The Easter menu leans into the theatrical: the signature Easter Egg Nest dessert and luxury caviar supplements make this the most formally celebratory brunch option in the neighborhood. The room alone is worth the reservation.
BKLS NOTE
Reservations via the Lotte New York Palace website. Request the Villard Room specifically. The 6 train to 51st Street or the E/M to Lexington Avenue–53rd Street. Come dressed for the room.
The Capital Grille
📍 Location: Multiple Manhattan locations | 🌐 Website: The Capital Grille | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026
The Capital Grille does not reinvent the Easter brunch; it executes it with the confidence of a kitchen that knows exactly what it is doing. Dry-aged New York Strip and eggs alongside Lobster Frittatas, a polished room, and service calibrated for a celebration that does not want surprises.
The Capital Grille is the dependable anchor on the Manhattan brunch list—reliable, polished, built for a celebration that does not want surprises.
BKLS NOTE
Multiple Manhattan locations—check the website for the one closest to your parade viewing position. Reservations via OpenTable or the Capital Grille website. Book well in advance.
La Goulue
📍 Location: 29 East 61st Street — Upper East Side, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: La Goulue | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026
La Goulue has been the Upper East Side’s answer to a proper French bistro for years. The 2026 Easter prix fixe—two courses, confirmed by the restaurant—is built for the crowd making their way back from Fifth Avenue with a bonnet and an appetite. Chef Antoine Camin’s cooking is precise and unfussy, which is exactly what the room calls for.
The terrace on 61st Street, weather permitting, is the right seat: sheltered enough to be comfortable in early April, open enough to feel like spring has actually arrived.
BKLS NOTE
Request the terrace when booking—it fills before the interior on Easter Sunday. Reservations via the La Goulue website or OpenTable. The 4, 5, or 6 train to 59th Street, then a short walk north on Park Avenue.
Broadway Lounge at the Marriott Marquis
📍 Location: 1535 Broadway — Theater District, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Broadway Lounge at the Marriott Marquis | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026
The Broadway Lounge sits on the eighth floor of the Marriott Marquis, directly above Times Square, with floor-to-ceiling windows that turn the parade energy below into part of the meal. The Easter buffet runs under the name “Very Egg-cellent” and includes a hidden Golden Egg hunt woven through the dining room—the prize being tickets to future holiday brunches. For families with children who want the parade’s momentum to carry through to the table, this is the most natural continuation on the list.
BKLS NOTE
Reservations via the Marriott Marquis website. Request a window table when booking. The hotel is steps from the parade route on Broadway—no transit required after the procession.
The Fulton
📍 Location: 89 South Street — South Street Seaport, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: The Fulton | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026
Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s seafood-focused Fulton sits directly on the waterfront at the South Street Seaport, with an unobstructed view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the dining room. It is further from the parade route than most options on this list. That distance is the point. A quieter, unhurried Easter Sunday meal for anyone who wants to step away from the Midtown energy into something more reflective. The cooking is Jean-Georges quality applied to the best of the morning’s catch, in a room that earns its water view.
BKLS NOTE
Reservations via OpenTable or The Fulton website. Book well in advance. Take the 2 or 3 train to Fulton Street, then walk east toward the waterfront. Request a window table facing the bridge.
For the Stylish but Relaxed
The Standard Grill
📍 Location: 848 Washington Street — Meatpacking District, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: The Standard Grill | Brunch: 11 AM – 4 PM
The Standard Grill has anchored the Meatpacking District since 2009, and its Easter brunch is one of the neighborhood’s most reliable holiday traditions. The dining room, copper penny tile floors, curved booths, and barrel-vaulted ceiling are designed for the kind of long, unhurried Sunday that Easter calls for.
The 2026 Easter specials include the “What’s Up Doc” cinnamon tequila cocktail and Carrot Cake Manhattans running alongside the full brunch menu: raw bar, dry-aged steaks, shakshuka, and the signature drunken monkey bread with bourbon caramel. For groups who want to feel like they are genuinely in the city rather than retreating from it, this is the Meatpacking answer.
BKLS NOTE
Reservations via the Standard Grill website. The street-side bistro seats are the right call if the morning is warm—the cobblestone energy of the Meatpacking District on Easter Sunday is worth sitting outside for. Take the A, C, E or L to 14th Street–8th Avenue.
Jack’s Wife Freda
📍 Location: 226 Lafayette Street — SoHo, Manhattan | 116 8th Avenue — Chelsea, Manhattan | 🌐 Jack’s Wife Freda | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 | Hours: 8:30 AM – 9 PM
Founded in 2011 by Dean and Maya Jankelowitz, an immigrant love story rooted in South Africa and Israel. Jack’s Wife Freda serves all-day Mediterranean-inflected brunch in a room that manages to feel both fashionable and genuinely welcoming. The menu draws from Israeli and South African culinary traditions alongside New York’s Jewish food culture: bright, fresh, beautifully presented.
The Green Shakshuka is the order, poached eggs in a vivid tomatillo and herb sauce that has become one of the most copied dishes in downtown New York. The SoHo location on Lafayette Street is the original and still the most atmospheric. For tables of two on a Sunday that do not require a reservation three weeks in advance, this is the right room.
BKLS NOTE
Walk-ins are welcome, though Easter Sunday fills quickly. Reservations via Resy. Additional locations in West Village [50 Carmine Street], Union Square [72 University Place], and Williamsburg—all serve the same all-day menu.
Little Owl
📍 Location: 90 Bedford Street — West Village, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Little Owl | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026
Little Owl approaches Easter brunch the way it approaches everything else, quietly and without overstatement. The two-course prix-fixe begins with a shared first course built around spring: pea blini with smoked salmon and caviar, rhubarb clafoutis, and small plates meant to move across the table.
From there, the menu opens up. Brioche French toast sits alongside poached eggs with biscuits, while lamb ravioli and a lobster and leek omelet offer something more substantial. A few of the restaurant’s signatures, including the gravy meatball sliders, remain available if you know to ask.
This fits best into a slower Easter Sunday afternoon, especially after the parade when the city begins to thin out downtown.
BKLS NOTE
The gravy meatball sliders are the open secret, but ask for a table in the Corner Room alcove if you can. It gives you a clear view of the post-parade West Village crowd without being pulled into it.
Berimbau Brazilian Table
📍 Location: 3 West 36th Street — Midtown West, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Berimbau Brazilian Table | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 | Hours: 11:30 AM–4 PM & 5 PM–9:30 PM
Rio-born restaurateur Mario de Matos opened his West Village original fourteen years ago and recently brought Berimbau’s warmth and energy to Midtown. A spacious, design-led room inspired by Brazil’s Midcentury Modern movement, with tropical hardwoods, woven wicker, and amber-lit linen lamps that make the space feel genuinely unhurried.
For Easter Sunday, the kitchen is open all day with two exclusive specials alongside the full menu: Bacalhau Hash, salted cod and octopus with leek confit, black olive crumble, and golden potato foam, and Chocolate com Caju, a chocolate brownie pudding finished with cashew fruit sorbet.
The signature Picanha Feast and the Coxinha chicken croquettes with catupiry cheese anchor the main menu. Berimbau is home to New York’s first Caipirinha Bar. The Easter Sunday cocktail program begins with the Caipirinha and moves from there.
BKLS NOTE
Reservations via Resy. Steps from Bryant Park and the parade route—a natural next stop after Fifth Avenue. Private dining available for groups; inquire directly with the restaurant.
Hav & Mar
📍 Location: 245 11th Avenue — Chelsea, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Hav & Mar | Date: Easter Weekend, Saturday, April 4, 2026 & Sunday, 5, 2026 | Time: Dinner from 5 PM
Marcus Samuelsson’s Chelsea seafood house, led by Executive Chef Fariyal Abdullahi, James Beard Award nominee and one of the city’s most compelling kitchen voices, is worth building an Easter Saturday or Sunday evening around.
The cooking fuses Ethiopian and Swedish influences across a seafood-forward menu that earned two stars from the New York Times and a spot among the city’s twelve best new restaurants in its opening year. The dining room, set inside the landmark Starrett-Lehigh Building with original artwork by Derrick Adams, is one of the most considered spaces in Chelsea.
BKLS NOTE
Easter Sunday brunch has not been confirmed for 2026—check havandmar.com or call (212) 328-8041 for updated holiday hours. Dinner reservations via OpenTable. Take the 7 train to 34th Street–Hudson Yards, or the C/E to 23rd Street.
Grand Brasserie
📍 Location: 89 East 42nd Street — Midtown East, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Grand Brasserie | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 | Hours: 7 AM – 2 AM
Grand Brasserie occupies Vanderbilt Hall, the original main waiting room of Grand Central Terminal, now transformed by the Rockwell Group into a 400-seat French brasserie that evokes the grandeur of a Paris railway station without feeling like a theme. Executive Chef Guillaume Thivet, formerly of La Grande Boucherie, runs a menu of timeless French classics: steak tartare, onion soup, French dip, and quiche.
The room has two bars, soaring ceilings, and the kind of scale that absorbs a holiday crowd without losing its atmosphere. For families arriving by Metro-North, it is a ten-second walk from the train. For anyone who wants an extraordinary room at a price point that does not require a special occasion budget, this is the most underutilized option on the Manhattan brunch list.
BKLS NOTE
Reservations via OpenTable. Open daily from 7 AM—the right call for families arriving via Metro-North who want to eat before heading to the parade route. Steps from the 42nd Street–Grand Central subway stop on the 4, 5, 6, 7, and S trains.
For Brooklyn
Leuca
📍 Location: The William Vale, 111 North 12th Street — Williamsburg, Brooklyn | 🌐 Website: Leuca | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 | Brunch: 11 AM – 4 PM
Chef Andrew Carmellini’s Southern Italian restaurant sits at the ground floor of The William Vale in Williamsburg, a sunlit corner space with floor-to-ceiling windows, an open kitchen anchored by a wood-burning oven, and a terrace that on a warm April Sunday becomes one of the best outdoor brunch seats in Brooklyn.
The menu is rooted in the Puglia region: house-made pastas, wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas, coastal seafood, and an extensive Italian wine list overseen with genuine care. The spring terrace is the reason to come on Easter Sunday. The room earns its reputation for special occasions without requiring one.
BKLS NOTE
Request the terrace when booking—it fills before the interior on holiday weekends. Reservations via OpenTable. Take the L to Bedford Avenue or the G to Nassau Avenue.
French Louie
📍 Location: 320 Atlantic Avenue — Boerum Hill, Brooklyn | 🌐 Website: French Louie | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 | Brunch: 11 AM onward
From the team behind Buttermilk Channel, French Louie sits at the crossroads of Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, and Boerum Hill. It is a French-American bistro that has been quietly doing things right since it opened, the kind of place the neighborhood keeps to itself.
The menu is built around rotating steak frites, a raw bar with east and west coast oysters, fresh local fish, and the kind of cooking that knows exactly what it is. The outdoor patio on Atlantic Avenue is the right seat on Easter Sunday. Neighborhood energy, unhurried service, and a room that deserves more attention than it gets.
BKLS NOTE
Reservations via Resy. Request the patio when booking. Take the F or G to Bergen Street, or the 2/3/4/5 to Borough Hall and walk along Atlantic Avenue.
Sunday in Brooklyn
📍 Location: 348 Wythe Avenue — Williamsburg, Brooklyn | 🌐 Website: Sunday in Brooklyn | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 | Hours: 8 AM – 10 PM
Sunday in Brooklyn is an internationally recognized all-day New American restaurant in Williamsburg with a Michelin Guide listing. And on Easter Sunday, the name alone earns its place on the list. The kitchen is famous for its Brown Butter Pancakes, a dish that has developed the kind of following that fills tables before noon.
The room is high-energy and fashionable without being exclusionary, a short walk from the Williamsburg waterfront and Domino Park, with indoor and outdoor spaces that handle the Easter crowd well. For the Williamsburg crowd who wants brunch to feel like an occasion rather than a transaction, this is the neighborhood’s answer.
BKLS NOTE
Book in advance via OpenTable—Easter Sunday fills quickly. The Brown Butter Pancakes are the order, but arrive hungry enough for a full table. Take the L to Bedford Avenue.
Mama Rao’s
📍 Location: 6408 11th Avenue — Dyker Heights, Brooklyn | 🌐 Website: Mama Rao’s | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 | Hours: 12 PM – 10 PM
Dyker Heights has its own relationship with Easter; the neighborhood that produces the most elaborately decorated houses in New York at Christmas applies the same instinct for celebration to every occasion that warrants a table full of family. Mama Rao’s is the right room for it: a contemporary Italian cucina serving house-made pasta, fresh seafood, and the kind of multi-course meal that runs three hours because no one is in a hurry to leave.
The party room accommodates groups for special occasions. For multi-generational Brooklyn Italian Easter tables—the kind where the antipasto arrives before anyone has fully settled in and the dessert conversation begins before the main course is finished—this is the authentic version.
BKLS NOTE
Reservations recommended for Easter Sunday—call (718) 745-2269 or book online at mamaraosrestaurant.com. For large groups, inquire about the party room in advance. Take the N train to 62nd Street in Dyker Heights.
Kiwami Omakase — Easter Sunday Dinner
📍Location: 141 Bridge Park Drive — DUMBO, Brooklyn | 🌐 Website: Kiwami | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 | Hours: 2:30 PM–10:30 PM
For Easter Sunday dinner, Kiwami sits at the edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park along the DUMBO waterfront. Eight counter seats, a Zen-inspired room of bonsai trees and clean lines, and the East River and Manhattan skyline directly outside. Executive Sushi Chef Xin Cao, a twenty-year veteran trained at Kanoyama and BONDST, leads an omakase program built around fish flown daily from Japan’s Toyosu Market.
Easter Sunday highlights include the Ikura Tartare, a spring-roll tartlet with sweet potato purée, salmon roe, saltwater uni, and shiso flower. Kanpachi, smoked amberjack with yuzu and lime, and Unagi finished with foie gras. No two menus repeat. The experience runs approximately two hours. The sunset from the counter, weather and timing permitting, is its own course.
BKLS NOTE
Eight seats. Book via Resy well in advance—Easter Sunday will fill. Take the F to York Street or the NYC Ferry to the DUMBO/Brooklyn Bridge Park stop, which deposits you steps from the entrance.
For the View
Maison Passerelle
📍 Location: 1 Wall Street — Financial District | 🌐 Website: Maison Passerelle | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026
Maison Passerelle offers a more structured version of Easter, one built around a three-course prix fixe that leans into seasonal restraint rather than excess. The menu moves from lighter starters like asparagus salad or leek soup into composed mains—slow-cooked salmon or roasted lamb—before ending on a coconut and passion fruit pavlova.
The setting does some of the work here. This is less about lingering and more about marking the occasion with intention.
This works best if you are planning your Sunday around a reservation rather than building the day as you go.
BKLS NOTE
The entire prix fixe is naturally gluten- and dairy-free, which is rare at this level. You leave this meal ready for a walk along the water, not slowed down by it.
Salon Vert
📍 Location:1 Wall Street — Financial District | 🌐 Website: Salon Vert | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026
Salon Vert offers a more flexible approach to Easter dining, part prix fixe, part open-ended afternoon. The three-course option sits alongside an à la carte menu, making it easier to extend the meal without committing to a fixed structure.
Seasonal dishes lean light, green asparagus, crab and avocado tartine, chicken with morels, while a curated rosé flight adds a sense of occasion without overdoing it.
A good option if your Easter plans are less fixed and you want something that can stretch across the afternoon.
BKLS NOTE
The rosé flight works best later in the afternoon when the light shifts through the 1 Wall Street windows. If you are ordering à la carte, the crab and avocado tartine is the one to get.
Blu on the Hudson
📍 Location: 1200 Harbor Boulevard — Weehawken, NJ | 🌐 Website: Blu on the Hudson | Date: Saturday, April 4 [11 AM–3:30 PM] & Sunday, April 5, 2026 [10 AM–3:30 PM]
Technically, New Jersey. The view, however, is pure Manhattan; the skyline sits directly across the water in a way that no Midtown dining room can replicate. Executive Chef Juan Carlos Ortega, formerly of Catch Steak and Blue Water Grill, has built an Easter weekend menu around the kind of details that justify the PATH train.
Warm Cheddar Cornbread Madeleines with truffle honey and strawberry-lavender butter, Maine Lobster and Tomato Salad with gem lettuce and lemon vinaigrette, Croissant French Toast with rhubarb cream. The à la carte menu runs alongside, caviar service, seafood towers, handmade pastas, and large-format steaks. Sommelier Adam Greer’s Wine Spectator Award-winning list pours throughout.
BKLS NOTE
Take the NY Waterway ferry from Midtown—it deposits you steps from the restaurant and turns the crossing into part of the meal. Book via OpenTable now; this one fills for holiday weekends.
Reservations: OpenTable
For Large Groups
Carmine’s
📍 Location: 2450 Broadway — Upper West Side & 200 West 44th Street — Times Square, Manhattan | 🌐 Website: Carmine’s
Carmine’s has been feeding large groups of New Yorkers and their out-of-town relatives since 1990, and its family-style Italian format was built precisely for the Easter table that seats eight, ten, or twelve. The platters are generous by design, passed around the table rather than plated individually, which turns the meal into a shared experience rather than a series of separate orders.
Chicken Marsala, linguine with clam sauce, the tiramisu that finishes every table, it is a menu built on consistency and the knowledge that the right meal for a crowd is not always the most adventurous one. The Times Square location is the right choice for post-parade groups; the Upper West Side location is better for families who want a quieter room.
BKLS NOTE
Book well in advance—Easter Sunday at Carmine’s fills months ahead for large parties. Reservations via the Carmine’s website. For groups of eight or more, call directly to discuss family-style platters and seating arrangements.
EASTER WITH A TWIST
The Flatiron Room
📍 Location: Flatiron | Midtown East | 🌐 Website: The Flatiron Room | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026
The Flatiron Room is not typically a brunch destination, which is exactly why this works.
For Easter Sunday, the space shifts into a daytime jazz setting. Live performances layered over a menu from Chef Jiho Kim that moves between Japanese and American influences. Expect dishes like chicken karaage and bento-style brunch plates, paired with cocktails built from the restaurant’s extensive spirits collection.
It is less about tradition and more about atmosphere.
This is better as a destination rather than a stop between plans; build the afternoon around it.
BKLS NOTE
Most people come for the whiskey, but the draw here is the Brunch Bento. Book mezzanine seating if you can, it gives you the best balance of sound and space.
Seasonal Sweets Worth Seeking Out
Li-Lac Chocolates remains the right answer for Easter and Passover gifts and treats. Their kosher-certified, gluten-free handmade collection includes the Chocolate-Covered Matzoh Gift Box and the Giant Chocolate Easter Egg. 24 inches tall, 16 pounds, handcrafted to serve 125 guests, available by special order and pick-up only.
Founded in 1923, Li-Lac is Manhattan’s oldest chocolate house, and the quality reflects it. Locations at Industry City in Brooklyn, the West Village, Bleecker Street, Chelsea Market, Hudson Yards, and Grand Central Market. Worldwide shipping available on most items at li-lacchocolates.com.
Tamalería La Madrina — Easter Brunch at Home
📍 Location: 735 Nostrand Avenue — Crown Heights, Brooklyn | 🌐 Website: Tamalería La Madrina | Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 | Hours: 8 AM–11 PM
For the Easter table that happens at home, Tamalería La Madrina is the answer. The tamales, nixtamalized corn dough wrapped in banana leaves, built from 104-year-old family recipes, are available by the single, half-dozen, or dozen, priced under $10 each, and designed exactly for the kind of spread that feeds a crowd without a reservation.
Oaxaqueño with pork baby ribs in deep red sauce, Birria with slow-cooked beef, and Pollo en Salsa Verde with tomatillo and jalapeño are the flavors to order around. Available grab-and-go from 8 AM or via DoorDash delivery. Order by the dozen.
BKLS NOTE
Singles $4 · Six for $24 · Dozen for $44. Grab-and-go from 8 AM or order via DoorDash. The window sells out daily—arrive early or order ahead. Take the 2/3 to Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum or the A/C to Franklin Avenue.
BEYOND EASTER SUNDAY
Nerina [Greek Easter]
📍 Location: 35 Commercial Street — Greenpoint, Brooklyn | 🌐 Website: Nerina
A week later, Nerina offers a different kind of Easter, one rooted in tradition and built for sharing.
The meal unfolds in courses meant for the table: tsoureki bread, red eggs, spreads and cheeses, followed by soups like magiritsa or avgolemono. From there, it expands into the dishes that define the holiday. Roasted lamb, grilled octopus, spinach pies, and salads, before ending with desserts like saragli and Greek yogurt with honey.
This is not a quick meal. It is meant to stretch across the afternoon.
Because it falls on the following weekend, this works as a second, more relaxed Easter if you missed April 5 or want to extend the season.
BKLS NOTE
Greek Easter falls on April 12 this year, which makes this a strong second option if you miss the earlier weekend. If the Lamb Kokkinisto appears alongside the roasted lamb, order it for the table early, it does not last.
The BKLS Take on Easter 2026
Easter in New York City is what you make of it. The holiday arrives early this year, before the city has fully committed to spring, before the blossoms have peaked, before the outdoor tables have fully returned. That tension between the calendar and the weather is part of what makes April 5 worth paying attention to. The parade will happen regardless. The hunts will fill regardless. The brunches will be booked regardless.
Show up with a hat. Make the reservation. Take the ferry early. The city will meet you halfway.
For the full guide to the Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival on Fifth Avenue, including the 2026 crowd strategy, sustainable bonnet trends, and best viewing positions—see our Easter Parade NYC 2026 guide.
