There is probably no other restaurant group that is hotter in New York dining scene than Major Food Group headed by Torrisi-Carbone super chef duo. I’ve always been keeping tabs on what their next biggest idea is (they started with casual Italian tasting menu at Torrisi Italian Specialties until branching out to old-school Italian-American at Carbone, coastal Italian at Santina and decadent French at Dirty French). The next big project had a somewhat more modest proposal: in partnership with Melissa Weller, a former baker at Per Se and Roberta’s, they decided to open a Jewish-inspired restaurant serving bagel and other food with Jewish bent. I haven’t been to Russ and Daughters Café yet, so it’s hard for me to clearly define what Jewish cuisine would be, but based on the description of Sadelle’s I’ve been hearing, it seemed as simple as bagels and other pastry dishes to go along with smoked fish. At the risk of sounding too simplistic, that is really what Sadelle’s offers during brunch time; sometimes, simplicity is the virtue in dining, and Sadelle’s exactly shows how food that doesn’t have a ton of flair can still more or less deliver.

Obviously, any meal at Sadelle’s would need to start with freshly baked bagels and smoked fishes that are also accompanied by a plate of tomato, cucumber, onion and capers. I wasn’t quite sold on the bagels; I was hoping for something that was baked right on the spot but the tower of bagels that came in wasn’t really delivered just-in-time. Anyways, the combination with house salmon and sable still worked, especially the fresh and silky smooth sable that I kept digging.

This being a brunch, Sadelle’s offers a number of egg dishes. We ended up choosing salami and eggs and it turned out to be a winner. I probably saw similar omelette dishes a million times at other brunch places, but the one at Sadelle’s had that addictive quality to it with very nice balance of flavor (definitely no overseasoning!). You also have to get pastry dishes at Sadelle’s: sticky buns from Weller were just out of this world! I haven’t really had similar bun dishes lately (watching for my sugar intake) but I really had to succumb to the sensational flavor of sticky buns (although I wish it came at the end of the meal as opposed to beginning) that were literally melting in my mouth with delicate sweetness. I would totally start every morning with one of these without any hesitation!

The restaurant is probably the hottest brunch ticket right now (all Major Food Group restaurants are very difficult to secure reservations, but my OpenTable search constantly showed “no table” signals for the next 8 weeks whenever I was looking for weekend brunch openings). The best bet may be to show up early and take your chance for walk-in tables. Sadelle’s has a number of brunch cocktails too, but if you’re inclined to skip alcohol, freshly squeezed orange juice would probably enhance your brunch experience. Is Sadelle’s an over-hyped brunch destination? Perhaps, and probably because I think all brunch restaurants are overrated in some ways (people love brunch but the restaurant doesn’t showcase its full range of skills during this time), but Sadelle’s overall delivers the type of experience you’re looking for: a trendy vibe with a lot of young, handsome crowd in a brightly lit and chic dining space, accompanied by solid food offerings.

KenScale: 8.0/10

• Creativity: 7.5/10
• Execution: 8.0/10
• Ingredients: 8.0/10
• Flavor: 8.0/10
• Texture: 7.5/10

Address: 463 West Broadway, New York, NY 10012

Telephone: (212) 254-3000

Website: http://www.sadelles.com/