Family Celebrations at Home
There may not be an extravagant Easter bonnet parade to watch but Zoom & Bloom has a different idea for a hands-on family activity. You’ll receive a beautiful box of assorted flowers in preparation for a zoom workshop led by NYC floral designer Rebecca Merritt. Everyone can arrange a bloom to make a gorgeous Easter centerpiece.
The Institute of Culinary Education will help you ramp up your cooking skills with a Spring Easter Dinner virtual cooking class. Family members, whether in the same room or not, can all participate as Chef Sue Gonsalves demonstrates how to make roast rack of lamb, potato gratin and asparagus with lemon vinaigrette. Attendees will receive recipes and ingredient and equipment lists in advance.
You could go to Bubby’s in Tribeca to enjoy Chef Ron Silver’s homestyle brunch with sourdough pancakes, Easter ham and his famous pies, but why not turn the pie experience into an at-home activity for all? Bubby’s DIY pie kits come with frozen pie dough, apple or sour cherry filling, a disposable pie tin and a fluted pastry wheel, everything you need to make your own Easter sweet.
Brunch with an International Flair
NYC restaurants bring a global sensibility to the holiday with their special menus. If the weather holds up, outdoor dining is a lovely option for Easter brunch. Indoor dining is also available at reduced capacity so book well ahead if that’s your preference.
At the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, in an airy garden setting, The Osprey has cooked up farm-to-table Easter specials with choices reflecting the global nature of New York City. It’s a tour around the world with the likes of the Osprey's Nest (poached pasture-raised egg, kadaifi, smoked sablefish, lemon crème fraiche and caviar), chitarra carbonara or rhubarb Pavlova with mascarpone sabayon. The menu comes with a bonus — you can walk over the Brooklyn Bridge when you’re done or enjoy the waterfront boardwalk steps from the hotel offering spectacular views of the city.
Your celebration at Amali is a double Easter fête as it includes a treat for Greek Easter as well. The Mediterranean-inspired Upper East Sider is all about spring with specials like asparagus salad with a soft boiled red egg, leg of lamb, and ricotta pie with candied lemon and lavender. The bonus is koulourakia, a traditional Greek Easter cookie.
A few blocks away, bistro La Goulue adds a French flourish to brunch, as conceived by award-winning Executive Chef Antoine Camin. The special prix fixe menu begins with a patisserie selection of croissants, chocolatines, lemon cake and raisin Danish. The menu is a mélange of French and traditional with Easter specials including smoked salmon “Maison,” French toast on brioche, and truffle Croque Monsieur.
Astoria’s Via Vai invites you to enjoy an Italian Easter with a four-course prix fixe menu by chef-owner Antonio Morichini. Start with baked eggs with porcini mushroom and fontina cheese, for example, followed by a traditional secondo of pasta. Since lamb is traditional for Easter, order the pappardelle with lamb ragù and, for your main, the scottaditto alla Romana. For dessert, Morichini’s bombolone, sweet Italian donuts filled with vanilla pastry cream that will have you saying grazie mille.
Ocean Prime has an at-home kit should you choose to stay home, but the special Easter brunch at the swank midtown location might be more of a temptation. Putting a spin on classic American brunch favorites, the in-restaurant menu includes lobster toast, blackened salmon salad, crab and eggs hollandaise, or French toast for something sweet. Known for its innovative cocktails, Ocean Prime serves an Easter-perfect blood orange mimosa to accompany your meal.
Chocolate Eggs, Sprinkles and Sweets
International chocolate sensation Venchi Fine Italian Chocolates has a gift for you for Easter: if you stop by the boutique in Union Square or Columbus Circle, you’ll get a tasting of its three mini Easter eggs on Easter weekend. True chocoholics will love this place and you’d be remiss if you didn’t take some of their gorgeous (and huge) chocolate eggs home with you. Did I mention that there’s a chocolate waterfall in the downtown shop?
Everyone goes crazy for Magnolia Bakery‘s cupcakes, but its Easter ones might just be the cutest you’ve ever seen. The special holiday “cupcake dozen” are classic vanilla and chocolate cupcakes done up with pastel buttercream frosting with festive Easter decorations.
Another contender for the most creative Easter sweet treat, DO Cookie Dough’s “Easter taster” is a beautifully packaged two-pack of their classic, safe-to-eat flavors. Divide the packs and share all the great flavors — each one comes with three jars of edible cookie dough with irresistible recipes like cake batter, sugar cookie and gimme s’more.
Gourmet cookie company, Chip City is offering colorful Easter specials that are sure to sell out. All ages will love the “Bunny Funfetti,” vanilla sugar cookies mixed with rainbow sprinkles and topped with bunny sprinkles. Grab a few or go cookie-crazy with the giant Easter grazing board, an instant family fave.
If all the chocolate, cookie and pie conversation has made you yearn for something that’s not overly sweet, food market Citarella has an option for you too. The Easter-style buttery Challah bread has just a hint of sugar – it’s decorated with dyed eggs and topped with colorful sprinkles.
