Ulysses’ All You Can Eat Sunday Brunch

58 Stone Street
NY, NY 10004

Some bunch of Sundays ago, I lazily stretched myself out of bed and thought, “I don’t feel like making brunch.” BF doesn’t cook (though he’ll swear he does, he’s a one trick pony, that trick being of the sort your arteries take years to forgive you for), so I recalled that there was a pub nearby that does “UNLIMITED BRUNCH” on Sundays. I’m a glutton. Off we went.

The thing that struck me about this place- well, honestly, my coworkers and I come here fairly often to grab an after work drink, or to grab a burger during lunch when we’re tired of our normal [cafeteria] fare along with the occasional beer during lunch. It’s a large, friendly place, all dark wood and though I’ve never been to Ireland, it feels authentic. Sure, it’s another in the conglomerate that is Harry Poulakakos’ block on Stone Street in the Financial District (he also owns Financier, Harry’s, Adrienne’s, among others all on the same block), but when I first began visiting Ulysses, I had no idea who he was… just that the bar was big, friendly, and had awesome fries.

In any case, we wandered on by and I had remembered right: $19.95 for all you can eat brunch from 11 am to 4 pm on Sundays (they are open until 4 am every night/day, a rarity this deep into the Financial District, where Burger King is closed on Sundays). The treat lay in the back of the buffet, where a man stood shucking oysters and clams. I loaded up and greedily gobbled down the Malpeques; they were fresh, and deliciously briny, though not quite as good nor fresh as Pearl Oyster Bar’s.

I also took some chicken salad, smoked salmon, bread, cream cheese, mozzarella/tomato, and melon (to pretend to be healthy) for my first plate. The chicken salad was surprisingly really delicious (I thought it might just be alright), and the salmon was delicious as well (though I worried a little at first since it appeared to have been sitting for a little bit). My only complaint at this point was the lack of bagels but the presence of cream cheese, although I suppose bagels are so dense, I did just as well spreading it on the slices of bread and eating the smoked salmon with that, still leaving room for other stuff.

There was a huge cheese board with plenty of kinds of cheeses, crackers, breads, fruits as well, but my next plate (not pictured) was of the hot stuff: corned beef, roast beef, they had a ton of carving board items, with potatoes, veggies, salad, a whole bunch of their normal carving board fare, which was delicious as usual. They also had an omelet station, of which BF partook and enjoyed greatly before moving on to salads and the like. I was busy chowing down (writing this is making me hungry for it all over again, honestly!) on my hot stuff, along with some more oysters!

At the end, to our supreme delight, there sat a smaller table off to the side laden with pastries… from Financier. See why I’m not against the Poulakakos empire? They share!

They also had (fresh?) whipped cream next to the fresh fruit, so BF ran over and scooped globs onto his plate. The left pastry, from perusing the Financier website, was the Opera, and I really liked this dessert. BF wasn’t so fond of it, so I gladly helped him eat it- I think I was most surprised because I thought it was a Napoleon, but when I put my fork into it, it was fantastically soft, not crunchy/hard like I’d have thought a Napoleon would be. I think his was the Sacher torte, but I do know he enjoyed his thoroughly.

Yvo says: The meal also comes with your choice of a Guinness, mimosa or screwdriver, which was enjoyable (we both got mimosas), so the total came out to about $50 with tip for both of us. Considering the quantity of food and the quality, I can’t complain and definitely think it was worth it. We will definitely be going back, though not every week, as our wallets and my belly won’t forgive us for that at all.
highly recommended