Brunch doesn't take itself too seriously. It's a leisurely weekend habit that is happily spared the obsessive foodie gaze. Brunch is more about your life, your companions, and what you're literally bringing to the table. Perhaps this is why the best brunch menus are familiar, homey and more about the "who" than the "what." Less flash, more hash.

An Englishman named Guy Beringer was thinking along the same lines when, in 1895, he coined the term "brunch" in a Hunter's Weekly article. He observed, rather perfectly, that, "by eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch [makes] life brighter for Saturday-night carousers. It [promotes] human happiness in other ways as well. Brunch is cheerful, sociable and inciting. It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week."

It's good to know that more than 115 years later, we still agree. What follows are our picks for the best local brunches to suit the various situations when you need it most. Just because it's the most lighthearted meal of the week doesn't mean it shouldn't be delicious. We all have worries and cobwebs, and there's comfort in knowing that eggs and good company are the best antidote. Here's a mimosa toast to Guy. Scratch that -- make it a Bloody with a Surly chaser.

When I was a Lucia's server, I waited on two longtime friends who came to brunch every Saturday, without fail. Their habit outlasted my tenure, and I can only imagine the marital crises, career ambivalences, familial strife and child-rearing pangs they must've pulled each other through simply by meeting weekly for frittatas and strong Morningstar coffee. For 25 years, Lucia has been serving up fresh, seasonal and organic omelets, market salads and hearty scrambles and hashes. A selection or three from the tray of freshly baked pastries isn't to be missed. Grab an extra Baby Budapest muffin to share with your companion, then proceed to deal valiantly with your lives, loves and everything between.

Everyone faux-freaked out when chef Mike Phillips left to follow his meat-butchering/sausage-making passions, but the truth is that the Craftsman remains an excellent restaurant. Executive chef Ben Jacoby has been honing the brunch menu for years, and it's working out very, very nicely. He makes, hands down, the best quiche in the Twin Cities, possibly in the entire Midwest. He adapted, tweaked and ultimately refined a Thomas Keller recipe to create a luscious, eggy pie that is nothing short of decadent. A recent visit found it filled with pork confit and butternut squash. The Craftsman also nails Southern-style grits and a light, bright potato hash side dish. House infused-beet vodka is the base for a brilliant magenta-colored, kicky Bloody Mary. It's enticing, to say the least, and the bar's pickled ramps are always a nice touch.

The Grand Café epitomizes cozy and charming with a touch of romance. Not to mention it was called out in Bon Appetit as one of the best brunches in America. Husband-wife team Dan and Mary Hunter together fold decades of restaurant know-how into their attractive cafe. Brunch offerings are surprisingly hefty without being overwhelming -- a perfect date scenario. A burly, dare I say more masculine appetite can tuck into biscuits and homemade red eye gravy, while more delicate types can pretend to eat steel cut oats or brioche French toast while artfully sharing subtle anecdotes of achievement and irresistible individuality, all cast in the flattering light of bistro mornings and new possibilities.

Owners and spouses Russell and Desta Klein love brunch. They love it for themselves (Desta says it's one of the few times each week they actually get some legit QT), so they see to it that Meritage overdelivers on the experience. The new oyster bar is brasserie bliss, and reminds us that Wellfleets and Malpeques in the morning are a wonderful thing, especially when accompanied by a classic Bloody Mary. Other offerings for gastronomes and Francophiles include bone marrow, lobster omelet, cassoulet, moules frites and a superb corned beef hash. Few kitchens in town poach eggs as consistently and as perfectly. It's a total treat.

Kim Bartmann is a master of atmosphere. Each resto in her empire (including Barbette and Bryant-Lake Bowl) has a distinct vibe, vision and voice. Red Stag is everyone's favorite eco-chic supper club-cum-Wisconsin hunting lodge that feels somehow right at home in northeast Minneapolis. If you can't escape to the woods, a table at Red Stag will have to do. Chef Jason Blair's brunch program runs the gamut from house granola to chicken-fried steak and a burger with grass-fed, Nova Scotian Limosin beef, aioli and pickled onions. Lighter fare (comparatively) includes a ricotta and mushroom scramble, veggie hash and an appealing eggs Florentine with tomato and freshly baked biscuits. In a nice touch that I wish more restaurants would emulate, the servers deliver a small square of homemade classic coffee cake before the entrees as a sweet brunch amuse bouche. The Hail Mary bloody with a beef stick and jalapeño-infused vodka is just as good and spicy as it sounds.

Anyone who has experienced Saturday night at the Loop knows it's an absurd display of drunken debauchery and thumping Auto-Tune tracks in a haze of cologne and trampy outfits. And yet, the place has its charms. Quite a few of them. Sort of like a latter-day Cheers, the Loop is the kind of bar where patrons feel comfortable. It's easy and unthreatening, and the service is most always professional and competent. And they have a ton of TVs. Sunday brunch is a laid-back buffet with all the usual suspects -- waffles, pastries, scrambled eggs, cheesy hash browns, breakfast pizzas and made-to-order omelets. Whether you're working off a hangover or settling in for weekend sports action, the Loop is the perfect place to load up plate after plate of doughnuts and egg bake and pretend that Monday will never, ever arrive.

Let's say you saw a show at the Entry, and you weren't feeling the post-show late-night bite. The good news is you can go back in the morning. The Depot is First Avenue's venture into food service, and so far, so good. It's good and greasy and diner-iffic, but often that's just what the doctor ordered. Also, by being somewhat vegan and vegetarian-sensitive, the Depot proves it's possible to be conscientious without sacrificing any hardcoreness. Brunch can be jalapeño poppers, scrambled eggs with chili and pepper jack and cinnamon pecan rolls, or plain old French toast and oatmeal. And where else can you get a breakfast burger while scanning local music trivia tidbits on the menu?

The guys at the Strip Club know their way around a good brunch. The food is hearty and the menu is as playful as it is delicious. Tucking into Scandahuvian Pie, the Logger's Tower of meats 'n' cakes, BBQ Pork Hash or the great Loaded Burger with camembert and fried egg is about as much fun as one can possibly have in St. Paul. Plus, all of the meats are local and they have custard eclairs. Enough said.

Brunch's social, spirit-lifting, soul-curing properties make it an excellent time to entertain. When a friend of mine recently found herself with mounds of leftover meatballs and spaghetti, she simply reheated the sauce and noodles, built a Bloody Mary bar, added eggs, invited the neighbors over and called it an event. It was surprisingly satisfying. Brunch can be easy to pull off on your own — you need little more than hot coffee and a simple egg dish. A good resource for ideas is Gayle Pirie and John Clark's excellent "Country Egg, City Egg," an ode to breakfast and brunch by two cooks who met, and later married, as they were doing brunches at San Francisco's famed Zuni Café.

From "Country Egg, City Egg". Serves 4.

Oeufs sur le plat, the French term for shirred eggs, are whole eggs gently baked in buttered dishes with cream, cheese or meat — a handy dish for doubling when you are expecting a crowd.