Check, Please: Easter brunch without reservations

Here's a tip for getting inside the perpetually packed Original Pancake House: Call ahead and add your name to the waiting list. Then dive into apple-filled pancakes, pancakes topped with toasted coconut, pancakes topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, buttermilk pancakes filled with bacon bits, well, you get the idea. The menu also features omelets and other egg dishes, along with waffles, crepes, French toast and more.

The chalkboard menu at the counter-service Birchwood Cafe varies with the seasons. This month, chef Marshall Paulsen's inventive farm-to-table dishes include a Benedict using roasted pork belly and a cilantro biscuit, savory asparagus-fontina waffles topped with rhubarb-onion chutney and a sunny-side-up egg, a scramble tossed with sweet peas and golden beets and a corn tortilla tostada filled with tofu, refried beans, turnips and avocado. Or keep it simple, with a bowl of the B'wood's awesome maple-sweetened granola, garnished with fruit and yogurt.

Lyn-Lake's Muddy Waters offers plenty of reasons to visit for brunch: reasonable prices, a well-stocked bar, a hardworking in-house bakery and an eclectic menu that features a ham-and-egg poutine, smoked trout hash, a breakfast pizza, a changes-daily eggs Benedict and more, with most prices under $9. Reservations for parties of six or more only.