Hangover Prevention

Where To Nurse Your New Year’s Day Hangover

French toast is an excellent vessel to Sobriety Island.
French toast is an excellent vessel to Sobriety Island.

If you survived drunk walking yourself into an early grave, chances are you’re going to wake up on New Year’s Day with a hangover that made you wish that you did. Luckily, there are plenty of themed brunches designed to accommodate your weekly hair of the dog routine. Here, we’ve selected a few of our favorites.

French toast is an excellent vessel to Sobriety Island.

Cai: Speaking from firsthand hangover experience, the dim sum at Chinatown’s Cai is total life saver. Not to mention, extremely cheap. Grab five of your friends to soak up last night’s mistakes with shumai, steamed barbecue pork buns, and vegetable dumplings.

Hot Chocolate: We’re not sure if it was intentional or not, but Mindy Segal was a genius in picking dark brown and low lighting for Hot Chocolate—the perfect shield from the harsh morning light. Roll in wearing your pajamas and order up a plate of the house doughnuts coated in cinnamon sugar and served with house-made raspberry preserves.

Nana: Speaking of pajama brunches, Bridgeport restaurant Nana is hosting one of their own, awarding prizes to creative pajamas (hint: watch old episodes of Golden Girls for inspiration). Our pick: the chicken and waffles with Gunthorp Farms fried chicken, corn-oat waffle, sage gravy, Burton’s Maplewood Farm syrup, and farm greens.

Sprout: Reservations are high in-demand for brunch at Lincoln Park restaurant Sprout because the whole gimmick is it’s kid free. Not only can you liberally toss out f-bombs like it’s nobody’s business, but the menu is noticeably more mature with dishes like rabbit succotash, truffle quiche, and lamb egg’s benedict. For reservations, call 773-348-0706.

Balsan: If you’re not hungover at all or skilled at pulling yourself together before brunch, head to Balsan for an elegant “hangover brunch” featuring cheese, charcuterie, scones, and madeleines with choice of entree for $19 per person.

The Publican: Not bound by kosher law? Head to The Publican for a treif-filled hangover brunch of several variations of pork and a seafood tower topped off with a beermosa with fresh squeezed orange juice and Berliner-style Weiss. Call 312-733-9555 for reservations.

Jam: Neatly settled into their new digs in Logan Square, popular brunch spot Jam now has twice the amount of space (that will probably fill up twice as fast). Fill up on dishes like malted custard French toast with macerated cherries, lime leaf cream, and pink peppercorns, or egg sandwich with pork shoulder, ricotta salata, plum preserves, French bollo, and fingerling potatoes. Just remember to hit up an ATM beforehand as this restaurant is cash only.

Big Jones: Take comfort with warm Southern classics like fluffy griddlecakes, pecan wood smoked andouille sausage, and creamy bearnaise sauce on blue crab cakes at New Orleans restaurant Big Jones in Andersonville. Brunch will be served starting at 10 a.m., rolling until 4 p.m. for those of you who wake up well after noon.

Where To Nurse Your New Year’s Day Hangover