Brunch Sundays Brings Southern Comfort Food With a Haitian Island Twist to New London
Brunch Sundays – Southern Dishes With an Island Twist turns Sunday into a five-hour affair at Favorites Bistro Bar in downtown New London, pairing brunch standards like chicken and waffles, French toast, and grits with the Haitian and Caribbean flavors that have become the restaurant’s calling card.
The weekly brunch runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Sunday at Favorites, located at 90 Bank Street.
And while plenty of restaurants serve brunch, Favorites has a fairly compelling reason for adding the words “island twist.”
Owner Majan Pierre grew up with Haitian cooking, and the restaurant she and her husband Ederjson “EJ” Pierre created uses those flavors as a jumping-off point rather than treating them as rigid boundaries.
The result can put oxtail beside grits, Haitian seasonings into familiar American comfort foods, and a caramelized crème brûlée treatment onto French toast.
It’s brunch, but not necessarily the brunch you already know.
Chicken and Waffles Gets the Favorites Treatment
The restaurant’s current Brunch Sundays promotion puts three dishes front and center: chicken and waffles, oxtail and grits, and crème brûlée French toast.
Chicken and waffles already lives comfortably at the intersection of sweet and savory.
Favorites pushes further into that territory.
The restaurant’s broader approach incorporates the seasonings, sauces and ingredients of Haitian and Caribbean cooking into recognizable American dishes rather than separating the menu into “traditional” and “island” sections.
That philosophy has helped chicken and waffles become one of the dishes frequently associated with Favorites since the restaurant began developing its brunch service.
But the oxtail and grits may be an even better example of what the restaurant is trying to do.
Oxtail and Grits Connects Two Comfort-Food Traditions
Oxtail has a long history in Caribbean cooking, including Haitian cuisine, where slow cooking turns a notoriously tough cut into something rich and deeply flavored.
Grits come from a different culinary tradition but perform much the same job on the plate: warm, uncomplicated comfort food capable of carrying an intensely flavored braise.
Put them together and the combination makes immediate sense.
Favorites has used oxtail elsewhere on its menu in inventive ways, including oxtail rangoons.
That willingness to move ingredients between culinary traditions is central to the restaurant’s identity.
Pierre has described Favorites as Haitian street food, but she’s also made clear that she doesn’t want the menu confined by that description.
The restaurant has served familiar dishes such as Caesar salad and pasta alongside Haitian staples and Caribbean-influenced creations.
What connects them is often what happens in the kitchen.
Haitian Flavor Is Built Into the Food
One of the building blocks is épis.
The Haitian seasoning base varies from kitchen to kitchen but generally combines fresh herbs, peppers, aromatics and spices into a concentrated mixture used to season meats, seafood and other dishes.
At Favorites, épis has been incorporated into dishes such as braised short ribs.
Then there’s pikliz, the sharp Haitian pickled vegetable condiment that can bring acidity, crunch and heat to rich food.
Favorites uses versions of it throughout its cooking.
Pierre told Connecticut food writer James Gribbon that the goal isn’t necessarily to make everything overwhelmingly hot.
The seasoning goes into the food from the beginning.
That’s a meaningful distinction.
Adding a hot sauce to an otherwise conventional brunch dish creates heat.
Building a dish around a different seasoning tradition changes its underlying flavor.
Favorites is aiming for the second approach.
Then There’s the Crème Brûlée French Toast
If oxtail and grits represents the savory side of the menu, crème brûlée French toast heads in the opposite direction.
The basic idea borrows from the contrast that makes crème brûlée work: a rich, soft interior against a caramelized exterior.
Applied to French toast, it turns one of brunch’s most familiar dishes into something closer to dessert.
Favorites has served French toast in several forms, and the dish has become one of the restaurant’s recognizable brunch offerings.
It’s also a good example of why “Southern dishes with an island twist” doesn’t tell the entire story.
There are Caribbean influences here, certainly.
But there are also French influences, Southern American comfort food and contemporary brunch culture colliding on the same menu.
In Haitian cooking, that kind of overlap isn’t particularly strange.
Haitian Cuisine Was Already a Fusion Cuisine
Haiti’s food traditions developed from an unusually complicated history.
West African culinary traditions mixed with Indigenous Caribbean ingredients and techniques and European, particularly French, influences.
That history can still be seen in the language and food.
French-derived culinary terms coexist with ingredients and cooking methods rooted elsewhere.
So a New London restaurant moving comfortably among Haitian food, Southern comfort dishes and French-inspired brunch isn’t necessarily abandoning one tradition for another.
It’s continuing the mixing that created the cuisine in the first place.
Pierre has described Haitian food as difficult to reduce to a single definition because of those influences and because recipes can vary considerably between communities and households.
Her own reference point is especially personal.
Before opening Favorites, Pierre had never worked in a restaurant.
She learned food at home.
Majan Pierre Went From Home Cooking to Restaurant Owner
Favorites Bistro Bar opened in 2023, making Pierre’s route into the restaurant business an unusual one.
She wasn’t a chef leaving someone else’s kitchen.
She wasn’t a longtime restaurant manager finally opening her own place.
Pierre told Gribbon that Favorites was her first restaurant job of any kind.
Her culinary background came largely from watching her mother cook and from her own interest in food.
She and EJ Pierre nevertheless turned that home-cooking foundation into a downtown restaurant.
By April 2026, Favorites was celebrating its third anniversary and a grand reopening, along with an expansion of its lunch service.
The restaurant also brought Chef Bel into its culinary leadership.
Brunch has become an increasingly important part of that evolution.
Sundays Have Become Their Own Thing
Favorites now dedicates 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Sunday to brunch.
That’s not merely an hour or two added onto lunch service.
It’s the Sunday service.
The restaurant’s Brunch Sundays promotion makes that clear, presenting the meal as a recurring weekly event rather than a one-off special.
That gives diners considerably more flexibility than a traditional late-morning brunch.
Come at 10 and it’s breakfast.
Arrive at noon and you’re firmly in brunch territory.
Show up at 2 and it can function as a late lunch.
The restaurant’s drinks follow the same leisurely approach to Sunday, with brunch cocktails among the offerings.
Favorites Has One of Downtown’s More Interesting Locations
The restaurant occupies space in the historic granite Roberts Building along Bank Street.
Its location puts it in the middle of downtown New London’s restaurant, arts and waterfront district.
Hygienic Art is nearby, and the Thames River waterfront is only a short walk away.
Inside, Favorites is bright during the day, with large windows bringing natural light into a dining room and bar designed to feel more contemporary than rustic.
There’s also outdoor seating with views toward the harbor.
That gives Sunday brunch an easy extension into the rest of downtown.
Eat first, then walk Bank Street, head toward the waterfront or see what’s happening in the surrounding arts district.
Parking Is Easier on Sunday Than You Might Expect
For people who avoid downtown New London because they’re worried about parking, Sunday has an advantage.
Favorites lists Bank Street and State Street among the nearby free parking options.
The O’Neill-Tilley Municipal Lot and Water Street Garage provide additional paid parking nearby.
As always downtown, availability depends on what else is happening that day.
But Favorites sits in a walkable part of New London, so there’s little reason to circle the restaurant looking for the closest possible space if other downtown parking is available.
A Sunday Brunch That Actually Tells You Something About the Restaurant
Chicken and waffles is everywhere now.
French toast certainly isn’t difficult to find.
Neither are eggs, mimosas or grits.
So the interesting question isn’t whether Favorites serves brunch food.
It’s what happens when those dishes pass through this particular kitchen.
A Haitian-American owner who learned from her mother’s cooking opened her first restaurant on Bank Street.
She began combining the food she knew with dishes that belonged to other traditions.
Three years later, that experiment has developed into a Sunday brunch where oxtail can land on grits and French toast can arrive dressed like crème brûlée.
That’s a much better reason to go to brunch than simply because it’s Sunday.
Details
Event: Brunch Sundays – Southern Dishes With an Island Twist
Date: Sunday, September 20, 2026
Recurring: Every Sunday
Time: 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
Location: Favorites Bistro Bar
Address: 90 Bank Street, New London, CT 06320
Featured Brunch Dishes: Chicken and waffles, oxtail and grits, crème brûlée French toast
Cuisine: Southern comfort food with Haitian and Caribbean influences
Owners: Majan and Ederjson “EJ” Pierre
Phone: 860-446-6188
Parking: Free parking is available on Bank Street and State Street; paid options include the O’Neill-Tilley Municipal Lot and Water Street Garage
Reservations: Favorites accepts reservations; advance reservations may be useful for Sunday brunch
Accessibility: Contact the restaurant directly for specific accessibility needs or seating accommodations.
More information is available at the Event Website link below.
Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.