By now an urban legend, the company Sarabeth's Kitchen made its name with pastries, fruit preserves, cookies and cakes. This homey, cottage-themed restaurant is where Sarabeth Levine first bore her baked goods and buttered buns years ago, and it serves as the flagship of a mini-empire spanning four locations around the city. It's also the Upper West Side's de facto brunch spot, as herds of Sunday Times-toting residents shepherd their young into the rustic room for omelets, porridge and granola-and-buttermilk pancakes. Lesser-known but equally sumptuous is the lunch and dinner menu, which includes salmon cobb salad, Alaskan halibut, calf liver and old-fashioned chicken pot pie. For the price of one meal, you can not only walk out stuffed, but also with a basket of peach-apricot jam, recipes and mother's day gift ideas under your arm. -- Yon Motskin (Photo: Noah Kalina)