Five Leaves in Greenpoint, Sunday 1PM

Welcome to The Brunch Bunch, where we go to some of the city’s hottest brunch spots and ask the crowds outside why, exactly, they are waiting in line. Today, Five Leaves in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

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Last Sunday, the sun was shining and people were out all over the city. Five Leaves, near McCarren Park in Greenpoint, was totally mobbed for brunch. Around 1pm, hosts at the stylish Australian-influenced eatery were telling diners that the wait for a party of four would be somewhere around an hour and a half. Oddly enough, Lokal, another somewhat trendy restaurant located directly across the street, had no line and no wait. Let's meet the crew that was hanging out in front of Five Leaves, shall we?

Names: Sarah and Elise
Professions: opera singer and human resources worker
How long have you been waiting? Elise: 45 minutes?
There's no line at Lokal across the street. Would you ever consider going there? Sarah: I've never been there. Elise: Me neither. Didn't even consider it.
How long would you have to wait before deciding to go somewhere else? Sarah: Well, we've had coffee, so I can wait indefinitely once I've had coffee. Elise: The coffee window at Five Leaves is amazing.
What did you do last night? Elise: I had a cold and stayed in. Sarah: I was supposed to go out, but I didn't.
What are you doing later today? Elise: Wandering aimlessly, I guess. Sarah: I have drink plans in the early evening in the West Village at Bar Carrera. They have an amazing wine list.

Name: Mike
Profession: unemployed writer/actor
How long have you been waiting? Just got here four minutes ago.
There's no line at Lokal across the street. Would you ever consider going there? If I have to wait longer than 25 minutes, I'm going to walk my ass over to Lokal.
Why did you come to Five Leaves today? Five Leaves was recommended to me by a friend of mine, and we're meeting here today for the first time in a few years. And she knows this place.
What are you doing later today? We're going to piss off some hours drinking beer. Continue to meet up with friends, probably at a bar.

Name: Ariella
Profession: Student
How long have you been waiting? An hour.
There's no line at Lokal across the street. Would you ever... Yeah, no.
How long would you have to wait before deciding to go somewhere else? Usually an hour.
What did you do last night? I went to the library.
What are you doing later today? Back to the library.

Names: Kenneth and Victoria
Professions: musician and photographer
How long have you been waiting? Kenneth: Well, we just put our names in, and we're meeting friends, so there' s four now instead of two, so the wait went up to an hour and 45 minutes.
There's no line at Lokal across the street. Would you ever consider going there? Kenneth: We've had a lot of friends that have had a lot of bad experiences in that establishment. Five Leaves has been our jam for a while. Victoria: We might go to Enid's, or maybe Brooklyn Label.
How long would you have to wait before deciding to go somewhere else? Well, we're going to call our friends and figure it out. Normally it's only 30 or 40 minutes, we go and get coffee and come back.
What did you do last night? Victoria: We went to Mable's?
Oh yeah, how is it? Kenneth: It's good. It's right by our house.
What are you doing later today? Kenneth: Just walking around, trying to enjoy this weekend.

Names: Grace and Diana
How long have you been waiting? Diana: About a half an hour.
There's no line at Lokal across the street. Would you ever consider going there? Grace: Well, we did come here with the specific purpose of going to Five Leaves. So, no.
How long would you have to wait before deciding to go somewhere else? Grace: It's borderline for me. Diana: And the guy did mention to us that there were a couple of other places on Driggs and Manhattan.
What did you do last night? Grace: We had dinner at El Almacen. It was really good! We did not have to wait.
What are you doing later today? Diana: Walking around.

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