Brunch is about indulgence. There's nothing quite so gratifying as sleeping as late as you want on the weekend, and then wandering out to a meal over which you can linger as long as you like and whose dishes are crafted to satisfy sweet tooth and searing headache alike. Brunch may be more socially acceptable for adults than having pancakes for dinner, but it offers the same exciting prospect of choosing what to eat with only our pleasure as a criteria.

Dinner is the most sophisticated meal, but brunch is the most hedonistic. If only because no one seems to think twice about having, say, donuts, bacon, steak and booze before 11:00 AM.

I have been valiantly indulging in brunch in San Francisco for more than ten years, and I've had more than a few adequate meals in that time period, but more importantly, I've discovered a few places that truly do brunch the right way, and at the risk of reviewing myself right out of my coveted corner window table on a Sunday, I'm going to tell you about them.  read more »

Shares of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. rose Tuesday amid broader gains in the market and despite news of more credit woes at fellow investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch shares jumped nearly 8 percent on Tuesday after the bank agreed to sell a massive debt portfolio at a discount, raising investor hopes it was putting its problems behind it.

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BANGALORE (Reuters) - Several analysts, including
Oppenheimer's Meredith Whitney, widened their loss view on
Merrill Lynch , after the Wall Street investment bank
and brokerage said it will take a $5.7 billion third-quarter
writedown as it unloads risky debt and raises $8.5 billion in
capital.

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