DCist's Favorite Breakfasts
The first in a multi-part series, all about our contributors' favorite local breakfast spots. Yum. Look for the second installment next Sunday.
I love breakfast. There, I admitted it.
As I type this, I'm thinking about said breakfasts I love -- some carved from the various kitchens of my childhood at the hands of my mom, others cobbled together in my head from diners, greasy spoons, and neighborhood joints from anywhere and everywhere. I think about eggs over-easy, four slices of crunchy toast, some hash browns or home fries coated in ketchup, and a couple of slices of perfectly cooked bacon. Or a short stack of pancakes, drenched in butter and syrup. Or the simple sweetness of french toast, coated in powdered sugar and highlighted by the slightest hint of cinnamon. With the morning news as a sidekick, and a constantly refilled cup of coffee as the only measure of how long the meal has taken, how can you go wrong?
That's the thing about breakfast -- regardless of whether you prefer to make it at home or have a favorite place that makes your morning meal, everyone understands it. Breakfast, in whatever form you believe it to be, is our most tangible dining ritual.
So color me surprised that Esquire's "comprehensive" list of the 59 best breakfast spots in America featured nary a D.C.-area presence. Are we really that behind the curb for this, the everyman meal, the most important meal of the day?
I kindly asked my friends who contribute here for their thoughts. To no surprise, Washington and her surrounding areas do have great breakfast places. Plenty of them, in fact. Here's some of our favorites.
American City Diner
5532 Connecticut Ave. NW
A Favorite of DCist's: Aaron Morrissey, weekend editor
Sure, it's all the way up Chevy Chase. But there's nowhere in the District proper -- at least which I've encountered -- that so accurately replicates those weekend morning meals of my young life as well as the American City Diner. Sure, its got the fifties decor, and the jukeboxes, and the malt machine; but baby, this is a breakfaster's paradise. They've got everything -- from steak and eggs, to lox and cream cheese, to the simplest of pleasures: crunchy home fries. The coffee never stops; it's almost as if the servers -- many of whom appear as if they've made a fine career out of serving eggs, bacon, and waffles -- have a honing device implanted in their heads, set to alert them at any quarter-filled cup of joe with a smile. (Now that is technology that I can believe in.) The place gets its fair share of folks from the surrounding residences on weekend mornings, but that's nothing unusual. The real beauty of American City's breakfast is its healing power after a long, soul-crushing weekday, when all you want is a little taste of home -- something comforting to get you from right now to tomorrow. American City delivers on that potential connective power of breakfast -- that's why it's one of the best.
Photo by Graham Hough-Cornwell.
212 Second Street SE
Cash only
A favorite of DCist's: Graham Hough-Cornwell, sports and arts contributor
For a variety of reasons, a year or so ago, I stopped buying scrapple at the grocery store, saving (and savoring) it only when out to breakfast at the kind of joint that serves the stuff. Of the many in the area that do, Pete's Diner has long been a favorite. A tiny Capitol Hill not-quite-institution (proof: Congressman and Mrs. Dennis Kucinich were eating omelettes by the window my last time there), its got everything you'd want in a go-to breakfast joint: cheap and filling no-frills food served by a friendly staff almost instantaneously. On my latest visit, I went with the 2 egg, breakfast meat, and 2 pancake combo ($6.25), upgrading to sweet potato pancakes for a buck extra. The sweet potato cakes seemed right on the edge of the kind of thing you order at Pete's but they were pretty damn good, considering. I will be ordering them from now on. There are fine breakfast sandwiches, too, as well as passable hash browns, decent grits, and a variety of other good pancake options too. The bottom line is that Pete's is the kind of place where the scrapple, egg, and cheese sandwich comes on buttered toast with a too-thick slice of scrapple (no paninis here, folks), where your coffee gets refilled endlessly, where you might one day look at the menu and decide to order the Chicken-A-La-King just because it's there and you're there and you're feeling in a pretty good mood. And, hey, it probably won't be that bad. It just won't have any scrapple.
Don Jaime Restaurant
3209 Mt. Pleasant Street NW
A favorite of DCist's: Alicia Mazzara, food writer
On any given weekend morning, you'll find full tables at Don Jaime Restaurant on Mt. Pleasant Street. Neighborhood residents stop in for brunch basics like eggs, toast, bacon, and bottomless cups of coffee. But what makes Don Jaime's special are their huevos divorciados. A variation on huevos rancheros, the "divorced eggs" are served with red and and green salsa, as well as beans and rice. The flavors are clean and simple, and the portions are generous. Other standouts include the migas (scrambled eggs cooked with pieces of corn tortilla, vegetables, and red salsa), the Spanish tortillas, and the spicy chorizo wrap, which comes dripping with bright orange grease. Unfortunately, Don Jaime's does not serve sweet breakfast items like pancakes or waffles, but they do make a mean horchata. And the best part? Nothing costs more than $10, which is exactly the way it should be.
Photo by Samer Farha.
2055 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington
Cash only
A favorite of DCist's: Samer Farha, photographer
The best bagels I've ever had were at 2 a.m. at H&H Bagels in Manhattan, a good 200-plus miles from where I live. The second best bagels I've ever had are 1,000 times closer. This small, unassuming location in a strip of restaurants in the Courthouse neighborhood of Arlington (mere steps from the Metro) makes my favorite breakfast: eggs, bacon, cheese, and tomato all sandwiched between a fantastic crusty/chewy everything bagel.
On the weekends, the place is mobbed. The crowd ranges from those still hung over from a night of drinking up the street, to families venturing out for their first meal of the day. The lines can get ridiculously long, but even when they are out the door, you are usually no more than 10 minutes from a great breakfast.
Brooklyn has all sorts of bagels -- running the gamut from traditional to jalepeno -- and a wide choice of cream cheeses to go on them. You can buy them by the bag, or as breakfast sandwiches. But keep in mind the two golden rules: keep the line moving and cash only. Don't be the one holding up the line because you only brought your credit cards.
Asylum
2471 18th Street NW
A favorite of DCist's: Lynne Venart, arts writer
You'd never know it if you came to the bar on a typically packed weekend night, but Adams Morgan's Asylum serves up a tasty breakfast (under the guise of "brunch") suitable for carnivores and vegetarians alike. Voted Best Brunch by the City Paper and Best Vegetarian Brunch by Vegdc.com, Asylum may not be a big secret, but deserves a mention for its hearty portions of classics like french toast, huevos rancheros, fruit pancakes and chili scramble—all available in their traditionally meat- and egg-filled forms as well as vegan. The service can be a bit slow, so your best bet is to snag a couple stools at the bar if you don't have your whole crew in tow.
Check in with us next Sunday, as we'll continue our list of favorite breakfast spots with a couple of D.C. institutions and many more.