DCist's Favorite Breakfasts: Back For Seconds

Bardia's New Orleans Cafe
2412 18th Street NW
Mon - Sun 10 am - 10 pm
A Favorite of DCist's: Kriston Capps, weekend editor

Creating the perfect sound of breakfast is probably never the first thing on a restaurant owner's mind. Whether it's his intention or not, Bardia Ferdousi serves just that, morning in and morning out, at his New Orleans Cafe in Adams Morgan. The tinkle of silver- and glass-ware, the whistle of steam, and the sizzle of egg as it hits hot pan -- the sounds that accompany every diner's meal here -- are as essential to the experience as the fare on the menu. The cafe is small enough that the kitchen is plainly visible from any seat in the house, even the nook near the storefront windows facing 18th Street NW. All of these features contribute to a restaurant that feels much more like a shotgun-style delta home than any other diner in Adams Morgan or elsewhere. Like any good restaurant with just a touch of Europe to it—as any New Orleans-style restaurant must have—the din of conversation can build up at night. But in the morning, a polite hush makes way for New Orleans and jazz music: maybe some Allen Toussaint, some Billy Holiday, some Nina.

For breakfast, I am nearly always inclined to get the red bean and andouille omelette, the best savory breakfast in town. The egg, cheese, and ham on croissant is satisfying. Bardia has some good brunch-style poached egg offerings, which are a little more common for breakfast in the south, where the day always starts later: eggs Baton Rouge (poached eggs over flash-fried catfish bites) and eggs New Orleans (poached egg over crab meat and fried oyster, with creole sauce) among them. Naturally, you will want to order the chicory as an au lait and you better ought to save room for beignets. The New Orleans Cafe stops just short of feeling like a gimmick; it's intimate where it could be kitsch. You won't feel like tourists because Bardia doesn't treat his diners like tourists. Even if you're eating your breakfast alone—and the New Orleans Cafe is a good place for that—you will never be rushed.

Carry Out Deli
14th and P Streets, NW
Closed Sundays
A Favorite of DCist's: Eric Denman, food and drink writer

Although there is something to be said for snazzing up your breakfast -- using free-range eggs, homemade bacon, artisan toast, and so on -- there is also something entirely comforting about falling out of bed hungover and dragging yourself over to the Carry Out Deli on 14th Street, just below P Street. The prices have gone up over the years (for quite some time, I only knew it as "$3 breakfast" as the price, after tax, now approaches a fiver) but the same basic ingredients have continued to combine into cheap, simple breakfast harmony. Two eggs, scrambled or fried. Your choice of meat (bacon, scrapple, and sausage, among others). Hash browns or grits. White or wheat toast -- butter and jelly? The place is no culinary destination -- and I'm almost embarassed to mention it -- but there are few things that hit the post-drunken gastronomical spot as well as a breakfast special from this joint. Now, if they were only open on Sundays...

Tastee Diner
7731 Woodmont Avenue, Bethesda
(Also at 8601 Cameron Street, Silver Spring and 118 Washington Boulevard South, Laurel)
Open 24 hours, every day
A Favorite of DCist's: Alicia Mazzara, food writer

It's safe to say that Tastee Diner is an institution around these parts. The first of the three Tastee diners opened in Bethesda in 1935, followed by a Silver Spring location in 1946 and Laurel in 1951. Much has changed since 1935, but like all great diners, Tastee seems to be stuck in time. The breakfast -- served all day -- is cooked on a giant flat top grill behind the counter, where fat from the cheeseburgers and bacon mingle together with the eggs and pancakes. This is a true greasy spoon: ratty booths, sticky floors, and the requisite surly waitstaff. You can even play Keno in the back room. The menu is charmingly dated: try the chipped beef over biscuits or the "International" omelet (a Western omelet with salsa on top).

I'll be perfectly honest and admit that the food is hit or miss. Tastee's French toast is made with Wonder bread, which soaks up the egg like a delicious sponge. Who doesn't like eating bread pudding for breakfast? The corned beef hash is pleasantly crisp, and eggs over easy always have runny yolks. On the other hand, the home fries are a perennial disappointment: too much undercooked potato, not enough crunchy exterior. (Whatever you do, don't order the danish -- it comes in a plastic wrapper, like the ones they sell at the gas station.) All that aside, half the fun of eating at Tastee is the retro atmosphere -- and, perhaps most importantly, Tastee is one of a handful of area restaurants open 24 hours a day. In other words, you can eat breakfast whenever you want, and who doesn't love that?

North China Restaurant
7814 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda
Dimsum available Sat - Sun 11:30am-3:00pm

Maxim Chinese Grocery
460 Hungerford Drive, Rockville

Favorites of DCist's: Jamie R. Liu, food editor

Growing up in a Chinese household, savory foods -- aside from breakfast meats -- have never seemed absurd for breakfast. And while dim sum tends to be more of a Chinese brunch, I still consider much of it as breakfast food. North China Restaurant in Bethesda provides a dim sum meal that is different from the majority of dim sum joints in the area. It serves up a combination of a few typical Hong Kong items, as well as what would be termed as Taiwanese "small eats." Some classic favorites are yiu tiao (fried crullers) soaked in sweet soy milk -- a crisp and sweet combination, soft layered flaky sesame flatbreads, and oyster pancakes -- an omelet full of plump oysters and topped with a combination of oyster sauce and ketchup. Every soup dumpling (listed on the menu as steamed buns) is chock full of broth and a mouthful of delicious pork stuffing. The fried items are also excellent - fried chicken, shrimp or squid all have a delicious salt and pepper crust topped off with bits of fried basil. For of Chinese cuisine connoisseurs, the flavors are familiar but are delivered in a slightly different form.

There is also one fast and simple Chinese item in Rockville which I love to grab early on weekends. At Maxim Chinese grocery on Rockville Pike, there are a number of ready-made foods for sale, but one of the best among them is the pan-fried steamed buns. Soft dough surrounds a delicious pork filling, which is then pan fried. (Feel the containers to see which ones are still warm as their bottoms may likely still be crisp.) If so, eat them in the parking lot. But even after they've sat, the pork juices saturate the dough making it super-flavorful. If you've still got some when you make it home, a delicious traditional dip is a mix of julienned ginger, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce.

Osman & Joe's Steak 'n Egg Kitchen
4700 Wisconsin Ave NW
A Favorite of DCist's: Andrew Wiseman, public affairs writer

Officially called Osman & Joe's, this Wisconsin Avenue joint is best known by its sign, which simply reads "Steak and Egg." Sitting a few blocks north of the Tenleytown Metro station, it's a favorite of folks pining for cholesterol-tastic breakfast food and other such diner staples. A tiny shell of a building, the place has a few tables outside and about ten seats at the counter -- so people often have to wait along the wall for seats to open. (This just adds to the character, obviously.) The food is what you'd expect from a prototypical greasy spoon -- pancakes, eggs, sausage, ham, burgers, and so on, all from one big griddle. It's not as cheap as the ambiance might suggest, but it's less than fancier breakfast joints. Hey, if you're looking for grease, look no further.