Photo by staceyviera.

Dish of the Week: Breakfast sandwich
Where: Market Lunch, Ben’s Chili Bowl, any local diner

Today, we pay homage to the mighty breakfast sandwich, that wonderful agglomeration of eggs, cheese, cured meat and bread. Sure, you could eat all these things separately on your plate, but why? Why not turn it into that quintessential lunch food, a sandwich? Therein lies the brilliance of the breakfast sandwich: hangover-busting grease meets convenient portability. When McDonald’s rolled out the Egg McMuffin in 1972, a breakfast star was born.

The composition of a “perfect” breakfast sandwich is hotly debated. (People are serious about breakfast.) Bacon or sausage? Cheese or no cheese? Should the egg be fried or scrambled? For such a simple meal, the iterations are substantial. Perhaps the biggest question is that of the carbohydrate. Certainly the English muffin is a classic, but there’s also the bagel, the croissant, and, my personal favorite, the biscuit.

Breakfast sandwiches are certainly a fast food staple, but they also can be found at pretty much any greasy spoon, from Florida Avenue Grill to Tastee Diner, as well as numerous sandwich counters and delis. The Market Lunch takes things to a new level by adding a layer of homefries to their rendition. Meanwhile, Ben’s Chili Bowl with make you one with scrapple, the most maligned (and misunderstood) breakfast meat outside of of Spam. Since my cholesterol levels preclude me from sampling all the offerings in the area, please let us know where to get your favorite breakfast sandwich in the comments.

Small Bites

Sietsema’s Spring Dining Guide
WaPo’s Tom Sietsema released his spring dining guide this week, in which he revisits 15 established restaurants with mixed results. Cashion’s Eat Place gets raves after having flown under the radar (now we’ll never get reservations); Old Ebbitt Grill lives up to its reputation as a tourist trap; and Bar Pilar continues to serve up solid, flavorful dishes.

Whose taco reigns supreme?
On Sunday at noon, Rock and Roll Hotel will play host to the D.C. Taco Experiment. Home chefs will compete for taco glory, swag from Le Creuset, cash money, and the chance to compete in the national cook-off in Brooklyn. If you think you have a winning taco recipe, you can enter the contest here. Spectators can purchase tickets for $14 (including service, online) or $15 at the door. Proceeds benefit D.C. Central Kitchen.

2 Amys: The Sequel?
Bethesda will be getting its own Neopolitan pizzeria on Monday with the opening of Pizzeria da Marco. The new restaurant will be the first in the area to use a SF Allestimenti brick oven, which heats up to a blistering 900 degrees and can cook a pie in one minute flat. Pizzeria da Marco will be serving free pizza from 5-10:30 p.m. on opening day and half-priced pizzas for the rest of the month.