Dish of the Week: Rabbit! Just kidding.
Where: Bourbon Steak, City Perch Kitchen + Bar, Co Co. Sala, and many more. Because Easter brunch is busy, call ahead for reservations.
There are certain days when gorging on chocolate from morning until night is not only acceptable, it’s actually encouraged, and that just makes some of us really happy.
Hello, Easter.
The holiday also brings out a few other food traditions we really like, namely brunch, eggs at every meal, butter shaped as lambs, and did we already mention chocolate bunnies? Put on your Sunday best, a perfectly pastel Easter bonnet, and hop on out for a springtime brunch.
Because chocolate is clearly the priority, the Easter celebrations ought to start at Co Co. Sala (929 F Street NW), where you can find ducky-shaped chocolate lollipops, floppy-eared chocolate bunnies, and fancy chocolate eggs with a colorful Mondrian vibe. You can stock up on these confections at the F Street location or their Union Market boutique (1309 5th Street NE). If you’re in the market for Sunday brunch, go for the French Toast S’mores: cinnamon brioche stuffed with marshmallow, dark chocolate, and graham cracker shortbread, then topped with banana compote and milk chocolate mousse.
Once you’ve stocked up on chocolate, Bourbon Steak (2800 Pennsylvania Ave NW) gets down to the serious business of the Easter egg hunt, only they’ve pretty much blown away the competition by offering an adults-only version in which you’ll be hunting for miniature bottles of WhistlePig Whiskey charmingly clad in pastel ribbons. If you’re still jonesing for some eggs, order up their signature Maryland Blue Crab Eggs Benedict, spiked with Old Bay hollandaise, or the New York strip sporting a sunny side up egg.
If you’re not too cool to eat brunch in North Bethesda — then you’ll find a special treat bizarre marketing ploy waiting for you at City Perch (11830 Grand Park Avenue, North Bethesda). A Hipster Bunny (can’t make this up) will be on hand, decked out in the trendiest clothes and totally Instagrammable. When you aren’t loading up your DIY Bloody Mary with fresh herbs, charcuterie, and shrimp as big as your head, you can focus on their egg specialties, from bennies topped with kale tabbouleh, avocado mousse, and tomato marmalade to rosemary biscuits piled with housemade sausage and fried eggs.
If you’re sentimental about bunnies but not about lamb, then gambol over to Brasserie Beck (1101 K Street NW) for brunch, where they’re serving up leg of lamb marinated in garlic, lemon, and herbs and served with a carrot top salsa verde and housemade yogurt. Other seasonal offerings include a spring pea soup with Maine lobster and smoked bacon and house-cured ham with fresh asparagus and fava beans, farm eggs, and a mustard hollandaise.
Not in the mood for a big Easter brunch? Shake Shack’s got that covered, with the Chocolate Easter Egg Concrete cups, a blend of vanilla frozen custard, salted marshmallow caramel sauce, and Mast Brothers chocolate chunks. The specialty blend will only be available for Easter weekend.
Small Bites:
Taste of Burma
‘Toli moli’ is an Anglo-Indian expression meaning “a little of this and a little of that.” It’s also the brand name of a mother-daughter pair of D.C. food innovators, Jocelyn Law-Yone and Simone Jacobson, introducing Burmese sweets and snacks to locals — and a bit of a blast from the past for former Duke Ellington School of the Arts students who fondly recall Law-Yone as their freshman English teacher. Toli Moli made its public debut in January with its interpretation of falooda, an ice cream-based dessert drink served in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. On March 29, Toli Moli returns with a pop-up event at Thip Khao (3462 14th Street NW) from 3 to 10 p.m. Eating dessert first is encouraged. The menu includes a Cherry Blossom falooda with apple-mint jellies, noodle pudding, basil seeds, homemade cherry syrup and vanilla ice cream, as well as a boozy Bourbon-Cassis falooda made with orange zest and Crème de Cassis jellies, basil seeds, noodle pudding and vanilla ice cream. Other flavors are the classic Royal Falooda; a cold brew coffee preparation; and a vegan mango falooda. A savory sampler platter offers Burmese tea leaf salad, shrimp fritters, sprouted yellow peas and paratha flatbread. Thip Khao is normally closed Tuesdays, so its menu is not available during the Toli Moli takeover. There is no admission charge to attend the pop-up. Faloodas and savory foods are $7.99-$11.99. — Andrea Adleman
Last Days of Millie and Al’s
For more than a week, Millie and Al’s has been selling off its decorations—a sign that the end was coming for the 53-year-old bar. The most notable memorabilia, like the skeleton whose dance signals the readiness of a new batch of jello shots, will be up for auction at at 6 p.m. on April 3. On April 7, the bar’s final night, Millie and Al’s will open early at 4 p.m. for one last hurrah. — Rachel Kurzius
Drink the District
Tickets to the third annual Drink the District at The Yards on Saturday entitle attendees to unlimited samples of the 200+ wines and beers on offer. A number of food trucks will be on hand should you wish to provide a cushion for all that booze, and entertainment will include live performances and lawn games like giant jenga, corn hole, and beer pong (wait, when did beer pong become a lawn game?). There are two sessions to choose from (1-4 p.m. or 6 to 9 p.m). Tickets start at $35. —Rachel Sadon
Sherry Blossoms
Estadio (1520 14th Street NW) gets in the seasonal spirit with a happy hour menu that features $5-$7 sherries. There’s also a sherry-heavy $55 tasting menu that ends off on a sherry float. The “Sherry Blossom Festival” runs through April 17. — Rachel Sadon
