This weekend, a new breakfast pop up out of HalfSmoke in Shaw will make its introduction by giving away hundreds of sandwiches to the city’s mothers and healthcare staff who support them.
Butter Me Up opens Friday to provide another morning option for a shuttered D.C. On Sunday, the pop-up will offer a free sandwich and coffee to the first 200 moms who stop by the Florida Ave. storefront in person. (There’s no kid or other proof required—just scout’s honor.) And, to celebrate the first week of service, all customers will receive a free coffee with every sandwich they buy in-person or via delivery through May 15.
“Moms are the backbone of a lot of families,” says Michelle Andrade, HalfSmoke’s general manager and chief operating officer. “It makes sense that we focus on moms in our launch and support them throughout the weekend, especially the moms who are still working right now and saving the world and have a family at home.”
After its weekend debut—during which the team is also delivering sandwiches to Howard University Hospital’s pediatrics and OB/GYN departments—the pop-up will continue to serve eight breakfast handhelds (all $7 to $10), coffee from Büna Coffeehouse and Southeastern Roastery, tea from Calabash Tea & Tonic, and a la carte cocktails every day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The bread comes daily from Panorama Bakery; some of the sandwiches use Logan’s Sausage. Takeout and delivery will overlap with service at HalfSmoke, which is still offering its full menu of candy-laden desserts and namesake sausages starting at 11 a.m. every day, despite downsizing to a smaller staff.
Andrade’s idea for the pop-up came out of her wish to do more for the neighborhood in quarantine. With so many coffee shops and other breakfast spots closed down, Andrade says she wanted to give people a way to “start the day with good intentions” and support the local suppliers she works with in the process.
It’s also in thanks to Andrade’s own mother, who cooked breakfast every day during her childhood no matter how busy their lives were. On weekends, she would make her version of a popular breakfast sandwich from Cape Verde, where she has roots: a Portuguese smoke-cured linguica sausage, scrambled eggs, and cheddar cheese on a sweet roll. Andrade recreated the sandwich for Butter Me Up (it’s called the Just Like Luisa) in honor of her mom.
The rest of the sandwiches compile the HalfSmoke staff’s breakfast favorites. Most feature eggs in some form; Heftier options like a buttermilk fried chicken sandwich and an angus burger come topped with over-medium ones. A classic bacon, egg, and cheese combo gets a lift from chipotle ketchup and sweet butter bread. There are two vegetarian options: the Stop Beefin,’ with Beyond meat, spicy avocado, and sriracha-maple aioli; and homemade egg salad and arugula. Cocktails to go include fruity mimosas ($5) and bloody Marys made with Gordy’s Pickle Jar juice ($6).
Each sandwich also comes with what Andrade calls “action cards”—positive sayings and suggestions created by the staff to encourage individuals to be kind to themselves and others. They might tell you to “Text Your Best Friend a Fond Memory You Have of Them” or “Make a Stranger Smile Today” or to “Look in the Mirror and Tell Yourself I’m Beautiful.” The pop-up encourages people to share their cards with others and suggest their own ideas for what they want to see on the cards, which they can submit via Instagram or in person. As a sort of loyalty system for Butter Me Up, customers can exchange five cards they collect for a complimentary sandwich.
“No matter what’s happening, you’ve got to keep a positive attitude, and that can be challenging during this quarantine,” says Andrade. “Everyone needs to be buttered up right now. I think it will be cool that over time, as we have more customers, all these cards are generated by people throughout the community—a nice cycle of positive actions going on all around us.”
The pop-up has plans to continue indefinitely at HalfSmoke, though Andrade would love to open as a separate brick-and-mortar location someday.
Butter Me Up is located at 651 Florida Ave NW. Take-out and delivery hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. To order, visit @buttermeupdc on Instagram, call 202-986-2127, or order through GrubHub, UberEats, Postmates, Caviar, or DoorDash. Complimentary delivery is available within a one-mile radius of the restaurant.
