You say "I ordered you a pancake"

Perusing our recent entries, you'd think that we only go out for brunch. While we need to play catch up (Bibiana and Blue Duck for Restaurant Week, an early January culinary scavenger hunt through the city, an an organic delivery service in Bethesda, to name a few) brunch will always have a special place in my heart - the one meal where food and relaxation can trump any other consideration.

Contributor extraordinaire Maria got married over the weekend and, with the help of a very understanding catering manager, we managed to throw an after-nuptials family brunch during Restaurant Week. The private dining room at Urbana fits 12, and during the peak of the brunch service we were grateful for the sliding doors that separate it from the main dining room (extra tables for Restaurant Week, ceramic tiles and Bottomless Bellinis generate an atmosphere that, while usually appreciated, were grating my sleep-deprived, slightly hungover self on this particular outing).

Our reservation was for 1 PM, so our group fell on both sides of the brunch divide - hamburgers and Chicken Caesar Salad for some, breakfast items for the rest of us, and coffee all around. The Bottomless Bellini (with refills all through Brunch until 3 PM) is still a steal at $16: a selection of fresh juices (favorites include passion fruit and strawberry, while the Pear is not for the faint of palate) topped with sparkling wine (an Italian Prosecco, Montelliana, with a mineral content that makes it ideal for mixing). Through years of practice (our extended neighborhood and all) Maria is particularly adept at creating creative concoctions. Tables of 4 or more get to keep the bottle table-side.

For their first brunch as a married couple, the newlyweds had classic menu items - a three egg omelette with everything minus the chorizo for the groom, and the Challah French Toast with a side of bacon for the bride who, despite her best efforts, always orders the same thing. The stomach, like the heart, wants what it wants, and Sunday was no exception. There's something about the crunch from the griddle and the acidity of the strawberry compote paired with the maple syrup that conspires to make this a great dish. As for me - I skipped the Bellinis (Botomless Cup of Coffee did the trick for me that day) and had the blueberry pancakes with bananas and a side of eggs. The eggs can come in any style but I chose scrambled, slightly runny, and doused with the hot sauce I requested. The pancakes are fantastic - fluffy, and with just a touch of blueberry. The banana slices are placed on top, and the dish could easily do without them. But at least you can use them to tell yourself you re having two servings of fruit, and conveniently forget to account for the warm maple syrup. Our server, Dana, heroically handled the sliding door and our floating head count to make this a very happy close to the festivities.


Urbana Restaurant and Wine Bar at Hotel Palomar Dupont Circle
2121 P St NW
Washington, DC 20037
(202) 956-6650
www.urbanadc.com

Sashay shante

As far as gastronomy-related performances go, Perry's Sunday Brunch is hard to beat. Brunch, my favorite meal, promises a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and exaggerates certain characteristics with a flourish - breakfast in drag, and at a much more convenient hour. While Perry's is a destination for groups of revelers, T. and I decided to give it the Any Given Sunday treatment and just showed up at their recommended hour of 11.45 AM. Perry's does not take reservation, and your arrival time is noted by the hostess. You are welcome to wait at the very crowded bar (where we were treated to a dancing father-daughter duo, as well as patrons that were sporting handle bar mustaches and bleached and permed hair). Most of the tables turn when the performers take breaks, and our wait was about 45 minutes. The servers play a huge part in keeping everybody happy and imbibed - Perry's serves the strongest Mimosa I've ever had in DC, with just a splash of OJ to go with your bubbles.

If you have anything important to discuss with your brunch companions, this is not the place to do it. The Queens command attention, and the disco/Lady Gaga/Beyonce mix blares on top of the ding of a crowded dining room. It is also a more interactive experience than the Gospel Brunch at the Corcoran (where, I suspect, none of the performers will ask you if you want or need a BBC in your life). On Sundays Perry's goes from a la carte to a buffet (around $25 per person, cocktails are about $6 each). I am not a huge fan of brunch buffets, and the long line that forms in between shows makes repeated visits difficult (the solution is giving you an enormous plate, which may not be everyone's favorite strategy). However, the kitchen tops off the selections regularly, and everything is well prepared - everything from eggs, salads, waffles, noodles, sushi, cold cuts, lasagna, orzo salad, and grilled chicken and pork. The corn muffins are very tasty and the dolmas, though they had no reason to be there, were chilled and tangy. The sushi is nothing special on its own, but its sheer presence next to scrambled eggs makes the roles noteworthy.

The most boisterous brunch in the city, and a wonderful way to beat the winter blues.


Perry's Restaurant
1811 Columbia Rd NW
Washington, DC 20009
www.perrysadamsmorgan.com

Eat, Drink and be Merry

August is a particularly hard month at work, the one time of year where I don't observe the sanctity of the lunch break and eat at my desk (thankfully, Pret makes this better than it ought to be). But half the fun of going to a restaurant is the company, and in these impossible weeks I always make it a point to meet the near and dear for brunch.

Firefly, just south of Dupont Circle has become one of my favorites. It's signature indoor tree (complete with lanterns) isn't as striking by the light of day, but the dinning room (a fine study in maximization of space) is just as welcoming: stone, brass, and wood. You'll feel like you're visiting someone's impeccably designed cabin. The service is some of the most attentive I've had in DC - our French press coffee was promptly refilled, and our server pointed us in the direction of the $1 mimosas, answered questions about the menu items and, most importantly, weighed in on the important issue of protein v. carbs that all brunch patrons must face.

Chef Daniel Bortnick's menu is focused but abundant in choices (divided into cold things and hot things), with local farmers and purveyors listed at the bottom of the page. I tend to order brunch items with a marked tendency towards breakfast foods (though I've had the seared yellowfin tuna BLT for lunch). I chose the Snake Eyes, 2 soft-cooked eggs baked in a bread basket (growing up, my mom did a fried version of this and called it Eggs in a Frame). The baking makes all the difference - the bread basket had a distinctively different texture from the eggs without being too crispy. The eggs were set upon potatoes, with a side of country sausage and red-eye gravy (normally made with the dripping of pan-fried country ham but in this case it was probably sausage, mixed with black coffee), which added to the Southern flair of the dish. This is a layered and sophisticated egg dish that plays on both textures and temperatures, and a great alternative to staples such as eggs benedict.

A. went for Pop Pop's French toast - thick slices of challah bread dipped in orange and vanilla. The citrus does a great job of cutting the eggy smell present in most French toast, and the apple-raisin compote brings traditional flavors in a different form. The maple syrup was just warm enough.

Firefly had plenty of patrons that morning but our server made sure we took our time and enjoyed the best part of brunch - lingering and catching up over your remaining coffee (and a second round of mimosas).

Firefly @ Hotel Madera view menu
1310 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 861-1310
www.firefly-dc.com

The Brunch Eclectic

Last week I was invited, along with other card-holding members of the unofficial press, to sample the new items on the menu for 1905, a restaurant that opened a few months ago in Shaw/U Street down the street from the fabled Etete. Though the awning that covers the door to the small building that houses both 1905 and a (independently owned and managed) wine store is festooned with the street number (which also happens to be the named of the restaurant, flanked by two skeleton keys) you'll stop for a moment at the base of the stairs, wondering what you're in for. Like Darlington House in Dupont Circle, 1905 feels intimate, as if you are being hosted by your hippest acquaintances. You'll see several decades represented throughout the dinning room (which features chandeliers and communal tables) and bar, as well as aged wood (the benches came from a locker room in the University of Maryland) that compliments, rather than compete with, the houses outside. Unlike its spiritual cousin, the kitchen, with Chef Jose Sanchez at the helm, concentrates on the food and its ingredients. The decoration compliments, rather than makes up for, the eclectic menu.

Since it was Happy Hour after all, I started with Peared Up, a pear cocktail - vodka, ginger liquor and fresh lemon - that was refreshing and aromatic without being overwhelming. I've had pear-infused vodka with ginger ale before, but the ginger liquor gave it a lot more depth, with the slight bitterness bringing out the acidity in the pear. We started the tasting with two items from the brunch menu - a Spanish tortilla (and egg and potato pie, made on a skillet and without crust) topped with some aioli, a garlic and olive oil dressing that sometimes includes egg. The tortilla is served cold, as a tapa would, and while I understand some people may not want something cold for brunch, it seems like the perfect choice to bridge the divide between breakfast and lunch. The following course, the Creole Benedict, was my favorite dish of the evening: a poached egg over a Cajun fried rice cake topped with a crawfish hollandaise sauce. There are a lot of Cajun elements in the 1905 menu, and this is a very successful dish: the rice cakes were steaming hot, and the rice within kept its firm texture giving it a great counterpoint to the soft, and not as hot, egg. The hollandaise gave it a lot of heat without being overpowering. The egg was perfectly poached - though I do not mind some yolk, runny eggs would have ruined the crisp of the rice cake.

We were also served selections from the dinner menu. The soup course was fantastic - heat from Cajun spice paired with the creaminness of a crawfish bisque, which reinforced the New Orleans connection. The Pan Roasted shrimp, seasoned with Espelette pepper, is the kitchen's take on shrimp and grits - though the grits are replaced by creamy coconut crab rice, a very interesting re-imagining of the starch: the texture was there, but the taste was augmented by the pungency of the crab and the slickness of the coconut. The Angus burger was very well done, and centered on smokey flavors - gouda cheese and a red onion marmalade. The roasted beet salad had prime ingredients and look beautiful, but the arugula and goat cheese combination is something we've all seen before. The ox-tail ragout came out of left field for me - though the fettucini was great in both taste and texture (hand rolled in the kitchen, with saffron for taste and color) and patrons will always find comfort in pasta, it wasn't as connected to the rest of the menu, and lack the heat I had come to expect from the kitchen. For dessert we had chocolate bread pudding with vanilla ice cream, a very successful layering of hot and cold and dark and light.

1905 won't stay a secret for very long, but while it does, you'll feel like you've been handed the keys to the very cool kingdom.

(Photos courtesy of Dakota Fine)

1905 Restaurant
1905 9th St NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 332-1905
http://www.1905dc.com view menu

Brunch & Macarons

I am a big fan of brunch, but I am weary of Sunday buffets; the large spreads beg to justify the hefty price tags. I am not in the habit of fasting on Saturday nights, and I like to fight hangovers with preemptive after-midnight snacks. Unless I have out of town visitors who want to do the Gospel Brunch or the Kennedy Center rooftop, I prefer brunching a la carte.

An invitation to Sunday brunch at Meritage, located in the North Bethesda Marriott (directly across from the White Flint Metro stop) has me rethinking my anti-buffet stance. The dinning room is spacious and airy, the noise level lets you talk with your table companions comfortably, and the staff is quick to clear plates and refresh drinks. Located by the Montgomery County Bethesda North conference center, it is ideally suited to accommodate large groups.

Aside from standards (an omelet station, a carving station and a waffle station), the buffet items show a pride in local and fresh ingredients, including a raw bar. The chef also has a penchant for Eastern European influences: creamy and tart cheese blintzes, latkes with a hint of chives, pastries and savory breads. The hot food display included fish and chicken options, and, a rarity for brunch, soup. The kitchen (you can see some of the cooks behind the main thoroughfare) puts great care into the presentation and replenishment of the stations - there were no neglected chafing dishes or dried-out food.

With so many brunch options available in DC-proper, what makes the sojourn into Maryland worth considering? The brunch is an exceptional value: $24.95 including a glass of champagne, mimosa or bloody Mary (plus tax and tip). The Meritage is also ahead of the curb in dessert trend. If you look past the chocolate fountain you will find, in unassuming glass bowls, pastel-hued Macarons, directly imported from Paris. The merengue-like confections are currently all the rage in New York (cupcakes have had their day). The little domes, decked out in the colors of Spring, are well worth the trip.

Meritage at the North Bethesda Marriott
5701 Marinelli Road
Bethesda, MD 20852
www.bethesdanorthmarriott.com

Pumpkin Pancakes

In advance of Halloween, though I would pass along a tasty and fun recipe for pumpkin pancakes. Hope you enjoy.
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups milk
1 cup canned pumpkin
4 eggs, separated
1/4 cup melted butter
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg yolks and butter in another bowl. Using a hand-held electric mixer or a wooden spoon, beat the mixture until well-blended. Add the milk-pumpkin mixture to the flour-sugar mixture and, using a wooden spoon, mix just enough to moisten all ingredients. (Overmixing at this point will create pancakes with a rubbery texture.) Using clean beaters and bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry, then fold them into the batter. Spoon the batter onto a buttered or oiled hot griddle. Fry the pancakes until the tops look dry and small bubbles appear on the surface. Turn the pancakes and fry until second side is golden-brown. Serve with hot maple syrup. Yields approx. 30 four-inch pancakes.

Father's Day Brunch at Clyde's

For Father's Day this year, we went to Clyde's in Gallery Place. Certainly not anywhere overly special, but they do a really great brunch and we wanted to go somewhere that had a raw bar menu. I enjoyed a dozen Wellfleet oysters with my Dad. They were small to medium in size and were gorgeously briny - really had that "taste of the ocean" flavor I enjoy. I noted verbally that the menu included Fried Chicken and Waffles, and once my Dad saw the item listed his mind was made up as far as what to order. The dish comes with two large pieces of fried chicken, which were coated with a rich, golden brown and crispy coating, and served atop two large waffles and along side little cups of sweet butter and maple syrup. The combination of maple syrup and fried chicken is dynamite. A great combination of sweet and savory flavors and smooth and crunchy textures all at once. My brother had the Reuben Sandwich which he had with french fries (you also can order fruit or a side salad). The rye bread was toasted nicely and the Russian dressing went really well with the thick layers of the salty and pungent meat. We had a really nice meal and I think all were glad we were able to be together for the special day.