Like making your bed first thing in the morning, taking time for a sit-down breakfast is one of those gestures that instantly improves your day. No matter what lies ahead, you’ll come home to a straightened nest or go forth with fuel in your tank, respectively.
Breakfast is also the most democratic meal of the day, typically less expensive and performative than dinner, and a nice balance to the usual rush. I like to think of the morning meal as a satisfying act of resistance against a prepackaged protein bar at your desk or a container of yogurt knocked back in your car.
Those are among the lessons I learned as I spent the last month identifying some of the D.C. area’s best breakfasts away from home. As diverse as they are, each venue offers the bonus of a sense of community along with their menus — reason enough in my book to rise and shine.
La Tejana
Ana-Maria Jaramillo moved from Texas to D.C. for love eight years ago and promptly encountered heartbreak: Where were the breakfast tacos?
“I was very disappointed in the breakfast scene,” says Jaramillo, who missed her daily habit from back in McAllen, where she grew up, and Austin, where she went to college. Thus began a journey to fill the void, which started with Jaramillo peddling breakfast tacos from her stoop in Mt. Pleasant in 2019 and eventually opening a brick-and-mortar shop called Le Tejana four years later.
Along the way, she also perfected the vessel for her tacos. To visit the storefront these days is to chomp into a flour tortilla that relies on vegetable shortening and olive oil for moisture and manages to be simultaneously thin, malleable, fluffy and tasty, even without a filling.
The fillings are fab, though. The best-seller is 956, the area code for McAllen. Inside the bundle await refried beans, custardy scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, cilantro and bacon — a lot to like. Make mine a 512, the area code for Austin and meaty with another D.C. favorite: chopped brisket from 2Fifty Texas BBQ. Very good meatless breakfast tacos, one with tomatoes and poblano, are offered as well.
You can buy a single taco, but most requests are for three or six. Everything is homemade, sauces included. The tangy crowd-pleaser blends Greek yogurt, cilantro, lime juice and more.
Honestly, I adore everything about Le Tejana, save for the lines when I’m hangry. (The kitchen, headed up by Gus May, Jaramillo’s husband, turns out as many as 1,800 tacos on the weekend; a dedicated team of egg-crackers goes through an estimated 180 cases a week.) Rickety stairs lead to a spare, second-floor dining area dressed with blue tables and curtains for windows facing the street, a space available to rent for a gathering.
The name of the business and the faceless woman depicted on the packaging pay homage to the strong Latina women Jaramillo says inspired her back home. “It’s a symbol of what I want to represent,” says the entrepreneur, who gives away leftover tacos to her neighbors and has plans to expand. Without revealing too much, she teases that No. 2 will be in the District and open in “under a year.” I see more lines in her future.
3211 Mt. Pleasant St. NW
202-621-8509
latejanadc.com
Breakfast tacos $4.75 (for one) to $26 (for six)
The Market Lunch
If you want to know what distinguishes the eye openers at The Market Lunch inside Eastern Market from so many of its peers, just ask Tom Glasgow. “Everything we make is real,” says the owner of one of the most beloved institutions on Capitol Hill.
Sure enough, only fresh blueberries go into his signature, fluffy buckwheat pancakes, and never too soon to prevent the fruit from bursting on the griddle. Genuine maple syrup makes the best topper; coffee from Rise Up provides a potent chaser.
The crab cake platter with a choice of eggs shows off plenty of goodness, too. Eggs over easy are textbook definitions, and they’re served alongside potatoes that are boiled, chopped, deep-fried and tinted with (surprise!) Accent. The star of the plate, though, is the crab cake, shaped from jumbo lump crab from Cambridge, Md. Parsley, mayonnaise and mustard inform the mix, but mostly what you taste is local crab that’s brightened with a splash of fresh lemon juice at the end. A house-baked bun, crisped on the griddle, allows you to create your own breakfast sandwich.
Market Lunch on the Hill breakfast.
Tom Sietsema/The Washington Sun
Another prize is the aptly-named “brick” that packs in a roll a choice of eggs, meat (go for the spicy sausage), fried potatoes and melted American cheese. Have extra napkins handy.
Customers join a line beneath a big chalkboard menu, give their order to a friendly face behind a counter, then wait for their names to be called. The process may take a few minutes; be patient. Sure, you can take your breakfast to go, but the better plan is to sit at Market Lunch’s long, worn, wood counter and soak up the scene as you eat. (The attraction unfolds in a Victorian building designed by Adolf Cluss, also responsible for the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building.)
A sign on the wall, testament to the institution’s popularity, lays out some rules: “No saving seats” is one. “No reading of newspapers or laptops when we are crowded,” reads another.
Sound strict? It’s not. Glasgow, who’s watched over the place since 1978, turns out to be a softie who encourages tourists to try something they’re unfamiliar with (fried oysters, maybe) and shared that he shed a real tear the day the late civil rights activist and statesman John Lewis appeared in line.
“I enjoy what I do,” says the owner, 70, who adds that “the neatest people in the world” come through his place — and work there, I’d add.
225 7th St. SE (inside Eastern Market)
202-547-8444
marketlunchdc.com
Breakfast dishes $7.95 to $26.95
Parkway Deli & Restaurant
Breakfast for dinner is always an option at this popular Silver Spring storefront. So is dinner for breakfast. Which means one of you can be tackling eggs, pancakes and bacon during morning rush hour while another is slurping chicken soup, crammed with the obvious but also carrots, onions and egg noodles. Each spoonful goes down like a hug.
Launched in 1963, Parkway Deli, which opens with a food store, is in the hands of Danny Gurewitz, a third-generation owner. He reports an average of 300 diners visit each day. His recipe for success: “We have a large menu and people can pretty much get what they want.”
No problem if you want your bagel scooped out. The vibe is relaxed. A glance around the dining room — a sea of booths and bands of mirrors at eye level — finds lots of demographics, including kids sporting paper crowns and coloring with crayons provided by the restaurant.
For breakfast, I head for bronzed potato pancakes topped with eggs over easy and nova lox, or sometimes an omelet that’s a smidge smaller than an iPad, packed with green peppers, ham and melted cheese. Huge mugs of coffee make them feel bottomless.
Helping to keep the place busy are a popular pickle bar and a steady kitchen. Head chef Rene Santos has been a presence for 32 years. “He’ll never leave,” jokes his boss.
8317 Grubb Rd., Silver Spring
301-587-1427
theparkwaydeli.com
Breakfast dishes $10 to $18
Ruthie’s All-Day
Craving pancakes? You want the golden buttermilk saucers at this family-friendly dining room in Arlington Heights, where the order comes with a knob of butter that melts in the heat and a chunky apple compote lightly sweetened with maple syrup.
As much as the food, the sunny setting says “good morning,” thanks to green wainscoting, white subway tile, windows that look onto an umbrella-shaded patio, and an open kitchen. (Unlike at night, at breakfast you order at the counter, find your own seat, and pour your own water. Works for me!)
Ruthie’s list is just nine dishes long, but the treasures include one of the finest breakfast sandwiches in the area, scrambled eggs and herby pork sausage slipped between Ruthie’s craggy biscuits. Best to eat the construction with a knife and fork — and watch out for the warm rush of aioli. Prepare to cancel your lunch plans, too. Named for a long-ago food business at the same location, “Mr. W’s” biscuit amounts to a lot of fuel.
Speaking of generous, the $18 “big plate” brings together a palooza of two eggs, house-made bacon, beef sausage, chive-flecked hash browns and biscuits baked on site. Small wonder two diners often opt to split the largesse. That’s never an issue with the restaurant, which in the a.m. fills with parents (some with babies in tow), Pentagon types and the occasional critic in search of a meal deal. (Ruthie’s is where I sometimes direct mourners after services at Arlington National Cemetery, less than 10 minutes away.)
Good news for Fairfax: A spinoff, from chef Matt Hill and general manager Todd Salvadore, opened in April, giving locals fresh reason to rise and shine and the owners a chance to “make some new friends,” says Salvadore.
3411 5th St South, Arlington
703-888-2841
ruthiesallday.com
Breakfast dishes $8 to $18
Seasons
Here’s where bold-face names and power brokers like to start their day, and not just because the tables in the light-filled, carpet-softened dining room in the Four Seasons hotel are surrounded by pools of space. (One strains to eavesdrop, in other words.) There’s the warm reception at the host stand, a spread of newspapers for those who want their information from dead trees, and such niceties on the broad tables as fresh flowers and those tiny jars of marmalade that may or may not end up in a purse or pocket by meal’s end. I couldn’t help but smile when I looked up to see light fixtures framed in sunbursts.
Water and coffee come quickly – welcome touches when you might be getting billed by the hour by a tablemate.
Seasons’ menu checks all the breakfast boxes. What I appreciate is the unexpected ground the list also covers. A Turkish-inspired plate found a poached egg atop eggplant-tomato confit in a ring of sesame-seeded simit bread — an artful and delicious combination that transports you to Istanbul in every bite. When two of us were debating dishes, our attendant volunteered to split them both on our respective plates. And so it was that we both got tastes of finely minced corned beef hash and chorizo molletes (an open-faced Mexican sandwich with refried beans and Oaxacan cheese).
Watching your diet? Seek out the keto plate, bulked up with grilled halloumi, wagyu beef and sauerkraut, among other accompaniments. The purple-colored smoothie powered with berries, yogurt, soy milk and oat bran helps out, too.
As befits the Four Seasons, the service and extra touches are tops. Expect an elegant biscotti on your coffee saucer and a skewer of blueberries garnishing your smoothie. When I ordered a fruit plate in addition to another breakfast dish, my server talked me down to a half-portion, which was still generous for a solo diner. No fewer than eight different fruits arrived, beautifully arranged in their bowl. Leftovers were packed in a bag that included compostable utensils. “A sword for your hash,” said a server who set down a big carved knife for the corned beef hash. Seasons has a sense of humor to boot.
2800 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
202-342-0444
fourseasons.com
Breakfast entrees $24 to $72
Dining and Cooking