Adour
Three-course menu ($89 per person; $45 children’s menu)
Availability: A few tables are available between noon and 2 PM.
Treat mom to a meal at Alaine Ducasse’s restaurant in the tony St. Regis with the likes of foie gras, lobster, and Champagne.
Bibiana
Three course menu ($45 per person; $23 for kids)
Availability: A mix throughout the day.
Break from the Benedict mold with a modern Italian brunch, including fried artichokes, burrata mozzarella, bucatini carbonara, and coconut semifreddo.
Blue Duck Tavern
Three-course menu ($90 per person; $42.50 for children 6 to 12; free for children under 6)
Availability: Smaller parties still have a chance for seats in the later hours (after 2 PM)
Chef Sebastien Archambault‘s elegant dining room offers a mix of seasonal specialties on the buffet appetizer and dessert spreads, as well as plated entrées.
Cafe du Parc
Three-course menu ($44 per person)
Availability: A few tables remain around 2 PM (brunch orders end after 2:30)
A simple yet classically elegant French affair, including smoked-salmon tartine, and fried squash blossoms with ratatouille and a “perfect” egg.
Equinox
Three-course menu ($45 per person, $30 kids)
Availability: Currently there are tables free between noon and 4 PM, including for parties of six and eight.
Chef Karen Nicolas’s seasonal lineup includes plenty of options for each course, from citrus-marinated beets to hay-smoked escargot, eggs Benedict with serrano ham, and French toast.
Hank’s Oyster Bar (Dupont, Alexandria)
À-la-carte menu
Availability: The Dupont location is still taking reservations; in Alexandria, it’s walk-in as usual.
Don’t feel like shelling out for a pricey prix-fixe? Snag a reservation in Dupont for tasty-yet-casual fried clams and lobster rolls.
The Majestic
À-la-carte and Nana Sunday Dinner menus
Availability: A few seats from 4 PM on.
Late risers can head to this Alexandria neighborhood spot for either the dinner menu or reservation-only Sunday special, this month a picnic theme with fried chicken and fixins.
Marcel’s
Three-course menu ($80 per person; $40 for kids 12 and under)
Availability: There are still tables available here and there throughout service.
The refined, dinner-only Marcel’s offers a special Mother’s Day brunch with dishes such as jumbo lump crabcakes, Chesapeake rockfish with oyster mushrooms, and flourless chocolate cake.
The Oval Room
Three-course menu (under “events”; $50 per person)
Mom will appreciate the calm ambience at this fine-dining spot in the White House environs, where chef Tony Conte serves the likes of truffle pasta and salmon with prosciutto and mint.
PassionFish
À-la-carte menu
Availability: Mostly tables for two are available between noon and 2:30 PM.
Jeff Tunks’s Reston seafood spot is offering its regular menu plus brunch specials like crabcake eggs Benedict, a Cajun seafood frittata, and pain perdu with bananas foster sauce.
Pearl Dive Oyster Palace
À-la-carte menu
Availability: Reservations are filling up, but there are still some available.
This Gulf Coast-inspired eatery is the only Jeff and Barbara Black-owned restaurant to still have availability, and it’s taking brunch reservations, for a change.
Ris
Four-course menu ($70 per person) and à-la-carte menu
Availability: Tables are free in the 10 to 11 AM window, and then again after 3 PM (see the late lunch menu)
If Mom’s an early riser, suggest meeting at this West End eatery for the à-la-carte brunch and then heading down to the Mall for a walk around the monuments.
701
Three-course menu (under “events”; $50 per person)
Availability: More tables are available from 1 PM on.
Win points for food as well as ambiance at this New American spot across the street from the White House with live jazz and an outdoor patio.
Trummer’s on Main
Three-course menu ($64 per person; $25 for kids)
Availability: A few spots for parties of two, four, and even six.
Take Mom on a mini trip to Clifton, Virginia, for a three-course menu from chef Clayton Miller.
2941
Three-course menu ($60 per person; $20 children
‘s menu)
Availability: Mostly spots for parties of two between 11:45 AM and 12:45 PM.
Chef Bertrand Chemel may be running a more casual kitchen for the new 2941, but the set menu and airy dining room still give Mother’s Day that special-occasion feel.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
