Those who long for the sun-soaked flavors of New Mexico, Arizona, and South Carolina might want to grab a forkful of the new Southwest-inspired breakfast offerings at Alison Swope’s expense-account dining room, Restaurant K.
Gone is the usual breakfast fare of sweet and savory. Instead, the menu provides kick and spice with huevos motulenos —a Yucatán-inspired breakfast tostada with refried beans, ham, peas, and queso fresco. Some may not think the chilaquiles with eggs—a green-tomatillo-sauced, “deconstructed” enchilada—would prove easy to stomach so early in the morning. Flavors in both the huevos and the chilaquiles, however, are mild enough to go with coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Homier choices include an oversize sticky bun and banana-pecan French toast. The moist banana-pecan bread is so sweet that it hardly needs the real maple syrup it’s served with. A wedge of blue-crab quiche with corn-and-egg custard filling offers generous portions of crab meat but only a hint of the promised Gruyère cheese.
The real kicker: biscuits and gravy served Southwest style with chorizo gravy and eggs. It might just convince out-of-towners that DC is in touch with its below-the- Mason-Dixon-Line roots. Just don’t tell them the chef hails from the south . . . of Philadelphia.
Restaurant K, 1700 K St., NW; 202-974-6545; restaurantkbyalisonswope.com. Open for breakfast Tuesday through Friday 7:30 to 10 AM.
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