Check out a new restaurant for weekend brunch, sip discount daiquiris, or grab a sandwich (and some free wi-fi) at a new market opening Friday.
BRUNCH
Jaleo (Penn Quarter, Crystal City, and Bethesda locations)
José Andrés announced this week he’ll switch up the brunch offerings at Jaleo starting Saturday, February 1. Look for sweet and savory small plates such as crispy bread layered with goat cheese and smoked salmon, fried eggs and potatoes (with optional sea urchin), and churros dunked in hot chocolate.
Medium Rare Barracks Row
515 Eighth St., SE; 202-601-7136
The Capitol Hill sibling to Cleveland Park’s steak frites spot just opened on Monday, and is serving its first brunch this weekend. The $23 set menu includes bottomless mimosas (or screwdrivers for more ambitious drinkers), fruit salad, and a steak-portobello mushroom Benedict.
LUNCH
Menu MBK
405 Eighth St., NW; 202-347-7491
The first phase of chef Frederik de Pue’s new restaurant opens on Friday. While the sit-down restaurant portions don’t debut until later, you can head to the first-floor market for lunch. The lineup includes sandwiches, salads, coffees, and pastries; settle in at the top-floor bistro with your haul and take advantage of the free wi-fi.
Silo
919 Fifth St., NW; 202-290-2233
The new Mount Vernon Triangle spot Silo just launched lunch. Look for French- and Swiss-inspired dishes such as a seafood salad with cider vinaigrette and a dry-aged burger with Guinness-caramelized onions and Gruyère.
HAPPY HOUR
Bar Pilar
1833 14th St., NW; 202-265-1751
Newish chef Jesse Miller just revamped the food menu to include some interesting dishes—think pork sliders with pickled-pig-ear slaw, bison pot pie, and Old Bay-spiked crab mac and cheese. Try them alongside the new happy hour offerings: trotter tots, rum daiquiris, and glasses of wine, all for $5. The deals run Monday through Friday 5 to 7:30.
Shake Shack (Dupont and Penn Quarter locations)
As if we needed another reason to be tempted by Shake Shack, the burger chain now offers happy hour. Head in for half off red and white wine and draft beer, including Brooklyn Brewery’s Shackmeister Ale. The deal runs Monday through Friday 5 to 7.
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.
