DC Summer Restaurant Week runs for two weeks this year, from Monday, August 17 through August 30. That means more time to brunch—especially since some restaurants have already started the $22 prix-fixe promotion. In addition to the regular three-course, dine-in option, many places are offering their Restaurant Week menus for takeout and delivery.
All-Purpose Capitol Riverfront
79 Potomac Ave., SE
Head to the outdoor patio or upstairs terrace at the Navy Yard pizzeria, or take your brunch to-go. On the menu: breakfast pies blistered in the deck oven, fun dishes like disco fries and a breakfast “morty” (focaccia with mortadella), and plenty of Aperol spritzes. Takeout, delivery, and outdoor seating.
Convivial
801 O St., NW
Chef Cedric Maupillier’s French-American brasserie offers its Restaurant Week menus—including a three-course brunch—throughout the month of August. Guests can pick between brunch classics (pancakes, shrimp n’ grits) or more lunch-y items like gazpacho or a fried chicken sandwich. Either way, the homemade cinnamon bun is a must. Takeout, delivery, indoor, and patio seating.
Espita Mezcaleria
1250 Ninth St., NW
Shaw’s Oaxacan restaurant regularly offers a three-course brunch for $23, so they should have the game down pat. Diners can pick between appetizers like tuna ceviche, entrees such as huevos rancheros or gluten-free waffles, and dessert. The restaurant also specializes in tasty Mezcal cocktails and homemade corn tortillas. Takeout, delivery, and patio seating.
The Grill from Ipanema
1858 Columbia Rd., NW
Adams Morgan’s 28 year-old Brazilian restaurant offers a wide-ranging brunch menu for Restaurant Week. The $22 meal looks like a good deal—pick between salad or black bean soup, hearty entrees like Brazilian fish stew or grilled steak, and desserts like fried bananas. The meal comes with a gratis glass of bubbles, or you can add bottomless mimosas for $15. Takeout, indoor, and patio seating.
HalfSmoke
651 Florida Ave., NW
Restaurant Week “deals” aren’t always money-saving, but this is a good one: free bottomless mimosas with the purchase of an entree as part of a $30 package. There are plenty of choices, whether you’re leaning sweet (Cinnamon Toast Crunch French toast) or savory (wood-grilled shrimp and sausage over grits). The special is offered all day, Friday through Sunday. Takeout, indoor, and outdoor seating.
Jackie
79 Potomac Ave., SE
Chef Jerome Grant, who earned a James Beard nod for this cooking at the African American Museum’s Sweet Home Cafe, is at the helm of the revamped American bistro adjoining Dacha Navy Yard beer garden. The eclectic menu draws on Grant’s roots—the son of Filipino mother and African American father. A Restaurant Week brunch menu has yet to be posted, but for dinner, that translates to dishes like scallop crudo and miso-fried chicken alongside “mom’s spaghetti” with Filipino longganisa sausage and banana-ketchup bolognese. Takeout, delivery, outdoor patio, and indoor seating.
Mintwood Place
1813 Columbia Rd., NW
Many of the Adams Morgan brasserie’s delicious classics make an appearance on the Restaurant Week menu, including the wood-grilled bacon cheeseburger, eggs Benedict, and dinner plate-size pancakes. Takeout and outdoor patio seating.
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.
