Food

6 Great Pubs for a Full Irish Breakfast Around DC

Where to get a fry-up for weekday breakfast or brunch.

Mattie and Eddie's Irish breakfast, offered all day every day. Photograph courtesy of Mattie and Eddie's

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An Irish breakfast is more than a morning meal. The fry-up typically involves eggs, grilled tomato, and baked beans—and it differs from its English cousin with a variety of breakfast meats like rashers (Irish bacon) or black and white puddings (sausages), plus Irish soda bread. So yes, it’s hearty enough to eat any time of day.

Here are six pubs where you can get a proper brekkie on St. Patrick’s Day—or any day.

 

Across the Pond

1732 Connecticut Ave., NW

The Dupont Circle pub—which doubles as an international sports bar—serves a full Irish breakfast on weekends ($17) as well as a half-portion ($14) for less robust appetites. Either way, the gang’s all here: eggs any style, sausage, beans, rashers, and black and white pudding, plus home fries and toast.

 

The Dubliner

4 F St., NW

This family-owned Capitol Hill institution has served politicians and Irish expats for over 40 years. The “full country breakfast” ($20), served daily, isn’t for the faint of stomach. It’s got two eggs, three types of breakfast meats (rashers and puddings), beans, potatoes, grilled cheesy tomatoes, and fresh-baked soda bread.

 

The Irish Inn at Glen Echo

6119 Tulane Ave., Glen Echo

The atmospheric inn is a great place to fuel up (or wind down), especially if you’re hitting nearby hiking trails or the C&O Canal. A traditional Irish breakfast with all the accoutrements ($20) is served at weekend brunch, with seating in the wood-paneled bar, dining rooms, or patio. 

 

Mattie and Eddie’s

1301 South Joyce St., Arlington

Dublin native Cathal Armstrong, author of My Irish Table, is the chef/owner of this Pentagon City restaurant—and the food is a cut above typical pub grub. The Irish breakfast ($26) is served all day, every day, with two eggs any way, crispy potatoes, baked beans, rashers, country sausages, puddings, and fresh bread. There’s Guinness aplenty but diners can also dabble in Irish hard ciders, Kilkenny cream ale, and more.

 

Samuel Beckett’s and Kirwan’s on the Wharf

2800 S. Randolph St., Arlington; 749 Wharf St., SW

Owner and Tipperary native Mark Kirwan is behind these authentically Irish gastropubs—Samuel Beckett’s is in Shirlington, Kirwan’s is on Southwest DC’s Wharf—which serve a full Irish at weekend brunch (and at Beckett’s, weekday lunch). In addition to the usual suspects—eggs, rashers, puddings, beans—Beckett’s plate ($20) comes with a potato cake and homemade brown bread, while Kirwan’s version ($19) adds sautéed mushrooms and toast. 

Food Editor

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.