Pastrami Sun City at Call Your Mother
Multiple locations in DC, Maryland, and Virginia
Whether you love or hate their bagels, CYM are masters when it comes to breakfast sandwiches. On better days, we go for the one with candied-salmon cream cheese and cucumbers. But definitely not on hangover days. Then—while we pray for them to bring back their deliver-able pizza bagels—it’s time for this bodega-style egg and cheese bagel sandwich with pastrami.
General Tso’s Chicken at City Lights
2443 18th St., NW
Many years ago Anthony Bourdain swung through DC on a book tour and imparted a very important piece of wisdom: the key to killing a hangover is a joint, something spicy like Kung Pao chicken, and a Coke. If you’d like to try out his “trifecta of opulence,” our suggestion is the General Tso’s chicken at City Lights in Adams Morgan, which is available starting at 10 AM. It’s sweet but not overwhelmingly so, crunchy, and laced with plenty of chilies.
Breakfast Torta at San Pancho
7056 Carroll Ave., Takoma Park
This Takoma Park burrito shop offers the ideal breakfast sandwich if you’re not feeling a ketchup-y BEC. It’s a big guy, with layers of melty Oaxacan cheese, scrambled eggs, pickled jalapeños, avocado, and refried beans. You don’t have to add on chorizo, but of course you should. And it comes with fries, too.
Double Cheeseburger at Unconventional Diner
1207 Ninth St., NW
If you’ve never had a sloppy double cheeseburger at 9 AM, it’s time to open your mind and head to this Shaw dining room, which serves brunch until 3:45 every day. It serves an even dreamier version of a fast-food burger, with two smashed patties, special sauce, caramelized onions, and American cheese.
Haejang Guk (Hangover Soup) at Gom Ba Woo
7133 Columbia Pike, Annandale
Haejang Guk, literally “hangover soup,” is one of the rare dishes specially engineered to cure your alcohol-included suffering. A rich beef broth with napa cabbage and various cuts of beef, it arrives at your table in a still-burbling cast iron pot like any great Korean soup. Get it at Gom Ba Woo, Annandale’s longtime strip mall workhorse, where it’s translated tamely as “beef rib broth with cabbage.”
Filipino Breakfast at Fairfax Inn
2946 Sleepy Hollow Rd., Falls Church
The morning fry-ups at Fairfax Inn, a cozy suburban luncheonette operated by the Filipino-American Adler family, are what your dream hangover diner breakfast would taste like if you amped up the garlic and soy sauce. Garlic rice and eggs any style are plated up alongside proteins like cured marinated beef slices (tapa), Filipino-style bacon (tocino), deep fried milkfish (bangus), and more.
Soul Food Breakfasts at Keith & Sons
7814 Central Ave., Landover; 5948 Martin Luther King Jr Hwy., Seat Pleasant
Keith & Sons Soul Food has been dishing out superb Southern-style breakfasts in styrofoam containers for hungry Prince George’s motorists for three decades. Fish and grits; salmon cakes and eggs; chicken and waffles—these heavy DMV-style soul food breakfasts seem designed to sop up whatever booze remains in your system from a late night.
Breakfast Burritos at Monstera
3299 K St., NW
Lucky Buns chef Alex McCoy makes hefty breakfast burritos San Diego-style. Translation? They’re stuffed with fries. They’re also stuffed with your choice of halal proteins—we’re partial to the Oaxacan-style barbacoa, but the cumin-roasted eggplant is a sleeper hit. Find these beauties inside Georgetown’s Grace Street Coffee from 9 AM to 3 PM.
Chicken Pho at Pho Ga Vang
6767 Wilson Blvd., Falls Church
Truly, nothing is more restorative than a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Specifically, chicken pho—the specialty at this no-frills Eden Center Vietnamese spot. While a number of beef toppings are available, the bone-in chopped-chicken version is the go-t0 bowl. Slurp it up beginning 10 AM.
Apple Pie Pancakes at Ruthie’s All-Day
3411 5th St. South, Arlington
This big stack is a carb-loader’s dream. Fluffy rounds come topped with warm cinnamon-stewed chunks of apple and a big dollop of whipped cream. It’s basically a whole pie disguised as breakfast.
Breakfast Tacos at La Tejana
3211 Mt Pleasant St., NW
DC’s premier breakfast taco destination is quick, easy, and especially comforting after a few too many. Housemade tortillas cradle cheesy scrambled eggs with bacon, chorizo, or—our favorite—chopped brisket from local barbecue star 2Fifty. Don’t miss out on the refried pinto bean tacos either.