Toast Toast

Golden brown toast served with creamy butter and your choice of assorted jams or sweet honey.

Blue Duck Tavern

Blue Duck Tavern

1201 24th Street Northwest, Washington, 20037, United States Of America, 20037-1104, Washington, D.C.

Steak • Brunch • Terrace • American


"It can be quite the task to find the perfect restaurant to take my ex-chef father to for special occasions, an adventure that was further complicated by the pressures of the ever-stressful Father’s Day Dinner. Thank goodness for Blue Duck Tavern in Foggy Bottom! The menu boasts fresh, local ingredients, simplistic dishes, and phenomenal flavors that hit the spot. It can bring ex-chefs to their knees. The restaurant is gorgeous – high ceiling, aesthetically pleasing interior architecture, large windows that allow a lot of light inside, and a very quaint and beautiful outdoor seating area. Reservations are recommended for any day of the week but parking is amazingly not too difficult so it’s totally worth the trip. Blue Duck is affiliated with the Hyatt hotel, so expect a mix of tourists and locals looking for an excellent dining experience. On to the food! I’ve heard rave reviews about the signature Pear Martinis…but I could not pass up the opportunity to order a Cucumber-Ginger Martini. Super satisfying and surprisingly not too sweet for my palette! The ginger really balanced out the drink and gave it a perfect kick. Will probably not please everyone – my mom made quite the face after having a sip of my drink – but I thought it was pretty fantastic (I had two. ‘Nough said! Blue Duck has an extensive wine list and a plethora of other signature drinks and a large beer selection so there’s a little something for everyone. The dishes are tapas-style, even the entrees. For example, crab cakes are served without any type of garnish, just two cakes in pan with some type of tartar sauce on the side. I would definitely recommend ordering side dishes to supplement the meal, since you won’t get much with the entrée! All that foodie hype sure lived up to expectations. Not to overuse my current favorite obsession..but the crab cakes (what else would I order?! were delicious and were very meaty, they did not taste too fried, weren’t greasy/full of mayonnaise, and weren’t overwhelmed by breading. They were the perfect temperature and very evenly cooked. Enough to share…though go the selfish route and eating them all for yourself! I recommend ordering a couple of side dishes in addition to entrees in order to have a more complete meal. My favorites were the roasted mushrooms (an assortment of shitakes, black truffle, porcini and the daily harvest vegetable. I lucked out and had sugar snap peas sauteed in chipotle chile butter…excellent flavors. And be sure to save room for dessert : We opted for banana chocolate chip sorbet, which consisted of three incredibly generous scoops, and the signature apple pie, which really is more of an apple cake. Plenty to share, though to be fair I refused to let the banana sorbet stray too far from my spoon. Service was wonderful, and I loved how all the food was carried to the tables – the runners/servers all knew who ordered what! Waiter offered great suggestions (especially for dessert! and was attentive and knowledgable. The menu is relatively limited regarding number of offerings but that is not to say it’s at all limited in flavors!…other intriguing dishes include cuttlefish ravioli, smoked sturgeon, and marinated sheep’s milk cheese with fava beans. Brunch breakfast menus looked excellent as well, all the more motivation to go back!"

Parker & Quinn

Parker & Quinn

64 W. 39th Street New York, NY 10018, 10018-5403, United States

Bars • Wine • American • Breakfast-brunch


"This place is one for the books! I reserved this place to have my birthday dinner and I'm happy that I did, we even luck up and found a parking space in front of the restaurant. This place is beautiful and has an old school mob type vibe, not the people just the decor. The staff was cool, nothing above and beyond that stood out but no flaws to point out as well. The guy who controlled the operations of the restaurant knows what he's doing and stopped by each table to greet each guest when they were seated, after the food was served and before we exited. He kept himself moving and I respect that! Now on to the best part and that is the FOOD! We started with the margarita flat bread which was fresh and delicious each ingredient had its own individual flavor that blended so well together. It tastes like it was made by an Italian grandmother. The truffle fries were really good and had enough truffle oil so that you can smell and taste it on the fries. THE BRANZINO was absolutely delicious that butter sauce and those capers. The grilled branzino was cooked to perfection, even the peas that came with it were good and I don't even like peas lol. And the last but surely not least the skillet cinnamon roll, put it this way after eating this cinnamon roll you just up your standards on how a cinnamon roll should taste. It was flaky soft and fully cooked so no dough like texture or flavor. Watch my check ins for this place I'm going to become a regular lol."

Dirty Habit

Dirty Habit

555 8th Street NW Washington, DC 20004, 20003-2897, Washington, D.C., United States

Kebab • Asian • Global • Mexican


"Overall, the food was very good and the venue was nice and modern but the service was a bit slow and the prices were on the higher end with cocktails costing $20 each along with an automatic 20% gratuity applied. There was an empty hostess stand when we 1st arrived but after asking the bar they advised us that the hostess was on the other end of the restaurant (the hotel side). Our server was pleasant and made good recommendations, but there was a long lag between our courses, and he did not come back to our table for quite awhile after we received our entrees. We had the Hamachi Crudo and Scallops to start, and both were delicious. The scallops were buttery and the Hamachi crudo was light and flavorful. For entrees, we had the Cacio e Pepe with shrimp added and the Steak and Frites. The Steak and Frites had very nice flavor and I was satisfied with the Cacio e Pepe as well. The Wake and Bake cocktail was very comforting and a perfect fall drink if you like apples and the smokiness of mezcal. We ended with the Na'Nu and Make a Wish. They were okay desserts, but I was not really impressed with either one. I am glad we tried them out, but I'm not sure if I'll revisit given the prices and lack of attentive service. We might consider giving them another shot in the future because the food was very good for the most part. It's frustrating that the gratuity is already added because I didn't feel like the service was worth 20% but I guess they don't have to try as hard when they know they are getting 20% automatically."

The Grill Room

The Grill Room

1050 31st St. NWDC 20007, Washington, D.C., United States

Wine • Coffee • American • Breakfast


"I 'm so conflicted. My bf took me here for birthday dinner last year and it was one of the greatest steaks I 've ever had in my life. Today for brunch was overpriced, sub-par, and exceptionally rude service from our main server. My pastrami sandwich was fine, but the pastrami should have been the star and instead it was drowned out by the cheese, slaw, egg and dressing, and the egg was way overcooked. The fried pickles were good, but overkill with the potato salad that had a pickly taste to it already. And btw, the potato salad was good, but I 've had much better. For $24, I expected more from this dish. The duck egg burger was just alright, nothing special, including the fries, but the best dish by far was the shakshouka. The labneh really set it off. However, the egg was supposed to be poached, and for all three people who got this dish, the egg was overcooked and solid instead of runny. Again, I expect the quality to be a lot better at a place like this. For drinks, the green juice was delicious, but my mom, a ****** mary connoisseur, said it wasn 't that good at all, and that was a $16 ****** mary. Finally, when the check came, I noticed they charged us for water, and with three bottles at $9 each, I had to say something. For a drink that 's supposed to be free be $27, that definitely should have been communicated to us. I nicely told the server that and she replied with the rudest, nastiest, ok, what do you want me to do about it? attitude. She returned with the water taken off, but the attitude that came with it was completely uncalled for. It 's a shame that the brunch experience was nowhere near the quality of the dinner experience a couple years ago. For that, I 'm not sure that I can return without heavy convincing from trusted sources that it 's safe to go to again."