While at work this past Friday, I nearly fell out of my seat when I read that Capital Bikeshare had FINALLY installed a Clarendon Station. I called bf and we had a twenty minute conversation on what this meant for our weekend transportation options – we were that excited.
On Sunday morning, after walking pups, we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do that day. I was torn between running a few miles and going to brunch and imbibing on mimosas. After a few minutes, bf suggested we celebrate CaBi’s inaugural Clarendon station by snagging bikes and heading to U Street for a boozy brunch. A bit of exercise and then champagne? I was game.
Weeee!
It ended up being about a seven mile ride from Clarendon, down to Rosslyn, through Georgetown and up the Rock Creek Parkway to Calvert Street in Woodley Park and then down to U Street. If you’ve never been running or biking on Rock Creek, I would highly recommend it.
Taken somewhere close to P Street
Also taken somewhere close to P Street
View from Calvert Street
We decided to brunch at Local 16 because we had heard good things and we had a Capitol Deal which gave us bottomless mimosas or bloody marys and a brunch entree for only $15. Even if you missed out on the Capitol Deal, they are currently running a promotion where you can get the same deal if you like them on Facebook. We started with the mimosas, which had the right balance of champagne (a lot) to orange juice (a little). I find that mimosas that have too much orange juice are simply too sweet to drink more than two of and luckily that was not the case here.
For entrees, bf ordered the eggs benedict with proscuitto. What we are most critical on when it comes to eggs benedict (or eggs chesapeake, which we also frequently order) is the hollandaise sauce. You can have a perfectly prepared benny, but if the hollandaise is off, no cigar. The hollandaise worked on these eggs benedict and so bf and I were pleased. The proscuitto was warmed but not crispy, which went nicely with the eggs and crostini (no english muffin here). The home fries were like standard potatoes that one would expect from a diner.
In spite of having had pizza the day before at Pizza Paradiso, I felt like pizza again. We were sitting at the bar so I asked the bartender, Jessica, what she recommended. I went with her suggestion of the aden (house made sausage, fennel, caramelized onions and peppers) because she said the house made sausage was something not to be missed. I was pleased with the size of the pizza (half had to come home with me even though I shared with bf) and thought the fennel, which I had never had on pizza before, was a great complement to the spicy sausage. Though I preferred the crispy crust at Pizza Paradiso, I was not disappointed with the crust on the aden.
Ultimately, the food was great, hungover or not, our glasses were never empty and the service was very friendly. We did not have a reservation but I would recommend you make one for brunch because people definitely tend to linger due to the bottomless deal.
As we were leaving, we caught a sight of the tweed riders, many of them on CaBi bikes! I definitely want to partake in the event next year.
Run Hard. Eat Well. Drink Up. 