Inauguration Brunch Guide

Since our city is about to be filled with large numbers of tourists for the Inauguration, I thought I’d put together a small brunch guide for our out-of-towners.  For any Washingtonians staying in town this weekend, I recommend picking spots off the beaten track or close to home, as our visitors are probably going to stick with the downtown restaurants.

Traditional DC Brunch

• Old Ebbitt Grill
• The Lafayette at The Hay-Adams Hotel (pricey but amazing)
• Georgia Brown’s
• Indigo Landing (In Virginia, but it gives you a beautiful view of the city and the planes landing at National Airport)
• Morrison-Clark
• Chef Geoff’s

For a less expensive brunch

• Busboys and Poets (they have 2 locations in DC and 1 in Virginia)
• Bar Pilar
• Afterwords Cafe

Brunch Events (Pricey but may be what you’re looking for)

• New York State Society Inaugural Brunch
  
• Route 44 to The White House Inaugural Brunch
• Update: Biden Brunch

Non-Brunch Spots That Are Worth A Visit

• Ben’s Chili Bowl
• One of our many cupcakeries
• Burger Heaven: Good Stuff Eatery, Z Burger, Five Guys, Ray’s Hell Burger
• Ollie’s Trolley
• Clyde’s
• The Monocle
  
• Creative DC is putting together a great list of reader recommendations

You’ll notice that these are pretty much all downtown…I did that for two reasons. 1) I feel like most tourists will be staying downtown or wanting to eat around there while sightseeing; and 2) I don’t want to encourage them to fill up my favorite neighborhood spots.  Selfish, I know, but I don’t want to have to wait in long lines for my brunch! If you want a few more suggestions for a specific neighborhood, ask me in the comments and I’ll be happy to help!

**Other Useful Links For Inauguration Weekend**

• Metro’s Website – because driving into DC is a terrible idea.  Seriously, please don’t drive into the city.  There will be no where to park, let alone drive since half of the streets will be closed to traffic.  And the rest of the roads will be a giant parking lot due to the people stubborn enough to drive in despite warnings…
• Metro Etiquette guide – because we get really cranky if you don’t stand to the right so we can get by on the escalators.
• Bike Valet Information from the Washington Area Bicyclist Association – because sometimes biking in the freezing cold is better than dealing with the crowds on Metro.
• DC’s Official Inauguration Guide – full of lots of great information, including a list of street closures (A map would be more helpful but hopefully they will provide one in the next week)
• Follow DC’s Inauguration Guide on Twitter!
• Washington Post’s Inauguration Central – a good resource for everything going on that weekend.
• Going Out Gurus’ recommendations for where to eat on Inauguration Day.
• Capital Spice put together a very comprehensive list and Google Map of all of the 213 bars and restaurants staying open late throughout the weekend.