A brunch that might actually be worth $30...

I am a big fan of brunch. Before moving to DC, it was not something that I did very often. I was a quick study, however, and brunch has now become a regular Sunday morning/afternoon activity for me. Generally, by Sunday morning I am feeling pretty bad about the money I spent on drinks and food Friday and Saturday, so I try to keep brunch prices within reason. This last Sunday, however, Janette and I had been disappointed in our first brunch choice because they no longer served brunch. In our cranky desperation to find food, we decided to splurge and try Ardeo Bardeo in Cleveland Park.

Ardeo Bardeo turned out to be a cornucopia of pleasant surprises. First, it turned out they had a roof top deck which was perfect for the sunny Sunday morning. Second, and most importantly, they offer a $25 Champagne Brunch special. I still consider $25 for brunch to be a pretty hefty fee, but the special included an appetizer, main entree and unlimited mimosas (the waiter explained that the caveat to the "unlimited" mimosas was that they would cut you off around 9 or 10 if you were behaving badly). Since the mimosas were $9 a piece on the regular menu, the special seemed like it would pay for itself pretty quickly.

Janette was showing some self-restraint because she had some lawyer work to do in the afternoon, so she ordered the char broiled natural beef burger with spicy tomato relish, smoked bacon, cheddar cheese and hand cut fries for $12. She skipped the mimosas much to my disappointment. I went with the special and chose the bruschetta with baby egg plant and vidalia onions as my appetizer (regular price $8). For the entree, I went with the Eggs Benedict...perfectly poached eggs on an english muffin with fennel sausage and hollandaise sauce (regular price $12).

Both Janette and I were extremely happy with our choices. I shared the bruschetta because I felt like a bit of a heifer eating two dishes and drinking unlimited mimosas. Janette declared that her burger was one of the better burgers she had ever had. This is major praise from a Texas girl whose father has his own cows. My Eggs Benedict were pretty serious. The fennel sausage was more like two small hamburger patties and to say I was full at the end of brunch would be the understatement of the year.

Basically, the rest of the Sunday consisted of sitting around and maybe drinking a little bit more. I checked in with Janette on Monday and all her efforts to avoid the mimosas seem to have come to naught as her brunch coma had her watching reruns of an unnamed cable show until late in the afternoon.

Ardeo Bardeo may not be the type of place that you can swing every weekend, but for special occasions and days with really nice weather it is hard to beat the Champagne Brunch.

Ardeo Bardeo
3311 Connecticut Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20008
202-244-6750
http://www.ardeorestaurant.com/