Here Are Pictures of Adams Morgan’s Hot New Brunch

Already one of D.C.’s toughest tables to book, A Rake’s Progress is now serving brunch in Adams Morgan. James Beard Foundation Award-winning restaurateur Spike Gjerde has introduced over a dozen new dishes focused on fried eggs, local grains, and roasted meats.

Executive chef Opie Crooks tells Eater that he, Gjerde, and the rest of the kitchen staff wanted to highlight seasonal ingredients that reflect the surrounding area while also having fun with the blazing hearth installed on the second floor of the Line hotel. The result is an opening menu that borrows from Mediterranean cooking (think: eggy flatbreads bolstered by canned tomatoes) and pays tribute to roadside attractions just a few miles away.

“We wanted to do something pit beef-y,” Crooks says of the ode to Baltimore’s cult barbecue spot, Chaps Pit Beef, dubbed the Route 40 (the road on which Chaps resides). A Rake’s homage features smoked brisket, horseradish cream, and barbecue beans.

Same goes for the stuffed ham, which Crooks says is based on one of Gjerde’s old recipes. This version includes pork raised in Virginia, stuffed with vegetables, and roasted over live fire. “It’s a Southern delicacy,” he says. One new addition is the pommes hampden. These Crooks says he developed by thinking about what types of potatoes would work best with the corresponding dishes. Rake’s solution: shredded potatoes mixed with cheddar cheese, sour cream, onion, and, of course, several squirts of Gjerde’s Snake Oil seasoning.

“I’ve been cooking with it for so long, I can’t imagine not using it on everything,” Crooks says of the house hot sauce.

Brunch is currently offered from from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. Reservations are available here. A spokeswoman for Rake’s says the restaurant will likely add Saturday brunch into the rotation “in about a month or so.”

Check out the full menu — including the handful of dishes created specifically for kids — here:

Scroll down to see several of the new brunch dishes:

Perfect, in French ($12)

Various grain congee ($15)

Hangtown fry ($21)

Grilled French toast ($15)

Route 40 ($23)

In the matter of chicken v egg ($18)

Southern Maryland stuffed ham ($22)

Spoon egg ($3)

• D.C.’s 13 Toughest Tables [EDC]
• Look Inside Spike Gjerde’s Tribute to Mid-Atlantic Dining in D.C. [EDC]
• Spike Gjerde Takes His Obsession With Local Sourcing Beyond Baltimore [E]

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A Rake's Progress

1770 Euclid Street Northwest, , DC 20009 (202) 588-0525 Visit Website