Memorial Day Memorial Day…it’s one of those 3-day weekend holidays either at the beginning or end of the summer… or is that Veteran’s Day? Columbus Day? Labor Day? No, Labor Day is definitely at the end of the summer, because that’s the one right before school starts. So maybe it’s Veteran’s Day in May? Or is that the one in February? Or no, I think that one’s Martin Luther King Day. So isn’t Memorial Day the one about the troops? No, that’s Veteran’s Day again. But isn’t this one about the troops, too??? AHHHHH!!!!!

• Who: Becca and Justin (The Slaughters) and Dan
• Where: U Street
• What: Eggwhite omelet, fruit, bloody

I think Dan and I both realized that we were grossly under-educated as to the meaning of Memorial Day when we woke up on Sunday morning and he said to me, “Happy Memorial Day… (observed)!” which started us off on a 30 minute discussion over whether Memorial Day is always the last Monday in May, or whether it’s a certain date and we just celebrate it on the last Monday in May. (Apparently there is some discrepancy on the internet about which is correct, but it seems that Dan may be right. See calendar above.)

Falling in line with our lack of knowledge of Memorial Day, including its history, its date, or its meaning, we also didn’t really know if stuff was going to be open for brunch. Does Memorial Day count as a Sunday? Or is it actually a Monday in the eyes of the restaurant world? Traditionally, Memorial day is much more about bbq’s in back yards than it is about bars and restaurants, but traditionally it is also the first nice weekend of the summer—so people might want to go for a nice meal on a their day off from work. Throwing all caution to the wind, we ventured out into the great unknown, seeking a place that would serve eggs at noon on a Monday. 

Easier than it sounds. It was hurdle after hurdle as we perused the mean streets of NW DC (aka a 3 block radius of our apartment) with the Slaughters—searchingly aimlessly for someplace serving brunch on Memorial Day. The first roadblock was a literal roadblock—a street festival/chili cook-off, blocking off a stretch of T street with dunk tanks, bouncy houses, children playing in sprinklers, and… the most odd thing you’d ever see on a record-breaking heat wave day… a chili cook-off.

Next was the beer festival. For four people who each get about 15 emails a day from different DC event lists, it somehow totally missed our collective radar screens that Memorial Day kicked off Savor Beer Week, which is embarrassing considering Dan’s former roommate/best friend (or maybe now former best friend) was a DC brewer. Looks like we weren’t going to Policy any time in the next century.

This is when the real wild goose chase begins—3 attempts, 3 failures. Boom Boom Boom. Marvin? Not even opening the roof til 5:00. Utopia? No dice—looks like they’ve been closed for years. Desperados? I didn’t even know they served brunch, and the woman cleaning the windows outside didn’t seem to know they even served food. Or what time they opened. Or if they were open ever. Or anything. Big fail. So what did we find? Were we forced to return back to the chili cook-off in shame? NO WAY!!! VICTORY!!! TABAQ!!!

What better place to celebrate our troops/veterans/MLK/labor et al than at a rooftop glass-walled deck overlooking the Captiol, the Washington Monument and Iwo Jima? Well, you couldn’t exactly see Iwo Jima, but if we’d known which direction to look in, maybe we could have. Happy Memorial Day… (observed), everyone!