• Who: Gina, Quin and all our friends at Color Nails
• Where: 17th Street
• What: An Asian spread—summer rolls, 3 kinds of noodles, egg roll things, rice, bread, some sort of meat in a crockpot, coffee

Gina and I never saw it coming. There we were, wandering aimlessly through NW DC on our way home without a care in the world. It was only noon and we’d already exercised, eaten, shopped and gotten some good tanning hours walking around. What better way to round out the productive morning than a quick trip to our local nail place?

The big news on the block for the past couple months was that Color Nails, a Dupont establishment, was MOVING. MOVING!!!! MOVING TWO DOORS DOWN TO A LARGER SPACE!!!!!! What was the new space going to look like?!?! Would there be more manicure stations?!?!  Better lighting?!?! As Gina and I headed over, we realized that the BIG MOVE must have already happened, so we made our way to the new and improved Color Nails, about 30 feet past the old Color Nails. We went up the stairs into this brand new space, greeted our bff nail ladies, and then we saw it: The Grand Re-Opening Buffet!!!!

And just as these nail ladies know how to boss you around when waxing your bikini line (“Bend your leg!” “Flip over!”), they meant business when it came to force feeding us.

“You! Get plate! Sit over here! Eat! Then we do nails after! Your friend, too!” “She sit next to you!” -Quin

Was it weird to eat summer rolls and noodles sitting on a pedicure stool next to nail files and bottles of Belize it or Not and Merino Cool? Totally. Did we have a choice? No. I will say it was a little nice to know that we are truly part of the Color Nails community, enough that that they’re not worried that a noodle buffet next to the aerosol nail enamel will lose our business. And when Quin tells you to do something, you listen.

Now, there is some debate as to whether this counts as a brunch. In fact, my life partner Gina had this to say:

“Well my thought is you and me squatting on pedicure stools while shoving in a spring roll does not a brunch make.” -Gina via gchat

Not so fast, Ormand. After some internet research, it seems pretty clear that in Vietnam, this is totally brunch! According to Served Raw, a hardcore foody website, Vietnam is famous for two things: bahn mi (the components of which, I’m pretty sure, were in the crockpot—and supposed to go on the bread), which is meant to be eaten as street food on-the-go (pedicure stoool…), and the traditional foot massage (ummm last time i checked, they were rubbing my feet!). They interviewed Nathan Nguyen, the GM for some of some fancy restaurant in Seattle who was able to give some helpful info: 

“…In addition to bahn mi, which is traditionally served for breakfast in Vietnam, we also have bánh cuốn, steamed rice flour wrappers stuffed into rolls [aka the things I identified as summer rolls]; and sticky rice with beans and peanuts. Don’t forget the Vietnamese coffee, which is sweetened with condensed milk. The older generation [aka the ladies at the nail salon] still drinks it daily.”

And also:

“…Rice noodle or egg noodle dishes are mainly saved for special occasions and not served every day.” [aka the day you have a Grand Re-Opening of your nail salon!]

So to re-cap: We ate traditional Vietnamese breakfast food, in a traditional-ish way, during a celebratory occasion with a special celebratory dish! And all at an hour between breakfast and lunch?? I’m sold! BRUNCH AT COLOR NAILS!!