We did lots of food crawling while in DC.  One of the best places that we stumbled upon was a little French spot near Capitol Hill:  Le Grenier

We wanted to celebrate my friend Amanda’s birthday, which had been the weekend before. Luckily my other friend, Jully, is one of the sweetest girls ever and planned a little brunch celebration.  I actually didn’t know where we were going to eat so when I saw the name of the restaurant and realized it was French food, I was so excited! Let me tell you–the French know their way around breakfast.

Before we even sat down to order, all we could do was marvel at how beautiful the interior decorating of the restaurant was.

The birdcages were my favorite. Such a creatively designed place!

Our waiter walked over nonchalantly and placed his hand on his hip (as only the European men can get away with).  Without cracking the slightest smile, he recited the day’s specials and brunch deal.  If this guy was an American I’d be irked over the service (as a server myself I have high standards), but because he was clearly from the restaurant scene in Paris, I think we were all simply impressed by his manner.  Tres chic 🙂

After looking over our options, we all decided to get the brunch special: mimosas, appetizer, and entree.  I started out with a chilled strawberry and beet soup.  I was trying to be adventurous and try something new. Plus, beets seem to be a “blogger thang” so I figured I had to try them.

Blech. It tasted like a smoothie with a dirt aftertaste.  But hey, the color was gorgeous! I love when real foods create bright colors like this!

In between appetizer and entree, we feasted on pieces of warm, crusty baguette, handed to each of us individually by our server.

I sprinkled some salt on my bread and butter and the flavor went through the roof.

For my entree I chose (what else?) an omelet.  While some of my friends were a tad more risky and ordered the house special (blood sausage) or eggs benedict, I KNEW that I had to have a French omelet.  They always use the best cheeses and serve a simple leafy salad on the side.  This one did NOT disappoint.

Somewhere in between all the food we toasted Amanda with one of my favorite drinks: mimosas!

I love the combination of dry champagne and bright, fruity orange juice.  It’s a good thing these ones weren’t bottomless, because I’ve heard of brunch spots like that and I’m telling you it’d be bad news bears for me!

The end of our meal came with a surprise birthday dessert: profiteroles!!

These pictures are deceiving.  There were actually two plates of this dessert, and we absolutely demolished them.  The chocolate was so thick and warm that I wanted to swim in it.  If it wasn’t such a classy establishment I definitely would have licked both plates clean.

All in all, Le Grenier was a beautiful restaurant and I would recommend it to anyone in the DC area.  I will definitely be visiting again!