Florida Avenue Grill, Washington, D.C.

Sunday morning started very early with a quick breakfast at the Florida Avenue Grill. I only ordered things I could see them cooking, so I felt safer with their sanitation practices this time. That's not to say that they were suddenly in compliance with health practices—they weren't—but things weren't as egregious this time. It was a very slow period, so my waitress also served as short order cook at the grill as well as cashier, and they still haven't learned the concept of handwashing and/or plastic gloves.

I had the hotcakes and Virginia ham with what turned out to be an extra side order of grits (the menu has a column of breakfast platters that include a choice of grits, home fried potatoes, biscuits and gravy, etc., etc., but apparently the sides aren't for the hotcake platters in that column and that's not mentioned on the menu). The waitress dipped a big spatula into a vat of butter to oil the grill, then poured out batter from a big gallon pitcher to make the three hotcakes. The butter gave the hotcakes a nice, delicate, and flavorful crunch to the edges that one just can't get from vegetable shortening or oil. The ham also got fried on the grill, with the addition of a little water that created a sort of red eye gravy on the ham slice. The grits were dipped from a big pan on the steam table, then drizzled with butter from the pancake spatula; I thought the grits were lovely.

I think the Grill probably does better with its breakfasts than it does with its dinners. It's certainly not elegant or gourmet, but it's a nice, basic, down-home kind of cooking that can be very satisfying.