Steak 'N Egg Kitchen, Washington, D.C.

This weekend we discovered the third restaurant in the District that is open all night, seven days a week (the other two being Georgetown Cafe and The Diner). It's in Tenleytown, and it's an old diner that's been around for seventy some years called Osman & Joe's Steak 'N Egg Kitchen. It's gone through a number of ownership shifts over the decades, having once been a part of the old Steak 'N Egg franchise that disappeared in the '80s. Very little has changed, though, and it's still a small place where customers sit on a spinning stool at a counter facing the cook and his grill. It's surprisingly small, too, with just a dozen or so stools in the main restaurant. They have, however, added an outdoor patio seating area, which allows people to come in and order "carryout" food and then sit outside to eat.

Not surprisingly, this isn't a place where the staff is attired in tuxedos. When we first arrived, we had a little bit of difficulty communicating our order to our friendly waitress, who appeared to be an immigrant with limited English. At 11 p.m., the staff changed though, and she was replaced by an American waitress in a thong bikini bottom that showed way above her low hip-hugger blue jeans. She was very efficient, though, and got our order correct the first time, and kept our drink glasses full.

Ian got a cheese omelette. It was huge. They used four eggs and quite a layer of provolone cheese, making it directly on the grill and then folding the eggs over and over to fit the plate. It came with hash browns and wheat toast.


For dessert, he got their Oreo cheesecake with ice cream; he ate it all, but said it didn't seem like cheesecake to him.


I got what they call a "Tennessee scramble." It was a very filling mix of scrambled eggs, cheese, ham, bacon, and country sausage, served with hash browns and two fabulous biscuits drowned in gravy. I also got a side of grits floating in butter (well, "spread"). Remind me next time I go not to order so much food, because I ate every bite and then had to waddle out the door to get home.




I enjoyed Steak 'N Egg. No, it's not gourmet, and yes, it's rather a "greasy spoon" or what some might call a "dive," but it suits its purpose. The one thing that surprised me is that they are not cheap. We spent as much there as we usually do at IHOP and similar places. They also have sandwiches—mostly burgers—on the menu, though everyone there while we were present ordered breakfast foods. Breakfast, of course, was always the Steak 'N Egg chain's forte, so it's not surprising that is where the regular patrons turn. I presume we'll be back, though I'm not sure when, as getting to Tenleytown late at night is rather difficult and time consuming without a car. My commute took nearly an hour, and that was using the subways; after midnight, when our subway system inexplicably closes down, crosstown buses would add considerably to that travel time.