Soak It Up: B&O Espresso
Apothecary: B&0 Espresso, 204 Belmont Ave. E., 322-5028, CAPITOL HILL
Time of entry: Saturday, 11 a.m.
Level of hangover (1–10 scale, with 10 being a paralyzing head-thumper): 6-ish. I got home at 3:30 in the morning the night before, so yeah.
Level of waitstaff hangover: The bus boy knew to bring a whole jug of water without being asked and when I looked up to thank him, he was pretty bleary eyed too. “I gotcha bro,” he said. Also, this place serves breakfast until 4 p.m. If that, my friends, is not a dead giveaway, I don’t know what is.
Prescriptions: Two things served to quell my appetite before I actually arrived. First, it was a Saturday morning in Capitol Hill, and I spent a good 10 minutes driving around trying to park and cursing my own impatient, gas-guzzling, SUV-loving Americanism that made me forgo the bus. By the time I found parking about six blocks away and hoofed it back to the B&O, I had burned off the worst of the devil water. Once there, my buddy found a rather large, hairy man in the bathroom with his shirt off. It was kinda weird.
No matter, the food was good. A quick perusal of the Web tells me that this place is pretty popular for its deserts but I was impressed with breakfast. Personally, I’m a huge fan of Eggs Benedict on lazy Saturday mornings and the B&O didn’t disappoint. The Hollandaise was a little on the salty side, but nothing a good cup of Joe couldn’t take care of. Also, the accompanying fried potatoes were about perfect.
Initially, I thought the portions were a bit on the small side, but an hour or so afterwards, I noticed a conspicuous lack of a gut bomb, a nice change from my usual Saturday afternoons.
Hair of the dog: This is where the waitstaff’s true colors came through. I asked our server if the coffee came with an IV and she brought me a mug about the size of beer stein. And, it was damn good coffee. To be completely honest, I think the Joe plus the spicy ass Bloody Mary I ordered might have taken care of my hangover single-handedly. To be fair, my Bloody Mary was awesome. My buddy, who ordered the exact same thing, got shafted – not nearly enough spice. No matter, he made do with hot sauce. His girlfriend went with the Mimosa and gave it a good review.
Success of the soak: I was impressed. The key to a leisurely Saturday morning is the word “leisure,” and the B&O staff, after making sure our coffee was topped off, our food was good and our drinks strong, left us alone. It was almost two hours later before we finally dragged ourselves away from our table. And nobody ever rushed us. Overall, a great way to get back on two feet after a rough Friday night.
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