Rosemary'sThyme

Rosemary's Thyme is a delightful Mediterranean bistro, which offers a high quality brunch with a large outdoor seating area. Rosemary's has two locations: on the corner of 18th & S streets NW, a location in the highly nebulous "East Dupont" area, and one in Clifton, Virginia. The brunch menu consists of traditional breakfast dishes like eggs Benedict, French toast, omelettes, pancakes, and one Mexican dish -- this time huevos rancheros -- a phenomenon that appears to be required for 18th street brunch establishments. They also have sandwiches, pastas, and "pides" -- a house specialty of oven baked Turkish flat bread filled with various ingredients.

The breakfast items are all very good; the omelettes are fluffy and not overcooked and the French toast is also competent, albeit I think they overdo it slightly with the Grand Marnier. If you've never been to Rosemary's, though, I'd suggest going with one of the pides (prounouced PIDD-es). For brunch they serve four pides: cheese, Mediterranean (cheese, sun dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, spinach, olives), cheese and pastirma (seasoned dried beef), or cheese and sujuk (a spiced Middle Eastern sausage). We stuck to the vegetarian ones and ordered both the cheese and the Mediterranean varieties (both pictured here). Each come with a tomato dipping sauce. As an interesting bonus, during brunch they also come with an "optional" choice of two eggs any style either on top or the side for no additional charge, and the resulting poached eggs were excellent. Pides are, for lack of a better word, the best cheesy bread I've ever had. They're warm and crispy with goey cheese and fresh fillings. They go very well with either the tomato dipping sauce or to mop up the yolk from the poached eggs.












We also had the rolled timballo, which I'd compare to a a sideways circular lasagna, in this case filled with spinach, roasted red peppers, various cheeses, and tomato sauce. The pasta is crisped nicely and the fillings are hot and delicious. The plating was also attractive; the pastas are placed on top of a generous amount of homemade tomato sauces and garnished with fresh basil.

You really can't go wrong at this neighborhood bistro. The food is interesting and fresh and it is reasonable priced. It remains a mystery to me why Rosemary's has not been reviewed in the Zagat's dining guide.

Contact information after the jump. Continue reading.

Brunch menu [Rosemary's Thyme Bistro] (They also serve some lunch items during brunch)
Pides [Recipezaar]

Rosemary's Thyme Bistro
Dupont location:
1801 18th St. NW
Washington D.C. 20009
(202) 332-3200


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Clifton location:
5762 Union Mill Road
Clifton, Virginia 20124
(703) 502-1084


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