Hungover? The Good Doctor Has What You Need

By Will Gordon, Local Correspondent

Sunday mornings are for Church-goers, layabouts, and those who live for brunch. I fall into the last category. Luckily for me, I live in a city that also lives for brunch. But though it seems like almost every restaurant in the District offers a weekend brunch these days, the menus have increasingly started to mimic each other, with little creativity or uniqueness. What typically brings people back to a favorite spot now is bottomless drinks or ambience—rarely do people return for food that is so exceptional that it can’t be found somewhere else.

Which brings me to my go-to D.C. brunch meal: The Good Doctor sandwich from Granville Moore’s on H Street N.E. Made and named as a tribute to the chefs’ wife, it is  the diner’s choice of veggie sausage, sausage, bacon, Canadian bacon or salmon, avocado (guac-style), scrambled egg, cheese and chipotle mayo on a potato kaiser roll. As with any great sandwich, there is so much to love here that it’s tough to know where to begin.

The combination just works. The egg and meat pairing evokes the breakfast side of brunch in the best way possible, while the avocado and chipotle mayo combine to add needed lightness, moisture and kick. The cheese adds some sharpness and the bun itself is light and soft, so as not to overwhelm the sandwich, while at the same time doing a superb job of keeping it all together; a problem that often befalls loaded sandwiches.

I tip my hat to the chef for offering such a wide variety of meat options to go with the Good Doctor. Being a vegetarian, I have only sampled the veggie sausage, which, though not the best or most memorable thing I’ve ever eaten, keeps me coming back week after week for more. A buddy recently ordered the sandwich with Canadian bacon; when the sandwich arrived, eyebrows raised around the table at the sight of two thick-cut slabs of bacon. “This is my new go-to,” he declared after one bite.

You might be tempted to stop with the sandwich. Don’t. Professionals wash down the Good Doctor with what my group has coined the Iron Triangle: an order of water, coffee, and a Bloody Mary. Granville’s is home to the Bloody Shon, a distinctly spicy rendition featuring bacon and house-pickled asparagus which for my money is the very best bloody in town and perfectly paired with the Good Doctor.

Will Gordon is a graphic designer and artist. He lives in Columbia Heights.