Don’t have time for breakfast? Grab-and-go options are everywhere. Here are the tastiest– and sorriest- choices at the big chains. (All have multiple area locations except for Pret, which has eight in DC only.)
Grab one of these on-the-go options:
1. Chilled Swiss Oatmeal—yogurt with rolled oats, apples, currants, and bananas—at Corner Bakery: Crunchy, just sweet enough, and refreshing.
2. Blueberry muffin at Dunkin’ Donuts: Not the most refined pastry, but it’ll hit the spot in a pinch.
3. Ham, mushroom, egg, and Swiss cheese on multigrain bread at Potbelly: The sub chain puts out a fresh, nicely filling breakfast sandwich.
Not our top choices, but you’ll welcome to try:
4. Five-grain oatmeal at Pret: A pasty blend of quinoa, oats, and chia and flax seeds that tastes like penance.
5. Blueberry scone at Starbucks: 420 calories of leaden, dry dough.
This article appears in our March 2015 issue of Washingtonian.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
