Vie de France, K Street, Washington DC 7 July Breakfast

Vie de France, K Street Washington - somewhat reminiscent of those places in Paris except here you can order scrambled eggs and sausage, y'know American food! But you can pick up french rolls, butter croissants and all sorts of sugary confections (croissant pudding cake?) and a fairly decent (but slightly burnt) French Roast coffee (albeit served in take-away cups, the coffee lovers equivalent of beer cans).

But unfortunately, the scrambled eggs are stiff and dry and the bacon is limp and undercooked. Instead try their baked croissant embedded with cheese and sausage. That's right, they cook the croissant with the breakfast staples inside it making for a wonderful fusion for the breakfast meat lovers pallette. Of course, this is not challenging food - the ingredients can be found nearly everywhere but it is inexpensive and you don't have to dress up for it. Plus you can walk away with a decent loaf of pannella bread.

Service is an experience. Unlike the Parisan cafes, where the waiters know English but feign ignorance, here the servers, from who knows where, are English-challenged but feign comprehension. Not so oddly, the latter is much more endearing than the former - at least they are trying and not laughing at you behind their hands. So if you ask for a side order -- better spell it out for them and ask them to repeat it.