Inauguration Day Survival Food

January 20th is less than a week away, and DC food bloggers are thinking about Inauguration Day food. Chowhound readers want breakfast and lunch, Metromix and Express Night Out anticipate ceremonial starvation, and many restaurants are offering specials on the four-day-long weekend holiday.

Nobody knows how many people will pack Washington, or how easy it will be to move around by Metro. No reputable forecasters are predicting the weather yet, but assume it will be cold. DC temperatures are normally between 25 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit (-4 and 7 Celsius) on Inauguration Day, but can get colder. Bear in mind that it snowed 10 inches during Taft's inauguration, and that was in March.

Our advice: Plan for cold and lots of walking; dress and eat accordingly. Wear hiking boots. Eat congee.

DC's Chinatown (or "China Block") is close to the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route and the Mall. Full Kee, while short on elegance, is expeditious and economical. As veterans of two decades of Washington's outdoor MLK Holiday events, we strongly recommend a traditional Chinese breakfast or brunch of Full Kee's congee to ward off January's chill.

Congee, or jook, is hot rice porridge with savory goodies added. Seen those videos of Chinese construction workers climbing swaying scaffolds of bamboo, carrying cinder blocks hundreds of high-rising feet in the air? This is what they had for breakfast. You'll need energy to get through Inauguration Day, too.

Full Kee is a DC institution, and is likely to be busy on the 20th. We hear that Jackey Cafe serves congee, but haven't been there ourselves. Noodle house Chinatown Express (which you know we love) and fave eatery Eat First are said to serve congee, but we usually nosh other goodies there. We'll list other Chinatown or downtown congee outlets here as our neighbors supply the information -- check back for updates. If you want to fortify yourself earlier, cook up congee or jook at home along these lines:

Allrecipes.com

Bitten

eatWashington

Epicurious

Saveur

Full Kee
509 H Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
(202) 371.2233

Jackey Cafe
611 H St NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 408-8115

Chinatown Express
746 6th St NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 638-0424

Eat First Restaurant
609 H St NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 289-1703

The preceding post was submitted by guest blogger Mike Licht. His original entry may be found here. Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com