A Baked Joint in Washington, DC is the downtown sister restaurant of Baked & Wired, a great bakery cafe in Georgetown that we enjoyed on our last DC trip, so I looked forward to trying and reviewing it. All of us love a great local bakery-cafe, and my husband and I were eager for our morning espresso drinks, so the 15 minute walk from our DC hotel was well worth it.
A Baked Joint Location and Hours
A Baked Joint is located at 440 K Street NW, between 4th and 5th Streets (and close to 4 1/2 Street–yes, there's a 4 1/2 Street). Hours are 7am-6pm Mondays-Wednesdays, 7am-10pm Thursdays and Fridays, and 8am-6pm Saturdays and Sundays.
The Scene
It's a good thing A Baked Joint is rather airy and has several communal tables, since even during our weekday morning visit it was busy–I've heard it gets very crowded on weekends, when it's advisable to get there early. Overall it was a fairly young crowd of mostly late 20-30 somethings, and our son and a baby accompanying a mother were the only kids we saw during our visit.
A Baked Joint Menu and Food
Here's the breakfast menu:
We started off with some freshly squeezed orange juice and orange-grapefruit juice, which was reasonably priced at $3.50 for a good sized glass.
Some of the most popular options at A Baked Joint are the freshly made biscuits, either alone or with an organic fried egg inside (Biscuit Sammie). Our son chose a Goat Cheese Herb Biscuit Sammie, which was delicious.
My husband wanted to get the Creme Brulee French Toast, but unfortunately it's only served on weekends, so instead he got a Yogurt-Granola Bowl. It was good, but not that special, and the strawberries were a little underripe. I also thought it could have had more granola.
I tried the unusual sounding Savory Oatmeal, which is steel cut oatmeal with smoked ham, kale, caramelized onions, pecorino, and an organic poached egg. Since I don't care much for ham, I asked to substitute bacon instead, and that was no problem. It was a huge, filling serving, and delicious, especially after popping the poached egg and swirling the yolk through the oatmeal. If you're hungry and open to pairing oatmeal with savory toppings, it's a great choice.
Baked & Wired and A Baked Joint are especially known for their breads, pastries and cakes, so we also ordered a Pain au Chocolat to share, which was excellent, with the dark chocolate inside still slightly molten as the pastry was fresh and warm. I asked for some jam to go with it, and this was the only weak point. The raspberry jam was very sweet, and I would have preferred one with higher fruit content.
My husband had a cappuccino (which he sipped immediately, before I could get a photo of it) and I had a latte, both expertly made by the barista. Even if you just need a caffeine fix, A Baked Joint has you covered. Plus, given the extensive tea selection, it's a great place to go if one of you wants coffee and the other prefers tea.
The Verdict
We all enjoyed our breakfast at A Baked Joint. Highlights were the Biscuit Sammie with goat cheese and egg, the savory oatmeal, pain au chocolat, and the cappuccino and latte. The only detractors were the overly sweet jam and the use of not quite ripe berries and insufficient granola for the yogurt granola bowl.
What's your favorite bread, pastry or dish from A Baked Joint or Baked & Wired?
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