The Lauren, A Condominium Dupont Circle Neighborhood NEWS

'Round the Clock: DC's 24-Hour Joints
By Rebecca Cooper

This month’s opening of The Coupe in Columbia Heights, Constantine Stavropoulos’ second 24-hour spot in DC, brought up a valid question. How many other places around the city stay open non-stop?

The answer: Not many. It has proven tough to get people to work the overnight shifts, some say, and in many instances it’s just not worth the money. Massive restaurant and music venue The Hamilton opened in December 2011 with widely-hyped plans to be open 24 hours, but it was just too much, they said; they nixed the non-stop schedule by April.

But Stavropoulos still thinks DC is becoming more of a city for night owls. When he opened The Diner in Adams Morgan 11 years ago, it was tough to even find grocery stores and pharmacies that were open all night, he says.

“I made it kind of a mission to get DC to be at least sort of a 24-hour living city,” says Stavropoulos, who admits he hasn’t been sleeping too many hours since opening The Coupe on October 4. The new diner/lounge/coffeehouse was always intended to be a 24-hour place available at all times for “the self-employed, the students, the artists, the musicians, the people looking for a job,” he says.

“To me, the city should never sleep,” Stavropoulos said, acknowledging that New York already has claim to that tagline.

The Coupe hasn’t been as busy as The Diner in its first week and a half, but that’s to be expected for a place that isn’t in the center of a major nightlife district, says the sleepy restaurateur. He’s still hoping it fills a niche for a lot of neighborhood residents who have late nights or early mornings.

As for where else up-all-nighters in the DC area can go, UrbanTurf has compiled what’s probably a non-exhaustive list. Let us know in the comments any places we’ve left out.

In DC

• The Coupe — 3415 11th Street NW, Columbia Heights. A combination diner, coffeehouse/lounge and bar with breakfast and dessert served all night.

• The Diner — 2453 18th Street NW, Adams Morgan. A favorite of Adams Morgan partiers with a late night menu that goes beyond breakfast to include a veggie banh mi, grilled wings with cilantro mint dipping sauce and a “jar of pickles.”

• Osman and Joe’s Steak and Egg Kitchen — 4700 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Tenleytown. Classic 24-hour diner with the enormous, placemat-sized menu. Think country-fried steak, corned beef hash, pancakes and patty melts served up at a long counter facing the grills, with a few tables outside.

• Kramerbooks — 1517 Connecticut Avenue NW, Dupont Circle, Friday and Saturday only. This full-service coffeeshop, cafe and restaurant has been “serving latte to the literati since 1976” and has Dupont covered for weekend late nights and early mornings. Need a quick bite? Check out the “sharezies and appetizers” menu.

• Annie’s Steakhouse — 1609 17th Street NW, Dupont Circle, Friday and Saturday only. “D.C.’s gayest neighborhood steakhouse” serves up greasy cravings food like chicken wings and jalapeño poppers but also has items fit for your more eclectic overnight cravings, including a pear chicken salad, a California turkey club and a seafood remoulade salad.

In the ‘Burbs

• Bob and Edith’s — 2310 Columbia Pike, Arlington. Small, standalone diner in between two gas stations that’s been a neighborhood institution since 1969. They’ve got classic diner fare, a house full of military guys spilling out of the L.A. Bar and Grill karaoke joint next door on Saturday nights and a line out the door most weekend mornings.

• Amphora Diner — 377 Maple Avenue West, Vienna and 1151 Elden Street, Herndon. Greek diners in Northern Virginia with a massive menu that includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, Greek favorites such as spanikopita and an epic selection of grilled cheeses.

• Kabob Palace — 2315 S. Eads Street, Arlington. Late night favorite of shisha-philes, especially those with cravings for kabob, falafel and other Middle Eastern favorites.

• Honey Pig Gooldaegee Korean BBQ — 7220 Columbia Pike, Annandale; 13818-B Braddock Road, Centreville; and 10045 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City. “Fun, vibrant mixing bowls of all ages and cultures,” according to their website, whose menu includes family-style Korean meat dishes, as well as bulgogi, udon and something called “hangover soup” — maybe so you can start healing before you even go to bed?

• Waffle Shop — 3864 Mount Vernon Avenue, Alexandria, *Friday and Saturday nights only. Hole-in-the wall diner in the Arlandria neighborhood with a greasy spoon menu and a slew of counter seats.

• Yechon — 4121 Hummer Road, Annandale. Another Korean barbecue joint that keeps the grills piping hot all night long.

• Plato’s Diner — 7150 Baltimore Avenue, College Park. Favorite of University of Maryland students and others in the neighborhood, the diner has a Greek-influenced menu including chicken souvlaki salad, blackened salmon souvlaki and stuffed grape leaves.

• Tastee Diner — 8601 Cameron Street, Silver Spring; 7731 Woodmont Avenue, Bethesda; and 118 Washington Boulevard South, Laurel. Classic diner menu at all three locations, including sausage gravy or chipped beef with a biscuit; look out for rotating blue plate specials.

Rebecca Cooper is a freelance journalist and avid eater who has contributed to TBD, DCist, and Washingtonian.