Don’t get me wrong, I love my family, but after a month of holiday celebrations and non-stop bonding, we were excited for a Saturday field trip with one of our favorite couples, Mike and Kendra.

Despite waking up to a blizzard (for D.C. standards), we bundled and laced up, trekked to our car, and went on our way to Bethesda for brunch and a movie, courtesy of City Perch and iPic. We didn’t know what to expect from a restaurant connected to a movie theater in the ‘burbs, but we agreed we couldn’t have picked a better day to post up, carbo-load, and lounge.

City Perch was adorable, with an unexpected organic entryway full of birch trees and moss. The juxtaposition to the boutique hotel feel of the iPic movie theater effortlessly flowed together and somehow didn’t seem disjointed.

After braving the snow and a 40-minute drive, we were ready for some cocktails. We started with a regular mimosa, a peach mimosa, and a Bloody Mary. Kendra liked her peach mimosa served with crushed ice, prosecco, and elderflower, but admitted it was different than she expected. My mimosa was bubbly and light on the OJ. The Bloody Mary was made to order with either gin or tequila—Mike chose the latter—and very salty and flavorful. It hit the spot.

The bread basket set the bar for all other bread baskets this year. Seeing as it was merely January 7th, I realize it may be too early to make such claims, but between the rosemary, cheddar, and caramelized sugar biscuits, the moist cornbread topped with toasted corn kernels and honey butter, and the flaky chocolate croissants that were reminiscent of babka, we were in gluten heaven.

We were nearing comatose, but our gracious server insisted we try the deep dark chocolate chocolate doughnut. It arrived in a tower of pistachio ice cream, dark chocolate sauce, and pistachio tuille. To be honest, this dish looked better than it tasted, but then again we may have hit our capacity for sweets that morning. The doughnut was somewhat flavorless, as was the pistachio ice cream—damn you, Sicily, you’ve set too high a bar for my pistachio palate!

City Perch Kitchen + Bar
11830 Grand Park Ave B
North Bethesda, MD 20852

City Perch Bethesda serves brunch Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.