I Egg You, D.C.’s newest breakfast spot fueled by local purveyors, cracks open on Saturday, November 18.

The cutely named Capitol Hill hangout (517 8th Street SE) comes from Fried Rice Collective’s Scott Drewno and Danny Lee, the chef-owners behind D.C.’s critically acclaimed Anju and Chinese-Korean counter ChiKo. The first 50 guests on both opening day and Sunday, November 19, will be treated to a free coffee — plus a sandwich on the house on the second visit.

Scott Drewno hates sad hotel buffet eggs, has no time for shoddily prepared diner eggs. The chef is boggled by why someone would mistreat the perfect ingredient, turning it into unappealing, unpalatable slop. With love and a little technique, eggs are an epiphany: ovular blank canvases ready to be transformed in nearly countless ways, truly the ultimate breakfast food.

Drewno is determined to give the egg its due at I Egg You, the pandemic-born weekend popup inside the shuttered CHIKO on Barracks Row. The eatery is powered by Drewno — former executive chef of The Source and a James Beard Award semifinalist — and his business partner Danny Lee, another James Beard Award semifinalist who founded beloved Korean restaurant Mandu. They collaborate as The Fried Rice Collective, the restaurant group responsible for the wildly popular Chinese–Korean fast-casual chainlet CHIKO and the much-decorated modern Korean restaurant Anju. 

Pandemic pop-ups are like the Jerry Butler song—only the strong survive. While many ghost kitchens have ghosted, the best of the rest are largely going brick-and-mortar. I Egg You, the weekend breakfast-sandwich pop-up out of the original Capitol Hill location of Korean/Chinese fast casual spot Chiko, is among the marathoners. The popular concept will move into its own Barracks Row restaurant space this summer. On tap: daily breakfast and lunch service, a full bar specializing in brunch cocktails, and private space for intimate nighttime events from the Fried Rice Collective (the chefs/restaurateurs are also behind mod-Korean favorite Anju). Until the new place opens, the sandwiches will still be available weekends at Chiko.

Chefs like to tell you that bread is the most important element of a great sandwich, which explains the lengths to which some will go to bake or source their loaves. Scott Drewno, the chef behind this weekend ghost kitchen at the Chiko on Capitol Hill, opted for milk bread for his breakfast sandwiches. He buys loaves from O Bread in Annandale, a Korean bakery that will make you feel like a kid in a candy store. The ethereal quality of the bread persuaded Drewno that he needed a spread that wouldn’t saturate it in fat, which is why he started to whip butter before applying it to the slices. The chef adopted other tricks, too, such as frying eggs in brown butter and sprinkling them with a blend of spices, including toasted sesame seeds, chile flake and gray sea salt. He even fries the Logan’s brand breakfast sage sausage in a wok to add an element of crustiness to the pork. They’re small techniques that add a world of flavor.