Early Friday morning, I headed into D.C. to record the second episode of my new podcast Eating the Fantastic, which seemed a perfect opportunity to check out Pineapple and Pearls, a cafe which opened its doors exactly one week earlier. It’s the latest restaurant from Rose’s Luxury chef Aaron Silverman, and will soon include a high-end, full-service restaurant of the same name—one which, unlike Rose’s, will allow reservations. Yay!

Because getting into D.C. for me involves taking one of a limited number of possible MARC trains out of Martinsburg at a completely mind-numbing hour, I arrived at Pineapple and Pearls exactly one minute before its 8:00 a.m. opening. But once that minute passed, and I could hear the sounds of reveille from the Marine barracks across the street, the door opened, and I learned what was for breakfast that morning.

I’d already decided I was going to order the entire menu, for a number of reasons.

One—I’ve told you before how amazing Rose’s Luxury is, right? How could I not order it all?

Second—restaurants often dispense with some of their initial menu offerings once they gauge which are selling and which are not, and I wanted to check them all out before any were removed.

But don’t worry—though I did order the whole menu, I didn’t actually eat the whole menu! That, after all, is what friends and relatives are for. (In this instance, my son, whom I’d be meeting later that day.)

Chef Aaron Silverman—who was just nominated for a James Beard Award in the category of Best Chef Mid-Atlantic—was on hand. We chatted briefly about Pineapple and Pearls, both the cafe and the restaurant to come …

… but then it was time for breakfast!

Which consisted of a few bites of each of the following, with the rest packaged up again and carried off to share.

First, the three sandwiches—

Green garbanzo falafel with house-made pita

Grilled chicken chimichurri on an olive oil brioche

Egg hash & salsa verde on masa bread

Every one a winner! Though if forced to pick a star … that egg hash sandwich was amazing.

And then, the sweet rolls—

Pineapple and pearls sweet roll

You know those pineapple buns you can get at the end of dim sum meals? After this eponymous sweet roll, I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to order one again. One problem with tasting food this good is that you’ve then set the bar so high that everything else is suddenly in second place.

Cinnamon sweet roll

You will never eat a Cinnabon again. I don’t. Ever. But neither should you. Taste one of these and you never will again.

Mexican hot chocolate.

I’ve never been a fan of spicy chocolate—I like chocolate to calm me down, not fire me up (except when used in a mole sauce, that is)—so though I loved the dough and chocolate, the kick of this one wasn’t meant for me. But it may be for you!

And finally—

Lemon-thyme shortbread

I’m already a sucker for good shortbread—and this was good shortbread—but the gentle lemon-thyme was nice extra touch.

I can’t see myself getting to the Pineapple and Pearls Cafe often—after all, there are many miles between us—but I’m sure going to try. Those sweet rolls—especially the namesake Pineapple and Pearls—deserve another taste.

Congratulations on another success, Aaron!