http://burgerdays.com

A house made pork patty topped with bacon, melted American cheese and sunny side up egg, sits on a Belgian waffle alongside maple ketchup and home fries. "Were you high when you came up with this?" a friend asks. It's one of the best compliments he's ever received, says Nage executive chef Dwayne Motley, about his breakfast burger, just one in a menagerie of beef-and-bun creations he's put together at his Dupont restaurant. "No, I was sober," the chef promises. Since November, Motley has been serving up to five off-the-menu burgers every Monday night during Nage's new "Burger Monday" weekly promotion. Specials have ranged from conventional, like the blackened-spiced Nola Burger, to the more extreme, like his mistakenly THC-inspired breakfast burger. And while Motley says the waffle burger is his craziest creation, there's more than a few others he's come up with that would make for an ideal post-smoke snack. Customer favorites have included a blue-cheese-and-gruyere, Benton's-bacon jam-topped French onion soup burger, a bonafide doughnut-for-buns Luther and, on a recent bacon-themed night, he busted out both a peanut butter and bacon combo and a fried bacon burger. And about those themes– it's not advertised as such but each week's collection of burgers usually revolves around a common subject or ingredient. In addition to his bacon night, Motley's also featured a night of game burgers, a coffee night and even a beer cheese night. Nage's Burger Monday specials are technically only available during Monday night dinner service. Technically.  But Motley says sometimes he carries them over to Tuesday as well. Additionally, if a customer wants a burger that's no longer advertised, if he has the ingredients, Motley says there's a good chance he can – and will – make it for them. Even the Luther? "I'll walk to Dunkin' Donuts up the street and pick up some glazed if I have to," he says.  And because every burger should be accompanied by a fat heap of fried spuds, Motley keeps Nage's fry game on point, too. Alongside the 70/30-blend of chuck-strip loin-and-short rib burgers, there are four ways to get fried potatoes: Nage's own house mix of truffled regular and sweet potato fries, garlic fries, duck fat fries and even ghost chili fries. Everything about Nage's Monday night promotion is pretty fantastic. First, it's burgers. Duh. Second, the beef-and-bun creativity exhibited rivals the best D.C. burger joints. Third, the quality of the beef – Motley's 70-30 blend of chuck-strip loin-and short rib patties – is really, really good. But, perhaps our favorite part of Burger Mondays is how it came to be. "We used to do Meatless Mondays," says Motley. "But it just didn't work out." Thank God. Nage | 1600 Rhode Island Avenue NW | DC | nagedc.com