You hear “K Street” in DC and you think of lobbying and law firms. The area around 16th & K has always had a geo-defined history: high end hotels, long gone mansions of rich and powerful, masculine buildings housing once-mighty labor unions – all looking to court favor with the big white executive mansion at the lower end of 16th Street. But bars, eateries and the now mostly gone gentlemen clubs have always found a way to accommodate the thirsty and hungry minions of the storied firms and working stiffs. We settled into Catch 15 Italian Kitchen & Oyster Bar (1518 K Street NW) to watch the parade of the rush hour crowd on K Street, across from the Capital Hilton and just down the street from the St. Regis Hotel and a newer, mid-level Hyatt. Thankfully, this Washington July summer afternoon was bearable (and beautiful) at our seating on the outdoor sidewalk terrace and not even the eau de diesel from a departing construction vehicle could dampen our spirits as we settled in for what turned out to be a quite pleasant surprise.
The overriding theme was “value for money” and nicely attentive service.
Drinks were very reasonable: some good beers on a draft and happy hour wines served in veritable goblets. The offered Happy Hour cocktails were narrow in scope, but we enjoyed the Pimms Cup and the Ultimat Mule and our “sparkling” drinker was very happy with the HH Cava! (Non-Happy Hour prices for a much larger range of cocktails seem very reasonable.)
The food offerings ran true to the Italian theme and all we sampled seemed homemade. So, instead of the usual frozen breaded mozzarella sticks thrown into a deep fryer, this cheese was a fresh cut block, lightly breaded, quick fried and served with a piquant marinara. The flatbread pizza, made with fresh tomatoes was delicious, the meatballs are made on-site, and the bargain of the day, the slider offering of two mini burgers with onions, came with a generous order of fries. The arancini (rice balls) were the least popular offering and we were so involved in the rest of the happy hour menu, we never even got to any oysters! (A quick visual to the actual oyster counter showed offerings to be pretty slim.)
The nitty gritty:
Happy Hours: Monday-Saturday 4pm – 8pm. Available at the bar, high top tables, couches and outdoor patio.
Bathrooms: Clean and functional, but just a little tired, with just a whiff of mustiness.
Transport: This is the heart of it all – steps to bus stops along I Street (17th, 15th or 14th Streets, NW), Farragut North (Red) and McPherson (Blue/Orange) Metro stops and hotel taxis stands within a breath away.
Accessibility: Our sometime sleuths, J&G, were on our adventure, so we needed easy wheel chair access. This put us outside on the sidewalk café, as management told us all appropriate inside seating was booked by a private party. Ummm, there seemed to be a LOT of indoor appropriate seating available the nearly two hours we were there, but, as we said, the weather was gorgeous, so we were happy to be outside.
DC Happy Hour Sleuths 