Aw, Shucks: Hank’s Oyster Bar gets ready for its annual Oyster Fest
Jamie Leeds prepares to crack open some bivalves for Hank's eighth annual Oyster Fest
Eight years ago, chef Jamie Leeds wanted to throw a party. Naturally, given the name of her restaurant — Hank’s Oyster Bar — it would be one centered on her favorite bivalves.
“We thought we’d provide all-you-can-eat oysters, drink beer and just have a good time,” Leeds says. “We wanted to do something for the community to bring people together — the neighbors and all the support that we had gotten from our regulars.” The result was Oyster Fest.
Of course, the support Hank’s garnered in its first two years was even sweeter and more critical than it otherwise would have been. Only two years prior, in the spring of 2005, it wasn’t even clear that Hank’s would open. At that time, there was the very real chance that a mere handful of D.C. residents might derail the restaurant, via a petition this so-called “gang of six” had filed with the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration. The development came after Leeds had spent many months pouring her home equity into the space that had been Trio’s Pizza, just off the intersection of 17th and Q Streets.
“It was hard to deal with that,” Leeds concedes now. “But we persevered.”
The inviting, attractive restaurant, named after Leeds’ late father, opened to great fanfare in May 2005, garnering accolades in prominent media outlets including the Washington Post and Gourmet. To this day, waits can be long for a table outside on the patio, even after doubling in size through an expansion four years ago.
Hank’s has expanded to other locations as well. Leeds now has two additional locations, in Old Town Alexandria and on Capitol Hill. This fall will usher in a sixth annual Oyster Fest at the Old Town location, but the original Oyster Fest in Dupont is set for this Saturday, April 25.
Leeds is looking forward to celebrating her tenth anniversary in Dupont next month — with yet another all-you-can-eat affair on Monday, May 18. “We’re throwing a big party — all-you-can-eat food and drink for free for the neighbors, the regulars, all the people that work with us, all of our vendors,” she says.
The restaurant’s success owes much to the support from regulars, those who can’t get enough of arguably the best Lobster Roll in town, as well as other standouts including raw oysters on the half shell, an Oyster Po’Boy and popcorn shrimp and calamari. Among the non-seafood specials are Molasses Braised Short Ribs, offered Mondays and Tuesdays, slow-cooked so the meat falls right off the bone.
Leeds, who originally trained in New York under Danny Meyer of Shake Shack fame, attributes the longevity to her staff. “We do a lot of training, and have a great group of people, people that have been working for me since the beginning,” she says. “I have a very dedicated, motivated and committed staff, and I think that makes a big difference in the guest experience.”
Of course a lot has changed in D.C.’s dining scene over the last decade. “A lot more local, chef-driven restaurants have opened up in D.C. — it’s a great community of chefs,” Leeds says. “There’s a lot of camaraderie, a lot of support among the chefs, which you don’t find in many cities.” Still, the former president of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs wishes there were more female chefs out there.
“There are not as many as I’d like to see, but there are a few good women,” she says, citing Marjorie Meek-Bradley of Ripple and Roofers Union, Tracy O’Grady and Kate Jensen of Willow, Ruth Gresser of Pizzeria Paradiso, and Ann Cashion of Cashion’s Eat Place, Johnny’s Half Shell and Taqueria Nacional.
A few years ago Leeds closed her short-lived Columbia Heights gastropub CommonWealth, but she’s intent on “building more restaurants.” She’s already announced plans for another oyster bar in the developing Wharf project on the Southwest Waterfront near Arena Stage, though it won’t open until 2017. Leeds will soon open Twisted Horn, a new cocktail and small plates bar on Upshur Street in Petworth.
“It’s a thriving community,” says Leeds about her own new neighborhood. “I have a lot of friends who live there that want a place to go nearby. So I thought, let’s look here and see what we can do.”
The 8th Annual Oyster Fest is Saturday, April 25, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Hank’s Oyster Bar, 1624 Q St. NW. Tickets are $80 for all-you-can-eat oysters and draft beer. Call 202-462-4265. Visit hanksoysterbar.com.
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