A Pearl of an Oyster House

Chef Jamie Leeds opens a snappy new seafood place in Dupont Circle

**  Hank's Oyster Bar

1624 Q St. NW (near 17th Street)

202-462-4265. http://www.hanksdc.com/

Open: for dinner Sunday and Monday 5:30 to 10 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday 5:30 to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5:30 to 11:30 p.m.; for brunch Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Tuesday. AE, MC, V. No reservations. Smoking at outdoor tables only. Limited wheelchair access. Metro: Dupont Circle. Valet parking Thursday through Saturday at dinner. Prices: dinner appetizers $6 to $14, entrees $11 to $19. Full dinner with wine, tax and tip about $50 per person.

Some neighborhoods have all the luck. To live in Penn Quarter in Washington -- home to such enticements as Jaleo, Minibar, Poste and Zaytinya -- is to have plenty of chances to dine very well. Similarly, within strolling distance of one another in Silver Spring beckon restaurants delivering a small world of choices, from contemporary American (Jackie's) to traditional Burmese (Mandalay) to Jamaican (Negril).

Other areas, despite large populations and healthy incomes, fare

less well. Bethesda offers more options than exist in Bill Gates's portfolio, but I can count its good returns on your restaurant-dollar investment on one hand. And, in Washington, the stretch of 17th Street near Dupont Circle serves, with few exceptions, a heapin' helpin' of mediocrity.

So no wonder the lines sometimes spill out the door at Hank's Oyster Bar. This fledgling seafood restaurant replaces the scruffy Trio Pizza & Subs and is headed by Jamie Leeds, the chef who made Logan Circle a better place to eat with 15 ria in the Washington Terrace Hotel. For 10 years, the Brooklyn native says, she has wanted to create a place of her own, but it took her until now to find just the right spot and just the right time to do her own thing.

Hank's, the chef says, is a nod to her late father, an avid fisherman. It's also "reminiscent of the places I love to go," she says, including the counter-only Swan Oyster Depot in San Francisco and the pint-size Pearl Oyster Bar in New York, restaurants revered for their clean looks and sublime ingredients.

Having had the good fortune to eat in both those restaurants, I can tell you that Hank's has achieved just the right effect. The narrow room holds fewer than 70 seats, but its endless tin ceiling and long wooden floor make it feel bigger. A sense of tidiness prevails. Walls are warmed up by red brick or paint in shades of pistachio or copper, and by old photographs of Leeds's father fishing. Chalkboards tell you which oysters are being served that day (there are typically five or more varieties), and overhead fans hark back to a more languid era. When the weather allows, the front doors open to a small patio for al fresco dining. Passersby slow down as they approach the inviting scene.

"Can you believe it?" I overheard a former Trio customer say to his friends. "This place used to be a dump!"

Leeds's menu is concise and (surprise, surprise) heavily populated by ingredients from the ocean. Following the current fashion, it is also divided into "Small Plates" and "Large Plates" -- those would be appetizers and entrees -- and it throws a bone to carnivores with "Meat & Two." Carryovers from 15 ria, these entrees change with the day and include a choice of two side dishes. Monday means short ribs, and Thursday smothered pork chops, while Sunday is made cozier by citrus roast chicken. Wednesday's flatiron steak, while moist and cooked as requested, proved less than succulent, relying on a basil-brightened chimichurri sauce for its flavor. I filled up instead on my chosen accompaniments: lacy golden fried onions and chunky coleslaw.