675 15th St. NW (202) 347-4800 Hours of Operation and Prices Breakfast: M-Th 7:30-11, Sat 8-11:30; Entrees: $5-$10 Lunch: M-Th 11-5, Sat 11:30-4; Entrees: $7-$13 Dinner: M-Th 5-1 am, F 5-2 am, Sat 4-1 am, Sun 4-midnight; Entrees: $8-$17 Brunch: Sun 9:30-4; Entrees: $8-$17 Other Information • Credit Cards: All major • Reservations: Recommended • Dress: Casual • Parking: Complimentary valet, dinner & brunch • Nearest Metro: Metro Center • Handicapped accessible

What's amazing is that this high-intensity chain of restaurants, with its predictable pub fare (fried calamari, Buffalo wings, chili, Caesar salad, the usual pastas, barbecue, crab cakes), comes up with some wonderful seasonable surprises. The few days of halibut season in Alaska mean fresh halibut on the menus at Clyde's and the Old Ebbitt. In the summer, the Old Ebbitt Grill is probably the only downtown pub serving fresh corn on the cob, local green beans and new potatoes, as well as pies and cobblers made with berries from nearby farms.

Even so, we'd all like to retire on a dollar for every burger the Old Ebbitt sells. What once was Clyde's claim to fame is now the Old Ebbitt's: a thick, handsome patty of juicy, coarsely ground and loosely packed beef, as crusty outside and as pink inside as you want, on a seeded bun with lettuce, tomato (ripe in season), pickle and utterly indifferent french fries. Ask for the green beans instead.