As the latest outpost in Jamie Leeds's culinary empire, Capitol Hill's Hank's Oyster Bar, aka Hank's on the Hill, is a hot property. In the early hours of Jan. 17, a little too hot, actually. As reported by NBC4 Washington, calls that the restaurant was on fire started coming in around 2 a.m. The good news for the Capitol Hill venue – which follows the lesbian restaurateur's original Dupont Circle-area restaurant and Old Town Alexandria Hank's – is that the damage is apparently not too bad and, more importantly, there were no serious injuries.
''The fire was minimal,'' Gina Chersevani of Hank's on the Hill told Metro Weekly via email. ''We're happy to say that no one was hurt.'' She offered no possible cause fo the late-night flames.
Regardless of how the fire may have begun, the damage was apparently so minimal that management expects to open the doors at 633 Pennsylvania Ave. SE as planned for a Monday, Jan. 21, Inauguration brunch.
''We are assessing the situation and should be up and shucking for Inauguration,'' Chersevani guesses.
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