Today seems to be full of restaurant news! Forest City has announced that a new raw bar will be opening in the Lumber Shed at the Yards as early as this spring.
Hopefully the timeline stays on track and we’ll have a new restaurant option by the park just in time for warmer temperatures!
Whaley’s Raw Bar to Open
Whaley’s Raw Bar to Open In the Lumber Shed at The Yards
Fresh, high quality seafood, both raw and prepared, is the newest addition to the growing dining scene at The Yards, DC’s premier waterfront neighborhood. Forest City Washington, master developer of The Yards, along with Washingtonian restaurateurs Nick and David Wiseman announced today a new seafood-focused dining concept to be located in the historic Lumber Shed at The Yards, located at 301 Water Street SE in the growing Navy Yard/Capitol Riverfront district. To be known as Whaley’s, the raw bar concept is expected to open this spring.
Whaley’s will feature delicious and innovative seafood delicacies including shellfish towers, crudos, a selection of seafood-focused small plates and a rotating family-style plate for sharing.
The menu will offer additional options such as New England clam chowder with oyster crackers, scallop crudo with charred grape vinaigrette and shaved radishes, iceberg stack with buttermilk dressing and shaved bottarga and grilled swordfish with fingerlings and black garlic vinaigrette. Only sustainably caught and harvested seafood will be served.
The new restaurant’s design, from Edit Lab at Street Sense, features the building’s floor-to-ceiling, 35-foot tall glass façade with the original roof trusswork exposed, recalling the Lumber Shed’s heritage as a former industrial part of the Washington Navy Yard. Whaley’s will be located on the south face of the Lumber Shed building, between Osteria Morini and Agua 301.
The restaurant’s layout will include a 20-seat counter bar and a 40-seat dining room, as well as outdoor patio seating, facing the riverfront and the surrounding Yards Park. Whaley’s will initially be open for dinner, with plans to later expand with brunch and lunch service. With the opening of Whaley’s the Lumber Shed at The Yards will be fully leased with five places to eat/drink on its first level including Due South, Ice Cream Jubilee, Osteria Morini and Agua 301.
The name Whaley’s honors the Revolutionary War hero Zedechiah Whaley, commander of the tiny Maryland Navy. History holds that Commander Whaley was a casualty during a storied Chesapeake Bay battle while single-handedly confronting a small squadron of British ships in an effort to protect the local watermen.
Partners, cousins and fourth generation Washingtonians Nick and David Wiseman, the team behind DGS Delicatessen & Specialty Bar, are the creative and cuisine force behind Whaley’s.
In Washington DC’s early days, eating places opened to cater to the congressmen, senators and citizenry who spent at least parts of their year on and around Capitol Hill. The most popular dining option at the time was oyster bars, the casual eateries of the early 1800’s that highlighted the bounty of the Mid-Atlantic coast and waterways. Oyster bars remained a fixture across the region throughout the 1900s. Dave and Nick grew up eating at Crisfields in Silver Spring, a seafood counter their fathers frequented growing up.
“We grew up eating piles of oysters with our dads at Crisfields,” said Nick Wiseman. “Now, to be able to open our own raw bar on the waterfront in DC is truly a dream come true.”
Whaley’s aims to recreate the same sort of experience—a neighborhood place where friends and colleagues can gather casually to enjoy icy cold oysters and other raw bar favorites, along with delicious composed plates, all woven together with carefully selected wines, beers and cocktails.
“Whaley’s will bring the wonderful tastes of fresh seafood to the waterfront dining scene of The Yards,” said Deborah Ratner Salzberg, president of Forest City Washington. “It’s the perfect addition in the most appropriate place at The Yards— on the waterfront.”
As a neighborhood, The Yards continues to grow and add exciting components. At full build out, the project will feature approximately 2,800 residential units, 400,000 SF of retail/dining/services space and up to 1.8 million SF of office space spread across 25 buildings.
There are already over a dozen places to dine and drink open at The Yards, along with a growing array of specialty retailers and services.
The latest residential addition at The Yards, Arris, will welcome its first residents in early March, bringing online another 327 luxury apartment units, many with stunning park and water views.
Pre-leasing for Arris began recently. For leasing information visit the leasing center located at 301 Tingey St. SE, or call 844-251-2058, or online at LiveArris.com.
In addition, Philz Coffee from San Francisco, has announced plans to open its latest DC-area shop on Tingey St. SE in Arris this spring.
Also opening in spring 2016 will be The Yards Marina, the 50-slip facility which began site construction last October. Half of the boat slips will be for transient boaters and the other half will be available on a seasonal contract basis. There will also be a pier dedicated for paddle-powered craft and an educational pier for water-focused activities.
Several additional development components are expected to begin construction at The Yards during 2016. Additional residential development will begin on 4th St. SE with the construction of a 191-unit apartment project by Forest City and the concurrent construction of a 138-unit condo building by PN Hoffman. District Winery, a working winery and restaurant with a special events space component, will be the sole tenant of a new two-level retail building to be constructed at the northern edge of Yards Park near the Lumber Shed with opening expected in late 2017. In addition, construction on the Showplace Icon premium theater complex, to be located near First Street SE, is expected to begin later this year with completion anticipated for 2018.
Additional information about Whaley’s can be found online at WhaleysDC.com.
The Yards is a mixed-use development of Forest City Realty Trust, a publicly-held real estate investment trust which owns, develops and operates residential, retail, office and mixed-use properties across the United States.