Catch 15, Italian with Raw Bar, Chef Vincent Torres Comes From Toscana West - 15th and K Street at McPherson Square

[lotus125]

I tried the newly-opened Catch 15.  The menu looked pretty unfocused, but it is close to a friend's office and takes reservations, so we figured we'd give it a try.  It was profoundly mediocre.  We sampled about 10 dishes and all were a solid "eh."  I wouldn't ordinarily even post, but because it's new, I figured that I'd pass along word: don't bother. 

[DonRocks]

Catch 15 is owned by Tony Kowkabi, who also owns Ristorante Piccolo in Georgetown and owned Tuscana West near Franklin Square (this is essentially the "new" Tuscana West).

Currently, it's the only restaurant in East Downtown DC on our Late-Night Restaurants list, as their kitchen is listed as being open until 1AM on Saturdays. Their regular menu is quite extensive, so I wouldn't be surprised if the late-night offerings were a limited subset.

Okay, I've been taking some hits for the team of late (in the past week, BLT Steak, Joe's Stone Crab, a bungled evening at Del Frisco's, Black Iron Pizza, Central Michel Richard, etc. - all on my own dime, as always (yes, I really *do* care if I pay $60 for an í  la carte steak)) - could someone start a post about Ristorante Piccolo if they've been recently? I'll be playing catch-up for the rest of 2015. There's *so much* for me to do - when's the last time someone has even heard anything about Poste, for example? Man oh man has this town changed in the past five years.

Here's a bonus for you, the readers of donrockwell.com, that you probably won't find anywhere else (if you do, let me know because it's likely they're short on original ideas and have borrowed mine): A distinct trend that I'm detecting in 2015 is "the preponderance of customer-loyalty programs" and affiliated discounts and bonuses. These have always been around, but they're starting to really spread, especially in the large, corporate-type restaurants, and they're becoming more-and-more shameless and aggressive. I hate them, because I hate feeling like I'm counting every penny, and being nickled and dimed, but even BLT Steak tonight had two different prices on their menus: one for retail-paying fools (like me!); the other, for loyalty-club members. I'm seeing these all over the place recently - you heard it hear first. (If someone can find another publication that has written about this in the past year or so, please alert me so I can delete this paragraph - I don't want to stab someone in the back, at least not without good reason. ) Seriously, at the minimum, I'd like to cite them. BTW, another fairly recent phenomenon: the $100+ "steak for two," and this is not limited to expense-account restaurants such as Joe's Stone Crab (which is giving Cafe Milano a run for its money).

[darkstar965]

...A distinct trend that I'm detecting in 2015 is "the preponderance of customer-loyalty programs" and affiliated discounts and bonuses. ..

Agree. Even worse are corporate, web or mobile enabled loyalty programs from chains that don't offer WiFi. Love Cava Grill but this is my #1 annoyance with them. It's 2015.