Heavy Seas burger joint coming to D.C.?

Looks like one of the region’s best known beer makers is also looking to get into the burger game.

A mention in our sister publication in Baltimore about the Heavy Seas brewery folks opening another restaurant — this one in the Horseshoe Casino being built in South Baltimore — prompted me to ask Heavy Seas partner Vince Cassino whether any more Heavy Seas outposts are planned for the D.C. area.

Heavy Seas opened in Rosslyn in February to huge crowds for the Arlington neighborhood, a little more than two years after opening its first ale house in Baltimore.

Cassino said it’s too early to discuss specific D.C. area locations, lest he “jinx” some ongoing discussions, but did say that the Horseshoe Casino spot will not be a full-fledged Heavy Seas Ale House but a fast-casual burger joint that the company would hope to replicate in other locations, including parts of the D.C. area.

The restaurant, which will either be dubbed Heavy Seas Burger or Heavy Seas Burger Joint, will be part of all-local food court offerings at the casino. It will offer quick-serve burgers and the brewery’s beers, Cassino said.

Heavy Seas wants the casino location to be the initial test of a turnkey operation that could make sense in other venues, possibly including stadiums, he added. (Heavy Seas at Nats Park, anyone? Or maybe a certain casino of our own that’s coming here in the next few years?)

Any future locations wouldn’t likely be announced for at least 12 months, Cassino said, given that the group is aiming to give six to eight months of undivided attention to one location before moving on to a new project.

“We’d rather take it one at a time, because the more aggressive we get, it’s not going to lend itself well to keeping true to what we’re doing,” Cassino said.

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