Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Story That Starts in Miami Beach

The stone crab on your plate has a history. In the early 1920s, Joe Weiss and his wife Jennie discovered Florida stone crabs — then an unknown delicacy — in the coastal waters of Florida and began serving them at their restaurant in Miami Beach. The claws are hand harvested one at a time, the crab returned to the sea, and the tradition carried forward. Today, that same familiar "crack-crack-crack" can be heard at 750 15th Street NW, a few blocks from the White House, where Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab brings that legacy to the nation's capital.

The Stone Crab, Front and Center

Stone crab remains the anchor of the menu, served chilled with Joe's mustard sauce in medium, select, and large sizes — available in limited quantities while in season. But the kitchen's range goes well beyond it. The seafood side of the menu moves from oysters on the half shell and a colossal lump crab cake through Dover sole with brown butter, Chilean sea bass with miso glaze and bok choy, and a showstopper plateau called The Whale — king crab, lobster, jumbo shrimp cocktail, and oysters together on one platter.

Prime Steaks, Carved to Order

The steakhouse half of the menu is taken equally seriously. Bone-in cuts are hand-carved by master butchers exclusively for Joe's: a 16 oz. bone-in filet mignon, a 24 oz. bone-in rib eye, and a 32 oz. porterhouse, each prized, in the restaurant's own words, for "rich, on-the-bone flavor and melt-in-your-mouth tenderness." Additions like King Crab Oscar or a Maine lobster tail let diners bridge the surf-and-turf divide cleanly.

The Room and the Wine

Servers work the floor in tuxedos — the dress code for guests is upscale casual, comfort first. The wine program earned a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, a recognition that reflects genuine depth and curation rather than a token list. Guests are also welcome to bring a rare or collectible bottle not on the menu, subject to a corkage fee.

Lunch Worth Staying for

The midday offering is more than a condensed version of dinner. A three-course lunch at $42.95 runs from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with choices spanning jumbo shrimp cocktail, crab bisque, colossal lump crab cake, filet mignon, and Joe's signature key lime pie or peanut butter pie to finish — a complete expression of what this seafood and steakhouse kitchen does well, at a pace suited to a downtown lunch crowd.