Sea Catch Restaurant has put a twist on taxes this year. The restaurant, at 1054 31st St. in Northwest, is offering patrons tax-themed drinks and the chance to file extension forms as a way to beat the tax-day blues.
“It’s meant to take the pain away,” said General Manager Brian Reymann. “Not a whole lot of people love paying their taxes.”
From today through Thursday — tax day — the 140-seat restaurant and 20-seat bar has added five specialty drinks: the Flat Tax, the 1040 EZ, Blood from a Stone, the Loophole and the Harvey Bean Counter.
Mr. Reymann and his crew scoured through tax books to find creative names for drinks and then tried to tie in different liquors to create appropriate concoctions. They came up with more than 50 names, which they narrowed down to a manageable five.
Blood from a Stone is made of Charbay Blood Orange Vodka on the rocks with blood orange juice and grenadine. The Harvey Bean Counter is made of currant-flavored vodka, orange juice and Galiano liqueur.
“It is such an off-the-wall idea,” Mr. Reymann said. “We keep things creative for our regular customers.”
The drink prices are $3 between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. and $5 until 10 p.m.
Sea Catch also will foot the postage bill for extensions filed at the restaurant and will mail them by the Thursday deadline.
Last year, 8.5 million people filed for a four-month extension, the Internal Revenue Service reported.
As of April 4, the IRS had received more than 81 million tax returns. The government agency is expecting 131 million returns this year.
In 2003, more than 34 million returns were received in the final two weeks before the deadline.
Retail rummage
• Greenberg Commercial Corp., through a joint venture with Prudential Real Estate Investors, will purchase Parole Plaza Shopping Center for $25 million. The 33-acre property outside Annapolis was developed in the 1950s as an open-air mall. The center has been vacant for the past several years.
Greenberg plans to demolish the existing structures and create a new town center with national, regional and local retailers, residential units, offices and a full-service hotel.
• Relish, a Washington women’s clothing boutique, on Saturday opened its second location in Georgetown’s Design District, known as Cady’s Alley. The 6,500-square-foot, two-level store also will carry menswear and accessories. Relish’s first location is on Wisconsin Avenue in Chevy Chase.
• Bed, Bath & Beyond has signed three new leases — ranging from 25,000 to 29,000 square feet — in Germantown, Fredericksburg, Va., and Westminster, Md. Sax Realty Inc. of Bethesda brokered the deals on behalf of Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Dining out
• Noodles & Co. opened two locations in the area last month. A 3,000-square-foot restaurant opened in Rockville and a 2,400-square-foot space opened in Alexandria. The company has locations in Gaithersburg, College Park, Arlington, Fairfax and Vienna, Va.
• M&S Grill opened a 7,900-square-foot, 275-seat restaurant at Reston Town Center March 27.
• Donna De Marco can be reached at 202/636-4884.Retail & Hospitality runs every other Monday.
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