Barricuda’s (yes, with that distinctive spelling) was a true Capitol Hill institution.
Barricuda’s was a neighborhood restaurant and full service bar that opened in 1993 at 1076 Ogden Street, and became a fixture in the Capitol Hill neighborhood for 25 years. 
The bar was owned for most of its life by Jin Lee, a Korean immigrant who bought it in 1994. It was a dive bar in a strip mall at 11th and Ogden with cheap drinks and cheap food — you could walk in with $10 and get a generously-stuffed veggie burrito and a couple of heavy-poured cocktails. 
What made it special was its crowd. It was representative of Capitol Hill at that time: there were gays and drag queens, Blacks and whites, lawyers and ex-cons, punks and hippies — a melting pot of all melting pots, in a bar owned by a Korean immigrant. 
The clientele reflected the vibe: you wouldn’t find buttoned-down businessmen, club bunnies or frat boys, but regular, neighborly folks enjoying the friendly staff, cheap drinks and a jukebox set at just the right volume — loud enough to hear the music, but soft enough to enjoy a conversation. 
Barricuda’s closed in November 2019, and Jin Lee passed away in April 2023 after a short battle with lung cancer.  By all accounts he was deeply loved by the community he served for a quarter century.
