An empty stomach often leads to a light head, which leads to terrifying hallucinations of kitchenware becoming animate and mating. Today's Groupon prevents kitchen-terrors: for $15, you get $30 worth of fast, casual fare at Justin's Café near the ballpark.

The newly opened eatery serves up a fresh menu, offering soups, salads, sandwiches, and pizzas. Nosh on a Legare salad ($8.25), a mélange of arugula, prosciutto, figs, goat cheese, house-made croutons, and black olives in balsamic vinaigrette, or warm up to the Gadsden pizza ($11.50), topped with hand-cut pepperoni, spinach, black olives, and fresh mozzarella and feta. Justin's Café's sandwich selections feature veggie-dense, herbivore-pleasing tastes, such as the King sandwich ($8.25), which boasts a bed of grilled eggplant and basil mayo under tomato, roasted peppers, zucchini, and spinach, as well as carnivorous dream creations like the Radcliffe wrap ($8.50), which swaddles grilled chicken, Granny Smith apples, and mozzarella cheese in a spinach tortilla.

Justin's Café's fashionably sparse space gleams with quasi-industrial accents, as the exposed kitchen and overhead pipes offset the sharp lines and muted colors of the café's mid-century furnishings. The eatery usually serves food until around 10 p.m. every night, which may make it an ideal spot for forlorn fly-ball chasers to catch a quick bite to eat and a bottle of the rich Duck Rabbit Milk Stout ($6). When ballpark fare leaves your belly as upset as a child who has to do taxes, take solace in the offerings of the only restaurant and bar bordering Nationals Park.

Reviews

Justin's Café was featured on Thrillist and Examiner:

• We know it can be everything you want it to be; a date spot, a place to watch the game with the boys or the café across the street to grab a bite to eat when you’re too lazy to make dinner yourself. With reasonable prices, it’s definitely a place where regulars can hang out. – Examiner