You would probably like the Beretta 92. You mention the Glock is bulky in your hands so the 92 might feel the same but it has a very decent SA trigger, soft recoil and is uber reliable. It's not competition grade accurate but it's still pretty good right out of the box. Plus with your $1500 budget that would leave room to buy a box or two of ammo...
A friend of mine who is not really a gun guy wanted something to shoot at the range so I recommended the Beretta 92FS and he loves it for all of those reasons.
