About DC Restaurant Openings
A guide to the newest places to eat and drink.
Carla. 2001 18th St., NW.
In the early 2000s, Jack Rose Dining Saloon owner Bill Thomas ran a bar in Adams Morgan called the Blue Room, which became popular for its live music and electronic DJs. “We would see people three, four days a week, but rail drinks were $4, beers were $5. Back then, cocktails were super cheap,” Thomas says.
These days, it’s not unusual to find cocktails creeping toward $20 at your neighborhood bar or restaurant. But a handful of new spots are trying to bring back simpler (and cheaper) times. Franks Wild Years of 14th Street keeps drinks under $12. Five Dollar Bar on U Street never charges more than $5. Meanwhile, Thomas and Jack Rose partner John Roberts wanted to revive the Blue Room’s chill, affordable spirit. Their new Adams Morgan spot, Carla, is more elevated than a dive, but cocktails never cost more than $13. It opens Thursday, September 24.
“We kind of were like, ‘Alright, how do we get back to kind of a cool vibe where people can pop in for one drink and not feel bad, like, shit, there goes all my money for the week?'” Thomas says.
The building—owned by Thomas—was formerly home to the Imperial, which struggled when the pandemic hit months after opening. Thomas says he ultimately had a falling out with his business partners there and wasn’t involved in its operations by the time it closed in May of 2025.
Carla’s business model is built for DC’s post-pandemic world with its skyrocketing food and labor costs, Thomas says. “It’s all about efficiencies.” No longer is there a host or servers—just order at the bar. The menu is the same throughout the space, including the roof deck. And the cocktail list is streamlined with fewer options and simplified ingredients.
“It’s about making sure that you just buy what you need and in enough bulk to get the price points down, so you can serve a premium ingredient at a cheaper price,” Thomas says. “There’s no other way to continue to deliver a higher end product, because everything is going up in price.”
Only a half dozen cocktails ($13) are available: a dirty martini, espresso martini, lychee martini, chilcano, armagnac old-fashioned, and spicy margarita. There are also a handful of spritzes ($11). Inspired by the official Campari bar in Milan, Thomas has invested in a special carbonation machine so Carla can offer spritzes with perfect fizziness. Happy hour—Tuesday through Friday from 5 to 7:30 PM—will include $10 featured cocktails, $9 glasses of wine, and $6 beers.
The globally inspired food menu starts with a “little snacks” that are all $5, including chips and onion dip, roasted poblano croquetas, and a smashed cucumber salad. Small-to-medium plates ($13 to $24) range from tuna tartare and tempura squash blossoms to bang bang shrimp bao and dijon-marinated lamb chops.
Carla will also have live bands and DJs. In fact, Thomas still has the original sound system from the Blue Room. Vintage photographs from Adams Morgan’s bar scene decorate the walls of the multi-floor space. (The basement, formerly cocktail bar Dram & Grain, is not part of Carla; Thomas is looking to eventually use it as a bottling facility for the whiskey he produces in Kentucky.)
Roberts, who helped build out a lot of the bars in Adams Morgan over the decades, suggested the name Carla. It’s his ex-girlfriend.
“She’s a professional. She’s always been part of the scene, loves going out, music, food, still goes out,” Thomas says. “She embodies DC, new and old, the vibrancy of the city and the coolness of the city.”
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind DC’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
