About Restaurant Openings Around DC
A guide to the newest places to eat and drink.
Joia Burger. 2414 Wisconsin Ave., NW.
Joia Burger was an immediate hit in Mount Pleasant with its minimalist menu of smash burgers, fries, and purple ube soft-serve ice cream. Now, the burger shop is coming to Glover Park in late January—with an eye on further expansion.
Patrice Cleary, who also owns Filipino restaurant Purple Patch in Mount Pleasant, debuted the first location last March. She grew up in a military family that traveled a lot, and the affordable concept was inspired by burger pitstops she fondly remembers in her father’s Massachusetts hometown.
The menu at the new location will remain the same: American wagyu beef smash patties (single, double, or triple) topped with American cheese and a chopped-up mix of lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle in special sauce (so you get all the toppings in every bite). You’ll also still find the housemade veggie burger topped with Filipino-style papaya salad; a $10 kids’ meal; and, of course, the ube ice cream.
There will be one notable addition to the menu: coffee. Cleary is looking to partner with Sun & Stars coffee roaster, which focuses on Arabica beans from the Philippines and also supplies Filipino restaurant Hiraya on H Street Northeast.
The Wisconsin Avenue space once housed a Z-Burger, where Cleary used to take her son after school. It’s bigger than the Mount Pleasant shop, with room for about 25 seats between booths, tables, and counter space.
Cleary says she’s continuing to look at more properties for further expansion. “I would love to open up several Joia Burgers in DC, all over different areas,” she says. “There’s already such a huge excitement and people are ready for us to to open. I want that feeling at every location.”
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’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.
