About Restaurant Openings Around DC
A guide to the newest places to eat and drink.
Lobby Bar. 224 Seventh St., SE.
When Adam Shulman walked into the former Boxcar Tavern space across from Eastern Market, the budding restaurateurâa former marketing and events executive at MGM Resortsâ”got a weird feeling.”
“It was because I could literally see, right off the bat, what it should look like,” he says. “The place spoke to me, and it was the type of spot that I could see myself hanging out in with the right amount of polishing and refinement.”
On Friday, May 16, he’ll debut Lobby Bar, a 66-seat restaurant and cocktail spot that, in his words, “screams classic American.” The menu, overseen by DC native and former Union Oyster Bar chef Andre Williams, features throwbacks like pigs in blankets (upgraded with wagyu and spicy truffle mustard), “zero filler” jumbo lump crab cakes, deviled eggs, and chicken pot pie. “There will be fun little takes on stuff that will bring back some of your good core memories, ” he says.
Lobby Bar’s cocktail menu will lean heavily on martinis, including one with caper brine and another with brown-sugar/vanilla syrup and espresso. Shulman is most excited for guests to try the oyster martini, which features olive-oil-infused gin and oyster brine. “It sounds weird, but it actually works really well,” he says.
When the restaurant’s doors open, Shulman says that its ambiance will be a respite from the “hustling and bustling” of Capitol Hillâand a nod to some of his favorite New York City places, like Polo Bar, The Corner Store, and Carbone.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?” says Shulman. “We’re not trying to be anybody else, and we’re not trying to copy anybody else. I love to draw inspiration from places that do things at a very high level.”
