Ready for an Evolution

In the beginning, there was an idea and the idea was good. Later there would be scallops and pancetta and white leather couches, a concrete bar and a top-secret drink called Sinful Delight. But that would be later, after three friends took a trip to Miami, where they realized a collective dream that brought Evolve to Columbia Road in Adams Morgan.

What the friends, all in their 30s, fashioned is an alternative to the 18th Street NW scene with its bar-hopping college crowd that yells loudly and vomits often.

"There are a lot of places that we don't go to anymore," says Evolve co-owner Jason Washington, 31. "What we created is a place where you can come and have good food, hear good music, and the music isn't so loud that you couldn't still have a good conversation."

Sandwiched between Cashion's Eat Place, a neighborhood staple known for its American cuisine, and a Footaction USA sportswear store sits a small sliver of what Washington, Mahiri Jones and Patrick Moore have turned into a restaurant-lounge-bar with a low-cost, high-end menu, good music and great drinks.

"We are trying to reach out to the neighborhood," says Jones, 33. "We're here every night so they can meet us, see the place, eat and come back."

But where Evolve differs from other area lounges is its interest in making sure patrons feel a part of the process.

"The menu will change at least four times a year," says executive chef Earnest Datcher, 35, who has been cooking for 18 years at such restaurants as 1789 and Old Ebbitt Grill. "In an area as diverse as Adams Morgan, you want to make sure your menu matches that diversity."

For nouveau cowboys, the lounge, which opened New Year's Eve, offers grilled organic lamb burgers with crumbled feta and pomegranate aioli ($14); for those who can't break their palate away from the norm, Evolve serves spiced fries ($5) and shrimp and spinach soup ($8). There are also vegan dishes, organic wines and a drink menu with names including Evolve Passion, Krush Groove, Complex Simplicity and the Wingman (all $11).

A chef willing to accept suggestions for his menu?

"I want the input as long as it comes with a little bit of sugar," Datcher jokes. "Everyone has a different perception, and I have been taught that perception is reality. And until we get it right, things will be changing."

Talk about changing. Travel back to 2006: Washington is working on Adrian M. Fenty's mayoral campaign staff, Moore is a systems engineer for Northrop Grumman and Jones is a local party promoter. Not bored with their day jobs but definitely not fulfilled, they plan a vacation to Miami to get away from it all. Washington and Moore had been friends since their college years at North Carolina A&T University. Through a mutual friend, they met Jones. In Miami their friendship turned into a partnership. "We realized that we all had different goals but the same path," Moore says.

Washington, a self-proclaimed foodie, wanted to open a restaurant; Moore was looking toward a lounge; and Jones could see a way to merge the two ideas.

Once they arrived home, things moved quickly.

"We started looking at demographics and places," Washington says. They settled on Columbia Road because it offered the 18th Street foot traffic without the 18th Street rep.

But the spot they chose didn't offer the best luck for longevity.

"The place that we picked has been five places in the last few years," Moore says.

"I think those places didn't take the time and dedication to really make their presence felt," Jones says. "They came in and painted the walls and basically put lipstick on a pig."

With its dark ambiance; white leather couches; a beautiful concrete bar; and a tree mural that runs along the wall of the upstairs lounge, exposing branches that stretch into the dining area, customers would be hard-pressed to know that the place once was a blues dive.

"I really like the classy European modern feel," says Janelle Greene, 23, a gymnastics instructor from Northern Virginia who heard about Evolve from a few friends. "I really wish they had more of a dance floor, but I think this style of place is becoming more popular."

The absence of a dance floor didn't seem to bother a group of women who turned the front sitting area into their own private living room recently as they sang and danced.

In fact, the place has morphed into its separate quadrants. Jordan Segue, 24, a risk analyst for Fannie Mae, is more than willing to point that out. Like a tour guide showing the sights, he explains why the place works. "If you look around, people are having a good time," he says. "You have people at the bar having an intimate conversation; you have people dancing. And because the owners are here, everything looks nice." Then he adds, "And it doesn't stink in here. It isn't like your average Adams Morgan place with vomit in the corner."

As the night winds down and the street begins to fill with visitors who are wobbly on their heels, Jones shakes hands with people as they find their jackets and make their way into the night. Moore takes a second to chat with Datcher, and Washington cashes out as Kanye West's "Good Life" plays.

"This [lounge] has all been a part of our process," Jones says. "This is about everything we have been through, all of us walking this road. We have been growing. We evolved."

Evolve 1817 Columbia Rd. NW Contact:202-486-3087. http://www.evolve1817.com. Evolve 1817 Columbia Rd. NW Contact:202-486-3087. http://www.evolve1817.com.