If you want to see how Present Company, the new restaurant that opened on Friday in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood, evolves over the years, keep an eye on the wall behind the bar.

The grid of shelves stretches to the ceiling. It is stocked with bottles of booze, obviously, but it also houses books guests can borrow (just before opening night, I spied a coffee table book about the history of flight and part of the Game of Thrones series, among others), a selection of draping plants, and some knick-knacks. But there’s a lot of empty space as well, which co-owner Nick Bernel hopes eventually gets filled up with new artifacts of the neighborhood space.

That’s what happened at The Pub & the People, the Bloomingdale bar and restaurant also owned by Bernel and his partners, Brittany Ryan and Matt Murphy. Open since 2015, those shelves now contain a flare that someone once set off too close to the door, and a part of a tree that almost fell on the building.

If you want to hear the stories behind those conversation pieces (and maybe other, less calamitous memories), you can just ask Bernel—you’ll probably find him working behind the bar or serving at Present Company Public House, alongside his co-owners.

“I think that’s the best way to run a restaurant,” Bernel says. “Any decisions need to be made, it can be observed personally by the person who can make the decision. If any employees have any issues, they can talk directly to us. We’re working alongside them, we’re the ones mopping the floors at the end of the night.”

Bernel, Ryan, and Murphy—who all met and conceived of Pub & the People while bartending in Georgetown—didn’t just bring over their management styles from their more than four years running the Bloomingdale bar. The new sister spot, which takes over the old firehouse that once housed the pub Sixth Engine, will echo a lot of the themes that P&P is known for: a neighborhood spot with a selection of sandwiches and bar fare, plus a wide-ranging beer and cocktail program.

“Here, there’s a lot more room. And our kitchen is gigantic,” Bernel says. “So the menu is going to be bigger and more versatile.”

The team tapped Lincoln Fuge, formerly of recently shuttered 701 in D.C., to helm the menu. “He was like, ‘I’m looking forward to not having to tweeze food on the plates anymore,'” Bernel says of the formerly fine dining-focused chef. “We wanted to do something similar to the Pub. You can get a really nice entree, or you can have a sandwich and fries. Or you can get a charcuterie board, or you can get, like, mac and cheese.”

The menu is indeed diverse—both in its level of fanciness and because the cultural genre is a little all over the place. Steamed bao is on the appetizer menu, right next to gnocco (Italian dumplings) filled with crab. There are a few salads and more than a few sandwiches, including a pastrami sammie and an ahi tuna burger. Bernel is fond of the Nashville hot chicken sandwich, with a spicy sauce that also coats the chicken wing appetizer.

For fans of the extra-crispy cauliflower tempura at Pub & the People, there’s plenty of vegetarian options here, including smoky-sweet bbq jackfruit-stuffed buns, roasted beets, veggie chili, and a vegan curry bowl with kimchi fried rice.

The bar, meanwhile, includes more than 50 beers, with 12 on tap, 20 wines, and a selection of cocktails (some are new creations, while others are carried over from Pub & the People). Beer and shot combos start at $6. Happy hour runs from 4 p.m.-7 p.m. Eventually, brunch and lunch service will follow.

That bar space takes up about half of the 60-seat interior at Present Company, which Bernel, a former full-time architect, did extensive renovations on. He stripped away drywall from the 164-year-old firehouse, exposing the building’s original brick walls and beams, and adding in windows for more natural light.

He added some touches to brighten up the space, too, like green desk lamps at the tables and hanging overhead. “I’m wondering if people in D.C. who work at a law firm or at a place that has banker lights at their jobs are going to dislike them because they remind them of work,” says Bernel, who says he selected them because his dad had one just like them on his desk.

The team also added a second-floor bar with a firehouse-inspired mural from Chevy Chase-based artist Nicole Bourgea, that will be used for events and overflow space on regular nights. Chairs and tables outside are available for ideal weather days.

If you look closely, you’ll spot nods to the building’s firehouse history. Pieces of fire ladders separate the booths, fireman’s poles make up the foot rails, and the wall next to the bathrooms is covered with fire hoses like a sort of 3D wallpaper. Other touches are more subtle. Look up, and you can see the spots where the fireman’s poles used to be situated. They also dug up a steel plate in what used to be the stables (the fire truck-pulling horses would kick at it). You can see it now behind the bar.

“We tried to say, ‘This is an old firehouse,’ but without, like, making a logo that looks like a fire [truck],” Bernel says. Just don’t call Present Company a theme restaurant, he says. “It’s subtle, not cliche.”

Present Company is located at 438 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Open 4 p.m.-2 a.m. weekdays, 4 p.m.-3 a.m. weekends. Closed Tuesdays.

Present Company menu by Lori McCue on Scribd