When Gina Chersevani introduced what she dubs a “love letter” to her favorite dive bars in mid-October, she didn’t expect the reception. Last Call, a 45-seat watering hole near Union Market, had people lining up on day one for vintage pinball and rounds of drafts and cocktails in the single digits. The flavor is different from Chersevani’s soda counter Buffalo & Bergen and airstream bar Surburbia down the block at Union Market—not to mention young spots like Coconut Club and St. Anselm in an area that now flaunts ritzier bars and restaurants.
Chersevani is no stranger to opening bars in cities like New York, Las Vegas, and Austin, but she wasn’t prepared for “a little bar that I thought was going to be just fun,” she says. “This became serious super quick, and I’ve just been in awe of it. After I do fancy all night long, I want to go get a cold beer and a shot with my friends. What we created gives you no frills with just a touch of an umbrella—you put a little beachy umbrella on it and all of a sudden, it’s kind of cool.”
To recreate a less expensive option than some fellow area newbies, and to create the character of a longstanding neighborhood bar, Chersevani handles just about every aspect. On an afternoon one week after opening, just before the weekend rush, she cleaned the bathrooms, signed payroll checks over a $6 fizzy old fashioned, searched out quarters for the Ms. Pacman tabletop machine, ordered rounds of shots for surprised customers, and as the line grew outside, checked IDs at the door.
The bar takes root in an unoccupied space that has been a 1940’s cafeteria, a Jewish-owned shop, and possibly an old speakeasy. A door in the back, once scrubbed, revealed a layer of green paint, a marker of liquor during the Prohibition era. Pinball machines, dart boards, and flat screens fill corners. A chair and a lit globe from The District Fishwife’s Fiona Lewis, who is a Union Market neighbor, perch atop a second-level platform. Last Call plans to loft musicians up there for live music. “We want to put a pulley system with this little tub that goes from the bar to the singer,” Chersevani says, “so they don’t have to come down to get drinks.”
Cans of PBR and Budweiser are as cheap as $3, D.C.-area drafts no more than $7. The most expensive drink, an $11 frozen Irish coffee topped with green chartreuse, is an ode to the bar Erin Rose in New Orleans where Chersevani goes as soon as she gets off the plane. The Howie’s Hurricane ($9), featuring two kinds of rum and passionfruit, combines her love for another Nola institution, Pat O’Brien’s, and Nationals player Howie Kendrick. For the carbonated Old Fashioned, bartenders force-bubble the whiskey—rather than adding soda water—for extra zing. On an earlier version of the menu, Jell-O shots got their name from Lil Pub, a now-shuttered, cash-only bar near 6th and Pennsylvania SE with the kind of time-tested atmosphere Chersevani wants to emulate (though Last Call does accept debit and credit cards).
For a small but trusty food menu, Chef Adam Miller will press $8-$10 hot paninis that change daily, like the Doc Holiday’s (Jewish brisket, pickled pepper relish, and pastrami compound butter) or the Lone Star (pulled pork, manchego, hot peppers, and spicy cilantro aioli). Each comes with a bag of Miss Vickie’s chips. The combo goes up another notch when dunked in the bar’s French onion dip, made in-house with cream fraiche.
After some delays, Chersevani is also in the process of opening another, more “meticulous” Buffalo & Bergen location in Capitol Hill the coming weeks. While she didn’t plan on having two new places come so close together, she likens the coincidence to the births of her two children, who are Irish twins.
To end the evenings around 1:30 a.m., Last Call plays Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” a signal to anyone who wants a final drink that it’s—well, exactly what the bar was named for.
“There’s a culture missing in the bars where you forget you can talk to other people,” Chersevani says. “I’d like to explore this side of bars for awhile. There’s a lot of neighborhoods that need a watering hole.”
Last Call is located at 1301-A Fourth St. NE. Open seven days a week, from 5:30 p.m. to (are you surprised?) last call.
