When the U Street jazz club Bohemian Caverns closed its doors in 2016, fans, musicians, and neighbors lamented the loss of one of D.C.’s most legendary jazz haunts. Some feared the dissipation of Washington’s jazz community altogether, and as recently as last year, there were talks of resurrecting the Caverns with the support of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

But now, after nearly four years of vacancy, three new venues have moved into the U Street building, which still dons the Caverns sign with piano keys wrapped around the facade.

One of the new venues, Harlot DC, opened on the ground level in October, as CapitalBop first reported. The 2,500-square-foot restaurant and lounge is co-owned by Alain Kalantar and Nate Reynolds. Kalantar, who’s been involved in the D.C. club and promotion scene since the mid-90s, says that when he first got the idea to launch a project at the old Caverns space, the building “smelled like rat piss.”

“It was abandoned, it was ugly, it was cold, it was dark, it was beat up,” Kalantar says. “And I just fell in love with it.”

Kalantar says his vision was to open a lounge with a nightly DJ and a menu of organic food like the ones he’s seen in his travels abroad—particularly, a two-story club in Bali named Mama San—with an upscale restaurant on the first floor and a bar on the second. Kalantar and Reynolds plan to open a subterranean Asian-fusion restaurant called Mama ‘San below Harlot in 2020.

Meanwhile, on the top two floors, a nightclub opened on Halloween called Lyve @ U. Ed Valdez, a D.C. native, tells DCist the club’s branding is “in the building process” and that he hopes to bring in a “very diverse crowd.”

Valdez says he wants to host a rotating cast of DJs and live bands as an homage to the history of the club. Kalantar, too, acknowledges the building’s jazz legacy and plans to host Monday jazz nights, but says he wants to bring something new to the area.

“To me, it just had to be reinvented,” Kalantar says. “People have different concepts when they talk about reinventing something. If you just go back and do the same thing that they did in the 1920s, usually it will fail miserably. Times changed, you know?”

But what about the names Harlot and Mama ‘San, which both seem to refer to sex work? “Mamasan” was a term GIs used during World War II and the Vietnam War to refer to older Asian women who ran brothels or bars.

Co-owner Nate Reynolds tells DCist that the names aren’t intended to be offensive. “We debated about the name,” Reynolds says. “The intent is to be edgy—it’s an edgy place.”

As Kalantar put it to CapitalBop last month, “I really wish people would focus on the beauty of the space and the concept, on how amazing our food is, rather than about how my name could be offensive.”

Miami-based designer Mark Lehmkuhl created the sultry, speakeasy-themed layout with faux-cherry blossoms, graffiti-sprayed portraits, and chandeliers—but Kalantar wants to leave the theme up to interpretation: “What does the design remind you of?” he asks. “Some people say New Orleans, some say Miami. Once you come in, do your own judgment.”

The rotating Harlot menu is burger-heavy and includes items like the Josephine, a sandwich with fried chicken and a beef patty, and the Jennifer, a fried-chicken sandwich with mumbo sauce. The menu also includes seafood options, like a lobster roll, fries with lump crab meat, and seafood mac and cheese. The dishes cost $8 to $29.

Cocktails include the Henemy No.1, with Hennessy, apple gala syrup, lemon, and a champagne top, a take on an old fashioned called the Fannie Porter, and the Harlot, a Patrón and Stoli cucumber vodka concoction. The lounge also has bottle service and a forthcoming happy hour from 4:30 p.m-7 p.m., Kalantar says. The owners are currently working on a brunch menu.

Harlot DC and Lyve @ U are located at 2001 11th St. NW