Lonie Murdock came from Toronto to give downtown DC a jerk recipe that's been in her family for generations
The chef behind Miss Likklemore's just opened Isla at Midtown Center, where a live-fire kitchen, a serious rum room, and flavors pulled from Jamaica to Japan are already making 15th Street worth the detour.
In brief
Lonie Murdock came from Toronto to give downtown DC a jerk recipe that's been in her family for generations
The dining room at Isla stops you. A 10-foot chandelier in blush pink hangs over the room. Tan booths curl around an open kitchen where wood fire does most of the talking. The walls are jewel-toned, the music is on, and the whole 8,000-square-foot space at Midtown Center reads less like a new restaurant and more like a place that has already decided exactly what it wants to be.
That confidence is Lonie Murdock's. Isla is the domain of executive chef Lonie Murdock, who celebrates the heritage and globe-trotting she shares with her partner Darren Hinds. The two are the minds behind Toronto's WeShall Hospitality and its beloved, celebrity-favorite Miss Likklemore's, The Good Son, and Maxime's. Murdock and Hinds were personally drawn to Washington DC for their latest concepts because of the city's internationalism, eclectic interests, and intellectually minded residents. This is their first US address.
Isla opened at Midtown Center on October 29, followed by sibling cocktail lounge Goodlove on November 7. Both sit at 1100 15th Street NW, a building that already houses Grazie Nonna and Shoto. It's a block that has quietly accumulated some of the more interesting rooms in downtown. Isla, at the scale Murdock and Hinds have built it, makes that block a genuine destination.
What's cooking
Murdock's menu reflects heritage and modernity, tradition and experimentation. Drawing on her own bicultural experience as the child of a Caribbean mother and Canadian father exposed to a world of cuisines, she has crafted dishes that spotlight ingredients common to the diaspora, enlivened by open-fire cooking and the playfulness of familiar flavors reimagined.
Isla's small plate-centric menu pulls island flavors from Japan, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and beyond. One of Murdock's favorite dishes is a snapper crudo with passionfruit ponzu, culantro oil (she calls it "the tropical sister of cilantro"), and fried wakame seaweed. The menu also runs a bone-in pork chop brightened by green mango, cumin, and crab butter, and a lamb tartare topped with pickled shrimp, Trinidadian green seasoning, and a Jamaican sweet potato crema.
Then there's the gnocchi. Roasted pumpkin gnocchi channels the Caribbean with a smoked jerk beef ragu and coconut ricotta cream. Murdock uses her grandmother's jerk recipe throughout the menu, including for a jus that's reduced into a glossy sauce for the charbroiled chicken.
That grandmother never ran a restaurant. She never imagined her formula ending up in a room like this. Murdock has said as much in her own words: "Here's this lady that would never have imagined that her recipe would be used in such a way, but I think it's so special to see that Black and Brown food can be presented on a global level and on the same stage as many others." That's the whole argument of Isla, made in one sentence.
The rum room
DC has a strong cocktail culture, but rum has been an afterthought in it for years. Isla is making a specific bet against that.
The sultry, jewel-toned dining room with its dramatic pink chandelier also has a "rum room," which aims to house the largest rum collection in the DC area. The restaurant's rum room is intended to grow over time into an extensive collection of obscure rums from around the world, handpicked on travels yet to come. The program launched with around 50 selections. Guests can enjoy cocktails at the lacquered bar or settle into the rum room for something from further afield.
The cocktail menu focuses heavily on rum, with drinks such as the "Overproof Papi," a clarified milk punch rum and Coke. Murdock says one of her favorites is a riff on an espresso martini made with peanut punch, an island staple she describes as peanutty Ovaltine. Neither drink is trying to be anything other than fun.
The space, and what's next door
Solid Design Creative handled the moody interiors, noted for high-gloss walnut and the massive chandelier in blush pink that commands the dining room. Isla features multiple richly appointed dining rooms and private options, including a semi-private perch with prime views of the whole restaurant and a more expansive private space with its own bar, private entry, and room for 80 guests.
Goodlove, the cocktail lounge opening November 7 just steps away, runs a different temperature entirely. Darren Hinds takes the reins at Goodlove, which, although just steps from Isla, is a destination all its own, imbued with intimacy, hints of glamour, and most important, a cerebral love for music, from rock to house music to R&B, with DJs spinning nightly. At 2,200 square feet, Goodlove is the right size to enjoy nightly happy hours and snack on small bites from the Isla kitchen, or ensconce oneself with friends for a late night filled with sipping and people-watching.
Isla takes reservations at (202) 733-4800 and through OpenTable. The address is 1100 15th Street NW, easily walkable from the McPherson Square and Farragut North Metro stops.
The pink chandelier, for the record, is real. Go see it.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
