Brunch at @CavaMezze
Last weekend, hubby and I had the opportunity to spend almost an entire weekend as just husband and wife. No tripping over toys, counting the number of bites our baby took, or changing diapers. Baby was at grandma’s for the weekend, we had orchestra seats for Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center Saturday night, and aside from a work function in late Sunday afternoon, we had all of Sunday to do and eat whatever we pleased.
Les Miserables was incredible. Regardless of whether you enjoy musicals or not, Les Miserables is a must-see. It speaks to love, loss, parenting, adoption, life, death, hope, courage, politics, and revolution. It’s heart-wrenching. Photography was not allowed, but when the attendant wasn’t looking, I placed my camera in my lap to snap a picture overhead. If you don’t have tickets to Les Miserables yet, try to scour StubHub (or the like) for available tickets.
The next morning while having my coffee, I did my usual 1 hour of online brunch research. I checked out Yelp reviews, new restaurant listings, and looked at restaurant menus online. (This is the part of marriage that calls for patience. My poor husband was starving and wanted to go to an old reliable, yet I insisted on new frontiers.)
What I found was right in our backyard: Cava! Very little to show for it on their website, but the Clarendon location of Cava has quite an impressive brunch. Like their dinner menu, brunch is also served mezze-style, with smaller plates to share.
We started with an assortment of dips. Some of the dips included were tzaziki, crazy feta, eggplant dip, roasted red pepper & feta dip, and hummus, and they were served with a big basket of warm flatbread.
Also among our selections was the roasted beet tartare, which consists of diced roasted beets, seasoned and tossed with a bit of feta cheese.
For our “main” mezze, we selected the gyro hash and the short rib and eggs. The gyro hash was a skillet-style mixture of gyro slices, scrambled eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, herbs, and topped with a dollop of tzaziki.
The short rib and eggs was my favorite of the bunch. Like fried green tomatoes, I have a tendency to order short ribs every.single.time I see them on a menu. The short ribs were topped with a poached egg and a zesty bruschetta-type topping.
Cava offers outdoor seating in the front of the restaurant, as well as in the back, tucked into the courtyard of Station Square.
I don’t for a second worry about Cava’s success and longevity in Clarendon. In addition to the great location and rustic interior charm, Cava has the right formula for attracting patrons: unique menu, well-executed dishes, fun drinks, great service, and the right attitude.
(Other Cava Review can be found here.)
