Clarendon Culture

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.)

Cava Mezze

Some friends and I (Alla & co.) went to @CavaMezze for dinner on Sunday evening. Cava was a much anticipated new restaurant addition to Clarendon, and I had high hopes and expectations going in.  

As I’ve said before on my blog, I love all things Greek.  Having a top-notch Greek restaurant move into the next block is nothing short of hitting the real estate jackpot for me.  Hubby & I married in a Greek church, we went to Greece on our honeymoon, I crave avgolemono soup whenever time I’m sick, I cook Greek meals at home - the list goes on.  I know and love my Greek food.

Cava has a unique interior style - a very rustic overall feel with with industrial & modern touches.  Beautiful wooden wall panels and tables, earth-toned paint colors, concrete floors, black and white photography on the walls, and exposed concrete beams.  It’s quite a different look and feel from the other Clarendon restaurants.

When we were first seated, the waiter took our drink order (I had the Riesling - my summer drink of choice), and then brought out a basket of warm pita bread and a trio of olive oil, black olives, and a tomato-based dip.  I don’t have a lot of tolerance for spicy food, and the tomato dip was teetering on my comfort boundary, although I did enjoy the flavor of it.  It’s like a Greek herbed tomato paste.

Had I gone to Cava with just hubby, I probably would have stuck to traditional “home style” Greek dishes for my first time, such as dolmades, spanikopita, meatballs, and gyros. We were in a group, though, so everyone threw in some suggestions for our meal and we ended up with an amazing spread.

First items that made it to the table - tzaziki and the green beans.  The tzaziki was truly some of the best I’ve had in this city.  It was creamy, delicious, and laced with olive oil.  It became the best complement to all the other dish throughout the meal.  The green beans tasted like they came directly from the farmer’s market.  They weren’t as “soggy” or overcooked as other Greek stewed green beans I’ve had - Cava’s green beans were thick and had a nice snap to them.

Next up: the chickpeas 3 ways and the grilled octopus.  The chickpeas dish was not on my list of “must-haves”, but it ended up as one of my favorites. The grilled octopus came recommended by many, and it might have just been an off day in the kitchen, but nobody in our party was particularly blown away by it.  It was cooked well, but it seemed like the flavor was lacking.

The next plate to come out was my favorite part of the meal - the lamb sliders (which come two per order).  The buns were nicely toasted, lamb was fire-grilled and juicy, and the tzaziki was a perfect topping.  The sliders were a huge hit with our entire party.  Next up was the lamb shoulder - quite a hunk of meat, let me tell you.  Sitting on a bed of broth-soaked fries (awesome touch), the lamb was tender and juicy, and fell apart with the fork.  A big ole’ hunk of meat isn’t necessarily my personal preference for ideal mezze, but as far as roasted lamb shoulder goes - it was perfect.

We weren’t quite satisfied, so we quickly looked over the menu one last time, and decided on 2 more plates to finish off our meal: the zucchini fritters and the scallop risotto.  What a homerun - both were excellent. The zucchini fritters might look dark and crunchy from the outside, but as soon as you bite into them, the flavors just melt in your mouth.  I loved them.  Most zucchini fritters I’ve had elsewhere are bland and too pancake-ey.  These were a nice reinvention.  The scallops and risotto were also incredible.  It was a perfect marriage of textures and flavors, and an excellent way to polish off our meal.

There was a slightly awkward ending to the meal, but nothing that affected the overall experience.  Early on in our meal, the manager came to introduce himself and told us that dessert was on the house.  When it came time to look over the dessert menu, the waiter didn’t seem to bring it up, and we didn’t want to “ask” if dessert was free, so we just moved on and paid the check.  All of this food plus 2 glasses of wine was a little over $100.  Not bad at all.  We were stuffed and happy.

Cava completely lived up to my already high hopes, and I’m so glad they now call Clarendon home.  Next time I go in, I’ll try out more of the traditional, home-style Greek dishes, and I’ll continue to blog my Cava meals as they happen (which I’m guessing will be pretty often).

Cava opening delayed

If you were planning on going to Cava’s grand opening this afternoon, think again.  Due to a snag of some sort, Cava’s grand opening, originally planned for 5 PM this afternoon, has been delayed.  The Greek restaurant is hoping to open by week’s end, so will keep you posted!

@CavaMezza opening July 5!!

I am so incredibly excited that Cava Mezze just announced the grand opening of their new Clarendon restaurant!  Grand opening will be Tuesday, July 5 at 5 PM!  

I love all things Greek, and this news couldn’t make me happier.  Cava will be located in the Station Square building at the corner of Clarendon Blvd. and Garfield Street, right next door to Restaurant 3.

If you don’t have time to check out their website, just look at these photos (courtesy of Cava’s website) and get ready for what is sure to become one of Clarendon’s finest!

FroYoFroYoFroYo

Just when you think we can’t possibly get more of the same - bam!  FroYo will be joining the ranks of pizza and cupcakes in this neighborhood.  Pinkberry is planning on setting up shop in Clarendon, right between Urban Halo Salon and Cava, on Clarendon Blvd.  

Anyone remember when Ben & Jerry’s had a store here? Why can’t they jump back on the frozen dessert bandwagon that they started?  I don’t think FroYo comes in Phish Food flavor.

(First reported by ArlNow.com; thx to my next door neighbor, SmallNMighty; Image via)