Kapnos, Kapnos Taverna, and Kapnos Kouzina - Greek in Multiple Area Locations - Closed

[monsterriffs]

As I was in a bit of a "treat yo'self" mood last night, I decided to check out Mike Isabella's new place Kapnos and apply some strict ethnic scrutiny to what he is offering to the DC-area bourgeoisie as Greek food.

The focus Kapnos (meaning 'smoke') is grilled foods from Northern Greece, although many of the items of the menu are classic Greek dishes regardless of their local origin within the country. Not wanting to BS around with the shi-shi items on the menu, e.g., kohlrabi crudite (I'm fairly sure the average Greek does not know what kohlrabi is, and certainly not in this economy...) or duck pita (duck phyllo pie on the menu), I lined up some of my favorite foods and those that I thought would most representative of Kapnos' focus.

Tyrokafteri "“ Too much tyri (cheese) and not enough kafteri (spiciness). Tyrokafteri should really bring some heat, and I thought the sparse and thin slices of hot pepper could not provide enough heat to balance what essentially was a large plate of whipped feta with olive oil. The fresh-baked pita was really nice though; I always liked that at Zaytinya.

Patates tou Fourno (aka Fourno Patates on the menu) "“ My username on this site also happens to list two of the basic ingredients for patates tou fourno (oven-roasted potatoes): ladi (oil) and lemoni (not surprisingly, lemon), oven-roasted potatoes have always been one of my absolute favorite dishes since I was a kid. So, you can imagine they hold a special place in my food life. Isabella's version is good, and more importantly, the dish does not try to do anything clever; they are simple and rustic. The potatoes themselves had that nice golden appearance with some charring, and were neither too mealy nor undercooked. However, in Greek cuisine, you can rarely have oil without lemon, and unfortunately, that's what was lacking from these potatoes. A bit more lemon and this dish will be a standard plate for every table at Kapnos.

Charred Octopus "“ This was the big winner, and I could tell from the moment I sunk my knife into the first tentacle. Octopus is tricky to cook (as I learned first-hand recently), so I commend any chef who nails this. This was tender, not chewy in the slightest, and had that great roast flavor. Plus, the green harissa was a really nice addition to the dish. Overall favorite and this should be a standard plate for anyone dining here.

Roasted Goat "“ So close, but not there yet. The goat is quite tender and has all the characteristics of delicious spit-roasted meats. However, like the potatoes, it was lacking something to balance out all that meatiness. I would have liked another herb or perhaps a tad more salt on the goat itself, because the harissa + yogurt combo on the plate was not enough to balance. But, I can see this dish improving over time as the restaurant evolves.

Overall, I'd say that Kapnos earns a solid B+ right now. Since the restaurant is so new, I imagine the recipes will be worked and re-worked until they hit their peak. However, it's a worthwhile entry and I'll be keeping an eye on its progress over time.

[Bart]

Here's another review:

http://dcist.com/2013/07/first_look_kapnos.php#photo-4

Here's an excerpt and a counterpoint to the "shi-shi" menu items above:

"But the dish I'll be back for is the duck phyllo pie. It's got a little bit of everything going on: the crunchy, buttery phyllo shell gives way to tender duck meat, balanced out by a tangle of vinaigrette-kissed watercress, red onion, and bing cherries. It's a rare occasion when at least five different flavors and textures all play well together."

[Lori Gardner]

I was anxious to try out Mike Isabella's new Greek restaurant Kapnos, so gave it a try on day two of its being open to the public. First, I will say that I definitely had trepidation about Isabella opening another restaurant so soon on the heels of Graffiato and Bandolero. I have to say that my fears were unfounded and I think he's doing some pretty great things at Kapnos.

First of all there is kegged lemonade. I had mine with Skinos, watermelon, tarragon, and lemon. It's a great drink for a hot summer night.

The selection of spreads are all appealing, but we settle on tyrokaftari which combines spicy feta, smoked manouri cheese, and “grains of paradise.” The spread is beautifully adorned with radish, dill, and cracked pepper and served along with piping hot stone baked flat bread.

Watermelon from the cold mezze section of the menu, is pickled and accented with ufra chili, rind, and fennel granité. It’s time to toss aside all previous notions of Greek food. These are unique Mediterranean flavors.

We order the rest of our food all at once, with a promise from our eager-to-please server that they will be not be delivered simultaneously. I should learn never to trust servers who say this, because it’s usually a sure sign that we’re about to be handed a passel of dishes. This is the only service issue we have at Kapnos, and since it’s only night two, we have no cause to grumble.

There is no question that my meal will include spit-fired lamb, although meat is only one part of the story at Kapnos. Nearly 60% of the menu features vegetarian items. The lamb is a divine plate of tender, juicy slices of marinated spring lamb atop a tangy grain salad and a dollop of mild harissa. My non meat-eating husband has poached cod with melted leeks, avgolemono, and dako crumbs. This is a fantastic blend of textures and intense flavors.

We also have a luxurious phyllo pie filled with potato and garlic, and surrounded by red pepper almond puree. My husband is ecstatic about the duck egg perched on top, bringing back happy memories of his favorite Countryman pizza at Graffiato.

Smoky hen of the woods mushrooms with kolrabi, graviera cheese, and oregano finishes out our array of mezze. This is the one dish that doesn’t register at quite the same level of the others, although it’s competing on a very tough field.

For dessert, my husband has semolina cake with grilled figs and olive oil ice cream, while I enjoy an amply-portioned scoop of smooth apple and ginger sorbet. He insists I try the cake, and it is surprisingly light and beautifully crisp around the edges.

Kapnos impressed us greatly and again- it was only night two. This is a place I will certainly return to and also recommend highly to others. The number of new restaurants on 14th Street are beginning to overwhelm. Kapnos stands out in this very crowded field.

[anhdeluxe]

A friend and I were also in a 'treat yo self' mood this week and had a great dinner on Wednesday. Isabella himself was in the kitchen. We were seated at one end of the bar with a nice view of the busy kitchen but even better was the view of the spinning, roasting haunches of lamb and goat and suckling pig, the flocks of chicken all turning on the roto. At the bottom of the grill was a huge pile of eggplants that got occasionally poked and tested for doneness.

She had a gin lemonade and I had the non-alcoholic watermelon feta cooler. Gratis sparkling water was a nice touch.

We started off with the taramasalata - cauliflower spread with carp roe a skimpy topping of a nice black caviar (I suppose i shouldn't complain for a starter with caviar at $12) It was light, luscious and lemony, glazed with olive oil and a fantastic starter with the flat, soft, folded pita bread, served on an olivewood board.

She had roasted fennel that was served on a puddle of alarming black sesame tahini and topped with arugula. Tasty char, and still a little crunchy.

I had the barely raw bronzino next, it came glazed with olive oil, lemon and salt (sense a theme here) plus dill and two little crisp chips of fish skin crackling.

We shared the greek fries which were made of chickpeas but reminded me of breaded and fried slices of polenta. The peppercorns ground over it was heavy, making them almost black, which contrasted with the wispy shavings of mizithra cheese. (I was expecting the mizithra to be like the pasta you can get at Old Spaghetti Factory but this was hella more refined.) Not a ton of flavor to the cheese but it could have been overshadowed by all that pepper.

I had the Fourno Patates come out at the same time as my suckling pig and really loved that someone must have been reading the reviews because these really packed a lemony punch. These were some tart potatoes! A great counterpoint to the suckling pig, the ancient grains salad (they seem to put amaranth in a lot of dishes here) and the beet red harrissa which also seemed to have a light sweet crunch to it (jicama?) My friend had the lamb and I am very glad she shared. It had the same accompaniments and was even better than my very good baby pig. We finished off with the charred octopus tentacle and it was also perfectly executed - the thick end was tender and meaty and not at all rubbery. The skinny end was crunchy and the taste reminded me of Asian cuttlefish snacks. It came cleverly crusted with amaranth grains that seemed toasted and crisp like a beady breading. (All of these details were supplied by our helpful and knowledgable server) By this time, we were both almost overfull but still very happy.

Next time we plan on bringing two hungry friends and demolishing that whole lamb shoulder the fellows a few stools over had ordered. It looked amazing.

[monsterriffs]

I had the Fourno Patates come out at the same time as my suckling pig and really loved that someone must have been reading the reviews because these really packed a lemony punch. These were some tart potatoes!

Either I had an off batch, or someone from the restaurant did in fact read my assessment and executed the change within 3 days. If the latter, that is an excellent integration of constructive criticism!!

[Ericandblueboy]

I had the barely raw bronzino next, it came glazed with olive oil, lemon and salt (sense a theme here) plus dill and two little crisp chips of fish skin crackling.

Are the "barely raw" dishes mostly cooked or is it barely cooked? If you use steak jargon, is it medium well or medium rare?

[weinoo]

Next time we plan on bringing two hungry friends and demolishing that whole lamb shoulder the fellows a few stools over had ordered. It looked amazing.

I seem to remember a whole lamb shoulder being demolished by two hungry friends, Sig Eater and me quite a few years back at Zaytinya - Isabella was manning the grill.

I'm looking forward to dinner here this week.

[DonRocks]

[Do you know what makes me happiest about this thread so far? It's proof positive that we judge restaurants on their individual merits, and that people here aren't automatically going to trash a place just because a TV chef has his hat in the ring. Maybe I've been hypersensitive about this issue, or maybe not, but it's yet another example of the awesomeness of our members, and the fact that there is no "groupthink" in this community, despite years-old, false insinuations to the contrary.]

[monsterriffs]

[Do you know what makes me happiest about this thread so far? It's proof positive that we judge restaurants on their individual merits, and that people here aren't automatically going to trash a place just because a TV chef has his hat in the ring. Maybe I've been hypersensitive about this issue, or maybe not, but it's yet another example of the awesomeness of our members, and the fact that there is no "groupthink" in this community, despite years-old, false insinuations to the contrary.]

That and, perhaps, some TV chefs actually became TV chefs because of merit! Even if, for example, Volt and Range are well-received because of BV's placement on Top Chef, I've never gotten the sense that he's relied on that in terms of the cuisine he puts out.

[anhdeluxe]

My Bronzino was pretty much raw. If it was cooked, it might have looked at a pan from across the room. Also I discovered a typo - watermelon feta cooler should read watermelon FENNEL cooler - yikes!

[Bart]

My wife and I went the other night and absolutely loved it. We got the chef's tasting menu and much like Graffiato, there was A LOT of food. For $65 it was a great deal and we left beyond stuffed. Also like Graffiato, it seemed very flexible. If you wanted or didn't want something they seemed to do whatever you wanted.

Mike Isabella was there in the kitchen directing traffic, seasoning and checking plates before they went out. It was refreshing to see a "named" chef actually working in the kitchen. We sat at the bar (my request) so we could see the show. I really liked the seats because we could talk to the all the chefs and see the dishes being made.

When we got there at 6:30 the palce was pretty quiet (maybe 1/4 full). When we left around 9 the place was packed with every table full and a horde of 20 or more people around the door, and this was a Tuesday! I don't think they had a separate bar area so they were just standing there waiting. So if you go, make a reservation or go early!

[Ericandblueboy]

On a sweltering Thursday evening, I trudged from the U St. metro to Kapnos to try Mike Isabella's Grecian delights. Delightful it was! The only regret was not being able to try the whole lamb shoulder. I asked if we could just get a taste of it by ordering the tasting menu but to no avail. At the higher price point in tasting menus, (they go from $65 up to $125 IIRC) they would serve you the whole lamb shoulder, but not just a little taste like we wanted. So we said screw the tasting menu and tried the following 8 dishes.

From the misnomered "barely raw" mezzes, we tried everything.

bronzino cucumber, lemon, dill, crackling - if there was any cooking, it was via citrus acid. I liked the refreshing cumber with the barely ceviched branzino

clams cod belly, hearts of palm, wild onion, chili - 3 types of clams, geoduck, razor, and I think little neck. This is my favorite dish because I love properly treated clams - they were all very tender.

royal red shrimp kalamansi, tomato, eggplant - a tan-colored sauce on the bottom of the shrimp that I just didn't care for, I believe it was pureed eggplant with sesame seeds.

From the spit roasted mezze:

marinated spring lamb ancient grain salad - like a lamb kebab, tender but a bit chewy

spiced baby goat ancient grain salad - like a slow cooked BBQ, the meat shreds easily

I'm sure the ancient grain salad is wonderful for you because to me it tasted like something only a vegan would love.

We also ordered the much lauded phyllo pie of roasted duck cress, cherries, pistachio yogurt – a delicious bistilla-like pie full of juicy shredded duck meat

Somewhere between the raw and the cooked, we received the farm house veggie salad and the potato fourno. The only two dishes that weren’t finished. It was too much food and veggies were simply not high on the list of things to eat.

We do need a couple of volunteers so we can go back and do the lamb shoulder (PM me and let's work it out!).

I'm not a fan of plating things on the side of a plate - see the shrimp. The lamb is on the right, goat on the left. The duck came last and I forgot to take a picture.

[RWBooneJr]

I don't think they had a separate bar area so they were just standing there waiting.

The entire room to the left of the door is the bar, with what is apparently first-come, first served seating (I was seated at an open table there immediately, despite a wait for the main dining room).

[Bart]

The entire room to the left of the door is the bar, with what is apparently first-come, first served seating (I was seated at an open table there immediately, despite a wait for the main dining room).

Thanks! We went in and to the right, to the counter area in front of the open kitchen. The actual bar area must have been packed and either overflowed into the entrance way or the people trying to enter were jammed up at the door since they couldn't get into the bar area. Either way, don't just show up at this place and expect to get a quick seat w/o a reservation.

[Bart]

I asked if we could just get a taste of it by ordering the tasting menu but to no avail. At the higher price point in tasting menus, (they go from $65 up to $125 IIRC) they would serve you the whole lamb shoulder, but not just a little taste like we wanted.

My menu only had the $65 option but the waiter did mention something about a bigger menu.

That is truly mind boggling. We couldn't finish the final 3 meat dishes (lamb, pig, goat I believe on top of phylo duck dish) and barely made a dent in the two desserts. I can't imagine the amount of food you'd get for nearly double the price. Maybe you're served by Greek goddesses wearing nothing but fig leaves!!?!?

[Sthitch]

royal red shrimp kalamansi, tomato, eggplant - a tan-colored sauce on the bottom of the shrimp that I just didn't care for, I believe it was pureed eggplant with sesame seeds.

That is because you have no in food or the company you chose to dine with. That sauce was one of the best elements of any dish last night and eating the shrimp wrapped in the fried purple basil leaf was sublime. On the other hand the inclusion of salt cod in with the clams was bizarre and salty to the point of unpleasantness it diminished a dish that was otherwise excellent.

I do agree the duck pie was delicious, actually I believe that it is the best phyllo centric dish I have ever eaten.

I recommend the gin lemonade as a great way to cool down after the trek from the Metro.

[weinoo]

The Yelpers have, well...yelped. The "pro" reviews (are there any of those left?) will no doubt be in shortly. No one waits for a restaurant to get its sea legs any more, do they? Especially when a good chef opens what will undoubtedly be a hot spot - you gotta go. And go we did, Significant Eater and me, to Kapnos, chef/owner Mike Isabella's new ode to Greece on 14th St. NW.

Of course, Mike didn't open Kapnos by himself; George Pagonis is the chef de cuisine; Nicholas Pagonis is the GM; Taha Ismail is the beverage director of both Kapnos and Graffiato, another Isabella restaurant in the District. Maybe these guys are even partners - who knows? Another little point of interest before I get to the important stuff: everyone mentioned above falls not far from the Andrés' family tree. They all get to wet their beak a little bit, if you know what I mean.

The first time I tasted Mike's food was at Zaytinya, soon after Significant Eater got her job in DC - and we liked everything about the place. Well, guess what? On our first visit, we liked Kapnos even more.

For starters, the restaurant had only been open for 12 days, but everyone from the hostess to the bartenders to the waitstaff was on their game. That's nice to see. And I did start at the bar, arriving early and grabbing one of the few empty seats...cocktails are fairly priced (for now) at $12, with extremely cutesy names like my Keebler Elf, a Plymouth gin/cointreau/Cocchi American concoction in an ouzo rinsed glass, that hit the spot on an extremely warm day.

Once at table, what's better to start with than taramasolata, along with fresh from the oven flatbread?

The tarama was nice and creamy, topped with a healthy dollop of caviar...

That didn't last long, as we were eager to dig into these earthy and tender stewed gigandes beans...

There's a daily "classic," and we couldn't pass it up. Keftedes, fried zucchini fritters, showed off the kitchen's fine frying technique, plain and simple...

At one point, I think the table next to us was wondering how the two of us were eating all this food. But we'd only just begun, and even though we're not huge octopus fans (too many blah octopus dishes over the years, I guess), we had to try Kapnos' version. We weren't disappointed, as this was probably the best we'd had in years, all smoky from the grill and served with "green harissa" and eggplant...

No stopping us now, especially once I saw Royal Red Shrimp (a sweet, tender, deepwater shrimp) on the menu. And expertly poached lobster, served over hilopites (an egg/milk pasta, cut into small squares) with mizithra (a fresh sheep's cheese). Both of these disappeared (or at least had a bite taken out of them) before I could snap a picture.

Wanting and needing (really?) some meat, we finished our savories with the marinated spring lamb, spit-roasted and served over "ancient grains." At first bite I thought the dish needed salt, but when all mixed up, it tasted just fine...

The Chocolate Mousse cake with mastic ice cream, was a nice finish to this meal, the chocolate's bitterness cut by the not too sweet ice cream...

Yes, we ate too much. After all, it's a brand new restaurant. Sig Eater and I don't get to go out that often together in DC (she even waved to Isabella in the kitchen, which kinda made her night). And I have a feeling that the next time I'm down in the district, we're going to be heading right back to Kapnos - there's a lot more on this menu that we want to try. And if Mike's not cooking the most exciting food in DC right now, I want to know - who is?

[Night Owl]

Was here for an early dinner last Friday and thoroughly enjoyed everything about it. (And I was predisposed to not be a fan...)

We sat at the chef's counter so that we could watch things being plated and chat with Chef George. Bottom line for me: This is food with heart. And lovely to look at boot.

• Eggplant spread w/flatbread: Delicious, the walnuts lent a certain extra richness to it, would definitely order again
• Tzatziki: Interestingly topped with watermelon ice; not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but... it was good, just preferred the eggplant spread
• Charcoal roasted fennel: I liked the combo of dates and crushed almonds with the fennel; overall a subtle dish
• Smoky hen of the woods: Also subtle in flavor, roasted and finished perfectly
• Spanakopita: Special every Friday; the filling was light and flavorful; lovely plating (photo)
• Suckling pig over orzo: My favorite of the night; tender, full of flavor (photo below)
• Baby goat over grains: I'm not a big goat person, but my friend loved this and it was his favorite of the night
• Apple baklava: Loved this, have never had anything but traditional baklava, would definitely order again (photo)
• Semolina cake w/grilled figs & honey: I would like simply the grilled figs in honey, good (photo)

Chef George runs a tight ship -- he was all over everyone making sure things kept moving. Mike Isabella was there, so we chatted with him, too. They said that Friday was the first day G was open -- they offered $5 sandwiches and were donating proceeds to a charity -- and they sold out of everything in 2 hours. Mike Isabella had a little plate of freshly made chicharrones brought out for us to try, YUM, sounds like it's something they will offer at G at some point. Delish.

Kapnos is now at the top of my list of favorite places in the neighborhood. Might even go back tonight. 

[Pat]

The time I wanted for my reservation disappeared during the 5 minutes it took to confer with my husband (as did my second choice), so we are going to be there much earlier than we need to be for our later plans.  How long are meals running?  I don't want to be an obnoxious camper, but I also don't want to be back out on the street with nowhere to go either.  Are meals (2 tops) running 90 minutes?  Longer?  Shorter?  Are we going to be gumming up the works if we ask for a meal to be paced slowly?

[RWBooneJr]

Unless you go for the tasting menu, because Kapnos is a "small plates concept" (nobody opens "restaurants" anymore, only "concepts"), you can control the pacing.  I like to order my dishes at place like this two at a time.  This ensures you don't over order (which is easy at Kapnos), but that's not why I do it.  It drives the servers nuts, which is fun.  I am evil, but I tip well. 

[DanielK]

Ate here the other night with a party of 8. This is the way to go, because that $79 Lamb Shoulder is OUTSTANDING, and you really need a big group to order it.

Tyrkaftari (feta spread), Melitzanosalata (eggplant spread) - These two were excellent - definitely on the recommended list.

Revithosalata (aka hummus) - Fine, but not better than other Mediterranean places.

Vegetables: Beets, Gingandes, Cauliflower - these were fine, not on my must order again list. Fava (yellow lentils), Fourno papatas (lemon potatoes), Greek Fries (chick pea flour discs) were all excellent.

Keftedes (Wednesday only special, fried tomato and herb galette) - Absolutely adored these.

Charred Octopus - perfectly cooked. A must order.

Duck Phyllo Pie - others liked more than me. The phyllo was perfectly prepared, but the shredded duck was too soft, and didn't really have a lot of flavor.

Too full for dessert. Total after tax and tip (before drinks) was a gentle $40pp. Definitely will return.

[Pat]

Our experience here last night was so smooth, close to seamless, that it's hard to believe what a short time this restaurant has been open.  We ordered two rounds of three plates each.  My husband was still a little hungry, so he also got dessert.  I wish I could have eaten more, since I'd have liked to sample more of the menu.  So many things looked tempting, it was hard to choose as it was.  We'll just have to go back!

Timing proved not to be a problem at all.  We were there a little over an hour and a half, and nothing was too rushed or too slow.  Our server was fantastic and quite willing to work with us in selecting and pacing items.

First round:  Melitzanosalata, Tzatziki, and flatbread; Royal red shrimp.  I loved the combination of ingredients in the eggplant spread.  The tzatziki was good, but after an errant bit of jalapeno got stuck in my throat, I was wary of eating too much more of it.  I knew it had jalapenos but didn't pay them any mind until that happened.  That's of course not a problem with the tzatziki itself--I liked the idea of the hot pepper with the cool yogurt--and my husband was glad to polish the rest of it off.  He isn't so fond of shrimp but managed to eat half of the order of royal red shrimp that I wanted to try.  They are a special treat, so clean-tasting and almost sweet. That (subjectively speaking) may also have been the most beautifully plated item we got.

Next round was the Marinated Spring lamb with ancient grains; Gigandes beans; and grilled asparagus.   These all went very well together.  I wasn't exactly sure what the ancient grains were going to consist of, but they were quite enjoyable on their own, in addition to being a fine base for the spit-roasted lamb.  Lamb is one of my favorite meats, and I could have eaten more of this, except I couldn't eat more of anything .  The beans are something I usually order when I see them on a menu, and these were especially well-prepared and a perfect texture.  The oniony sauce for the gigande beans was sopworthy but we no longer had any bread left.  The asparagus was grilled just to the right degree, and the sun-dried tomatoes and feta made perfect accompaniments.  All the food was delicious and beautiful.  No complaints.

Dessert was the apple baklava (thanks for the recommendation, Night Owl).  My husband polished it off in short order.  He said the apple flavor was more pronounced in the sorbet than in the baklava. (I asked him if he was going to lick the plate.  It was close.)

We drank a lot of water (or at least I did), which our server kept regularly refilled.  I also had a draft DC Brau and my husband enjoyed the preserved lemonade.  Lemonade is something he often orders and is often disappointed in, but not this.

Service was excellent.  The only hiccup the entire night was when we got new plates for our second round of food, the plates had not been cleaned very well. When brought to his attention, our server agreed and quickly replaced them with spotlessly clean ones.  That was it, the only glitch in the entire experience.  Well, that and we were underdressed.  We were headed to the 930 Club and it was sporadically rainy, so we dressed for that. Most people were better dressed than we were, for a Saturday night out at a hot new restaurant.  We'll spruce ourselves up a bit next time.  (I will say, this is only my own self-consciousness about this.  No one working at the restaurant seemed to care what we were wearing.)

[Night Owl]

Have been back a couple of times since my last visit, am impressed with how consistently excellent the food, service, etc., has been. A few highlights:

• Taramsalata: So light and airy, salty-savory at the perfect level -- this and the melitzanosalata eggplant spread are favorites
• Charred Octopus: Tender with that wonderful char, and just the right amount of heat from the green harissa
• Moussaka: The special on Mondays... GET IT... tender, tender eggplant, meat sauce so full of flavor, a hefty small plate without being heavy. Delicious.

Oh -- and I realize this belongs in the G thread, but -- while at Kapnos last night, I asked Mike Isabella where the chicharrones were on the G menu because I didn't see it (he had given us a sinful, warm, crispy, crunchy, luscious couple of samples on a previous visit to Kapnos) -- turns out it's in the Cuban sandwich, just not listed on the menu. A secret ingredient. That's enough of a reason for me to order the Cuban there.

[Gadarene]

I went here last night and sat at the bar, which was almost entirely empty.  On balance both the drinks and food were delicious (I recommend the Gonzo cocktail and the Gin Lemonade; the Picasso cocktail was only okay).

For food I had the Bronzino, the Clams, the Suckling Pig, and the Smoky Beets.  I thought the Bronzino was excellent, although it's fairly high-acid and someone who doesn't like acid as much as I do might have a different reaction.  I also thought the suckling pig was absolutely delicious, particularly with the orzo that accompanied it.  The clams were the one miss of my meal; I felt the flavors of the clams got lost in the sauce, and it was heavier than I expected.  I opted for the smoky beets instead of dessert, and it was a great choice: the beets were extremely tasty and the dish as a whole was well-balanced and well-composed.

I really like this place, and I'm looking forward to going back and trying the tasting menu.  If there are seats routinely available at the bar, this might be a weekly destination.

[Mark Dedrick]

If there are seats routinely available at the bar, this might be a weekly destination.

I can't comment on routinely, but when two of us stopped in on this past Friday night (around 9 pm) we were able to sit down immediately at the bar. We were afraid that we'd end up having to try to or three restaurants before finding space for us in that neighborhood.

[jiveturk21]

I am skeptical of a lot of things, especially celebrity chef restaurants that open to a lot of fanfare.  Even though I really liked my visits to Graffiato and Bandolero, I didn't think that Kapnos could be as good as everyone says it is.  But alas, Kapnos really is that good, maybe even better than that.

Our server was solid, but unspectacular.  And maybe, just maybe, we wouldn't order the tyrokaftari again, but other than those two miniscule complaints, there is absolutely nothing else negative I can say about our experience last night (unless having a hard time pronouncing many of the dishes counts).

When you go to a restaurant and order 21 items (food and cocktails) and you would only consider not ordering one item (tyrokaftari) again, I would say that is not just a home run, but a grand slam.  Tzatziki, taramasalata (incredible!), stone baked flatbread, royal red shrimp, farm house vegetable salad, spicy watermelon, gigandes (huge fan!), greek fries, poached lobster (perfect pasta), marinated spring lamb, suckling pig (stand out), roasted duck, spit roasted chicken (incredible value), chocolate mousse cake, cookies, gonzo, papadapolous (I miss Webster), Hollywood (perfection), rum lemonade and game face.

Incredible, freakin incredible.

[anhdeluxe]

A week ago, five hungry friends and I pre-ordered the whole roasted lamb shoulder and despite our best efforts, three of us took leftovers home. It's a lot of food, but moist and delicious and flavorful. Also tried the duck phyllo pie which was outstanding. Close to edging the octopus out for my favorite dish there.

[jasonc]

The hottest restaurant in DC is Kapnos.  It's got everything: taramasalata, greek fries, tyrokaftari, celebrity chefs, smoky beets, game face, and human fire hydrants. 

[Bart]

Here's Tom S's review from this weekend's Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/tom-sietsema-mike-isabellas-kapnos-updates-an-ancient-cuisine/2013/09/04/7c32696a-0822-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html

2.5 stars, but after reading it, it seems like it should be 3.

[DonRocks]

Whoops!

Kapnos is opening a 5,000-square-foot restaurant next year in Arlington.

The media has been played like fiddles, as usual. Or ... were they? (Symbiosis and all that ...)

[ktmoomau]

Liberty Center looks like it is going to have a pretty good line up of restaurants.  Really excited about that opening.

[Nervous Eater]

Liberty Center looks like it is going to have a pretty good line up of restaurants.  Really excited about that opening.

Do you know what else is slated for Liberty Center?  All I've heard about is another Taylor Gourmet.  Excited for a version of Kapnos.

[DonRocks]

Really excited about that opening.

I think that's been the plan all along.

[ktmoomau]

Do you know what else is slated for Liberty Center?  All I've heard about is another Taylor Gourmet.  Excited for a version of Kapnos.

They were tweeting about a wine shop and were asking for input on what to occupy the marvelous market space, as well, but I don't think anything new has been signed, at least not that I can find.  ARL Now is normally pretty on it, surprised Liberty Center hasn't tweeted about it, although I don't think they are very active on twitter.

[Bart]

The media has been played like fiddles, as usual. Or ... were they? (Symbiosis and all that ...)

Don - You kill me when you drop a little nugget like this!

What do you mean and can explain it in a little more detail for those of us who are not on the inside?  I think I get it on the most basic level, but I don't understand your issue.  A big name DC chef is opening another new place and the media reports it............isn't that how the news is supposed to work?  How is this different from all the press the Ashby Inn has received lately?

[DonRocks]

Don - You kill me when you drop a little nugget like this!

What do you mean and can explain it in a little more detail for those of us who are not on the inside?  I think I get it on the most basic level, but I don't understand your issue.  A big name DC chef is opening another new place and the media reports it............isn't that how the news is supposed to work?  How is this different from all the press the Ashby Inn has received lately?

Bart, when you say a "big name DC chef," I'd ask you to consider why Mike wasn't a big name when he was running the kitchen at Zaytinya.

Likewise why José wasn't a big name when he was running a kitchen in San Diego (and now there's this).

Here's a fairly glowing Washington Post review of Kapnos from September 4th, with no mention of any expansion. Do you think that a deal for a 5,000-square-foot restaurant was just worked out in the past seven days?

I don't fault anyone in the industry for any of this, least of all Mike or José, but sometimes I wonder whether I'm the only person in the world who isn't blind; or, whether I'm the only person in the world who is.

Nobody was more masterful at controlling the media than Citronelle. Do I blame them for that? Absolutely not.

It's interesting because just today, I heard a jaw-dropping story - completely unrelated to any of this - about bribery involving restaurateurs and "journalistic" publications.

Yes, folks, you're being manipulated. Big time.

Just calling it as I see it.

[Cizuka Seki]

The hottest restaurant in DC is Kapnos.  It's got everything: taramasalata, greek fries, tyrokaftari, celebrity chefs, smoky beets, game face, and human fire hydrants. 

@jasonc:  you forgot the midgets.  and i believe it's pronounced KAHHHHHPNOOUSSS (in a deep voice)

[mtureck]

Bart, when you say a "big name DC chef," I'd ask you to consider why Mike wasn't a big name when he was running the kitchen at Zaytinya.

Likewise why José wasn't a big name when he was running a kitchen in San Diego (and now there's this).

Here's a fairly glowing Washington Post review of Kapnos from September 4th, with no mention of any expansion. Do you think that a deal for a 5,000-square-foot restaurant was just worked out in the past seven days?

I don't fault anyone in the industry for any of this, least of all Mike or José, but sometimes I wonder whether I'm the only person in the world who isn't blind; or, whether I'm the only person in the world who is.

Nobody was more masterful at controlling the media than Citronelle. Do I blame them for that? Absolutely not.

It's interesting because just today, I heard a jaw-dropping story - completely unrelated to any of this - about bribery involving restaurateurs and "journalistic" publications.

Yes, folks, you're being manipulated. Big time.

Just calling it as I see it.

Don, I love this site, think you're a great guy, and you know far more about the DC restaurant scene than I ever will.

With that said, these semi-regular conspiracy theories would have far more weight if you ever actually included any details/specifics/proof that wasn't wildly speculative.

[DonRocks]

Don, I love this site, think you're a great guy, and you know far more about the DC restaurant scene than I ever will.

With that said, these semi-regular conspiracy theories would have far more weight if you ever actually included any details/specifics/proof that wasn't wildly speculative.

I appreciate the sediment.

With that, the sun will rise in the morning. And no, I can't prove it. Nor is anyone willing to go to the mat for me in order to verify my conspiracy theories about that god damned sun. The paranoia is part of my charm, sort of like the smell of the subway wafting up from the grates on the hard streets of New York City which, to me, is infinitely more charming than the smell of Subway wafting down the block from the hard streets of Bethesda.

I can also tell you that a major restaurant is on the selling block, asking for 8 figures (and they're not going to get it) - sorry, can't name names.

[darkstar965]

Haven't yet tried Kapnos. Wasn't a big Graffiato fan (posted as such on that thread some months ago). Never tried Bandolero before Isabella exited.

Those qualifiers issued,

- We were at Graffiato more recently and I really need to post an update on that thread. It was night-and-day better than what I'd experienced in a first visit not too soon after they'd opened.  Not exceptional/outstanding but very good and fairly priced.

- Based on this thread alone, Kapnos is high on my list now. Thank you all.

- Is Kapnos head-and-shoulders better than Nostos?  I ask because I'm headed to Nostos in a few days for a first visit.  Has anyone been to both in the past 4-6 months who could compare/contrast them?

[Bart]

Bart, when you say a "big name DC chef," I'd ask you to consider why Mike wasn't a big name when he was running the kitchen at Zaytinya.

Likewise why José wasn't a big name when he was running a kitchen in San Diego (and now there's this).

Here's a fairly glowing Washington Post review of Kapnos from September 4th, with no mention of any expansion. Do you think that a deal for a 5,000-square-foot restaurant was just worked out in the past seven days?

I don't fault anyone in the industry for any of this, least of all Mike or José, but sometimes I wonder whether I'm the only person in the world who isn't blind; or, whether I'm the only person in the world who is.

Don -  Maybe I'm just dense, but I still don't get it.

In my view from the cheap seats, Mike Isabella wasn't a "big name DC chef" when he was at Zaytinya because he was just a hired gun back then.  He didn't do Top Chef yet, he didn't open a couple of his own restaurants.  Same thing with Jose Andres.  Are you really surprised he wasn't a media darling when he was a 23 year old cutting his teeth at some unknown place in California?

That's like being outraged that no one was interviewing Paul McCartney when he was a teenager...........he hadn't done anything yet.  Why would anyone care?

What am I missing?  Are we talking past each other?

[DonRocks]

What am I missing?  Are we talking past each other?

I think so - that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[Bart]

Care to elaborate?

And back to your original post, what is the implication of the Kapnos review coming out a couple weeks ago and Isabella announing a new place this week?  I could see you raising an eyebrow if they did mention it in the review, but if they knew about it, not mentioning it seems like the ethically correct thing to do.

[lekkerwijn]

After making and cancelling at least two different reservations at Kapnos, we finally got there for dinner Saturday night.They say that you never get a second chance to make a first impression and Kapnos nearly lost us at hello.

Allow me to set the scene... Perhaps you recall that it rained basically all of last week. Arriving a few minutes before our 8:30 reservation and feeling frugal we drove around the block a few times looking for a parking spot and finding none, we decided to suck it up and just valet. So, we follow the instructions in our City Eats reservation and pull up in front of the W Street entrance where they allegedly have valet parking nightly after 5:30 pm for $15.  But after sitting there like fools for a few minutes it is increasingly clear no valet was there. Perhaps Kapnos' valet was furloughed in the shutdown?  I run inside and it is confirmed, "no valet tonight". We should park across the street in the pay lot and tell them that we were going to Kapnos, they would give us a discount. This is highly irritating, probably also a violation of their ABRA agreement. So we debate if we should bag the reservation and just get a chivito at Fast Gourmet. But at this point it is nearly 8:45 so we pull into the lot across the street.  Perplexed and nonplussed would best describe the look on the guys face when we told him we were going to Kapnos and asked for a discount.  Needless to say, no discount.

So now it is 8:45 and we are told that people are lingering and our table isn't ready. They suggest we wait in the bar. Except the bar is totally packed. Waiters are trying to deliver food to tables.  LOTS of people are waiting for tables. So we push our way in to the far end of the bar by the 14th street door and order two cocktails-  a kegged lemonade with gin and a mustachio. They were both enjoyable and this helps to take the edge of annoyance off. But now it is after 9 pm and we still haven't heard from them. So drinks in hand we shove our way back towards the host stand and ask about our table. Still not ready, but soon. There are a number of manager looking dudes walking around looking stressed. Right about 9:15 we are seated.

They seat us in the back of the restaurant and luckily it is both cooler and quieter.  Our waitress is friendly and efficient. Someone else swings by the table with water and comments that we must have been waiting in the bar since we already had drinks.  My menu is different from my husband's. We realize this as we are discussing what to order. Is it arctic char on the menu or halibut? This creates conditions that causes one to question the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives. We ask the waitress and learn that somehow I got an old copy of the menu with halibut on it. No harm done and the food and cocktail that comes out of the kitchen was all very enjoyable if not outright excellent. In particular the taramasalata, smokey arctic char and suckling pig. We were too stuffed for desert.

So here's the thing. At no point did they actually do more than shrug and actually apologize to us for the fact that we had to wait almost 45 minutes for our table or that they didn't actually have valet when they said they would.  We debated this point the whole way home- should they have comped us a round of drinks or offered a free dessert? By no means do we feel it was required, but it certainly would have been a nice gesture. All in all, despite the enjoyable food and drink we're in no rush to return.

[jasonc]

I think you should have had something comped or at least a more sincere apology.  the first hour of your visit was terrible. 

[Night Owl]

Nothing like sheets of rain, no parking, crowded restaurant and late seating to put a frustrating pall on the whole experience.

...which gives me another reason to only go early and only sit at the chef's counter -- so far, it's been a wonderful time, every time.

Went again last night and ordered the Wednesday special, keftedes -- this week was octopus keftedes.  W O W .  Perfectly crunchy outside, incredibly tender, light and flavorful inside. With a swipe of chickpea puree and dabbles of little golden raisins. Delicious. If you're there when it's on the menu, it's a must-try.

[darkstar965]

First visit to Kapnos tonight; a business dinner.  I won't detail everything because it wouldn't add a lot to the collective experience upthread.

Will just say that we all really enjoyed it.  The smoke and flavor on dishes ranging from the suckling pig and lamb to the spit-roasted chicken, sampler of spreads and even the humble dolmades were all excellent.

The server had us a bit feeling like we were playing culinary twister at one point early explaining how flat breads and spreads worked (key piece of information missing is that each flatbread is large and easily enough for two people) but, on balance, the service was very good.

I didn't pay so can't comment very specifically but the value seems right for the quality and portioning and prices moderate. Will definitely go back. Still not sure what I think of Mike Isabella but definitely evolving.  Really didn't like Graffiato the first time.  Thought is surprising better on a second visit some months later. This first visit to Kapnos was very successful.  Maybe Mr. Isabella will prove to be that most rare of species: the multi-unit restauranteur putting out excellent food at reasonable prices consistently across locations and time. Jury still out but trending positively with the big thumbs up on Kapnos.

[jasonc]

Just saw they are expanding to Ballston's Liberty Center (across from the mall and erstwhile location of Leeks) in 2014.  Isabella cannot be stopped.

eta: countdown until it has to be moved to Rocks' dreaded multiple locations list.

[DonRocks]

Just saw they are expanding to Ballston's Liberty Center (across from the mall and erstwhile location of Leeks) in 2014.  Isabella cannot be stopped.

eta: countdown until it has to be moved to Rocks' dreaded multiple locations list.

[i'm still game to take the top 20, 30, 50 restaurants in that list and distribute them - *if* I can find someone to do it for me!

I envision it looking something like this:]

14UP (14th St between U and P Streets)

Cork Wine Bar - website - Our city's greatest wine bar, wonderful bar area, charismatic hands-on owners, chef change as of April 24, 2012

Doi Moi - website - Southeastern Asian by the owners of Proof and Estadio, I haven't yet been here, but the chances are it will be very good

Ghibellina - website - Only one visit for happy hour, but oh, what a visit, Ghibellina may just have the best pizza in the DC area right now

Etto - website - I've heard mostly wonderful things about Etto (essentially, very similar to 2 Amys), but this ranking can only be considered an educated guess

Estadio (Review) - website - Traditional Spanish tapas, bustling crowds, excellent front of the house, deceptively expensive, cooking has been mostly good with some inconsistencies.

Le Diplomate - website - 14UP's newest Starr, DC's first real brasserie DC since the early days of Les Halles, classic casual French

Garden District (formerly Standard) - website - One of the more underrated restaurants in the city, nobody talks about Garden District, yet it's very good and worth exploring

2 Birds 1 Stone - website - A basement lounge with drinks by Adam Bernbach, funding by Mark Kuller - it will be hard to go wrong here

G Sandwich - Facebook - A sandwich shop from the owners of Kapnos, wood-roasted meats, tasting menus, Sunday night gravy menu

Cafe Saint-Ex - website

Posto - website

Masa 14 (Review) - website

Bar Pilar - website

Pearl Dive Oyster Palace (Minibite) - website

Black Whiskey - website

Black Jack - website - The upstairs bar of Pearl Dive, bocce ball court, separate whimsically written menu, late night, and late-late night menus

BakeHouse - website - @BakeHouseDC - An independent bakery with a good, progressive coffee and tea program

Taqueria Nacional - website

Rice - website

Policy - website

Hanoi House (formerly Blackbyrd) - website

Drafting Table - website - @DraftingTableDC

From the Multiple Locations Guide: See Kapnos, Etc. Etc. Etc., and Etc. <---------------------

Tryst/Diner Venture - 1840 14th. St. - Not Opening

Mid City Caffe - 1626 14th. St. - Closed

[No, it's not perfect, but at least every important restaurant will be in one place. I'm not going to go around "ranking" individual locations of chains, so this is the best I can offer. Given that this is the one, and only, complaint with the Dining Guide - and it happens often - I think it's better than what we have now.]

[ktmoomau]

We had a really nice birthday dinner for my husband here.  First I had exceptional service pre-dining.  I emailed to see if we could get a reservation, immediate email back, then when my in-laws wanted a different time they accommodated it well.  The in-laws were at first a little un-sure about the menu, but turned out really liking it. We had: olives- they had a nice spice to them, farmhouse salad (two) which was fresh, but not exceptional the onions were a little strong, I didn't eat the cheese, we had the hummus and taziki sauce with flatbread which were both good, the duck phyllo pie was again exceptional, maybe the must order here, the chicken for the table was a bit deceiving as the menu said split roasted chicken which makes you think you get a whole chicken which seems appropriate, but it was only a half chicken it was very juicy and I liked the flavor though.  We had the lamb which had a nice caramelization on the outside and I liked the grains, Matt and I had this before, but this time it was just a bit better in flavor and roast pig which was juicy and was over orzo pesto.  The desserts were the least satisfying, the clementine sorbet was the best part.  I had the fritters, they were fine, Hubby's apple baklava was ok, but he didn't love it he offered me more bites than normal.  He also got rosewater sorbet with it that was really lovely, maybe the best bite.  I didn't try the mouse cake, it may have been better.  But overall the meal was really nice. Maybe a little pricey for the serving size, but not really out of line for DC.  Anyway it was nice to get his parents to try some new things and a new restaurant!

[mr food]

First visit last night. We opted for the bar as the guys wanted to watch the games. We went through a variety of plates. Highlights were the lamb, suckling pig (totally yummy and 2 plates ordered), greek fries.Taramasolata was also tasty but 3 not large portions of spreads for $22 was not worth it. The scallops and shrimp plates were just ok. Flatbread was good and warm. My wife had a Santorini white and I brought in a bottle of CNDP which was decanted at my request.  Service was friendly, attentive and the food came out quickly as it wasn't that busy.  The bill reflected the price paid when visiting a celebrity chef establishment. I can't say we will be in a hurry to return.

[Gadarene]

Yeah, personally, I find Graffiato to give much better value among Mike Isabella joints.  I was saying to a friend on Saturday night that one of the things I like about Graffiato is that most of the items seem like they could easily cost two or three dollars more, given its real estate and the general DC restaurant scene.  At Kapnos, by contrast, that extra two or three dollars is definitely baked into the price.

[DonRocks]

First visit last night. We opted for the bar as the guys wanted to watch the games. We went through a variety of plates. Highlights were the lamb, suckling pig (totally yummy and 2 plates ordered), greek fries.Taramasolata was also tasty but 3 not large portions of spreads for $22 was not worth it. The scallops and shrimp plates were just ok. Flatbread was good and warm. My wife had a Santorini white and I brought in a bottle of CNDP which was decanted at my request.  Service was friendly, attentive and the food came out quickly as it wasn't that busy.  The bill reflected the price paid when visiting a celebrity chef establishment. I can't say we will be in a hurry to return.

$22 for 3 spreads is an eye-catching price - I did a double-take when I saw it.

[LauraB]

We had a delightful first visit at Kapnos last Saturday. I don't know what took us so long to get there, but we won't wait very long to return. There were 3 of us and we ordered 8 dishes to share.

First up were 2 of the dips with pita bread: Tyrokafteri: feta, smoked manori, grains of paradise, and Melitzanosalata: smoky eggplant, roasted peppers, walnuts, feta. Both of these were very good, but the smoky eggplant was outstanding. The pita bread seemed to be house-made, but I may be wrong about that. Wherever it was baked, it was quite good. Two very large pieces were delivered at the outset; our guest ordered several more and we were not charged for them.

For vegetables/legumes we ordered the Charred Brussels with white anchovy, black garlic, kalamata, and red pepper and they were fantastic. The anchovy added just the right amount of umami and the kalamatas the briny. The Fourno Patates with lemon, feta, pastirma, and scallion were a disappointment "“ while the potatoes were well-cooked, there wasn't much flavor at all. Rounding out the trio was the Gigandes which are giant beans prepared with onion seeds, bulbs, stems, flowers. I love gigande beans and whenever I see them on a menu, I'm inclined to order them. These were a tad mushy and not all that flavorful and were delivered at the end of the meal and so were a bit of an afterthought.

We ordered 3 proteins, starting with the Seared Diver Scallops which were dressed with citrus, brown butter, poppy seed. There were only 2 scallops and at $15 for the dish, that seemed over-priced. My two dining companions had one scallop each and weren't particularly impressed; I didn't taste this dish so I can't comment.

The Suckling Pig over orzo and flavored with dill and orange was exquisite. All of us loved this and my only complaint would be that there just wasn't enough of it!

Finally, the Saturday Classic special is Kapama, a kind of cinnamon-spiced lamb stew served over a grain. We used to be regulars at the original Cava in Rockville and our favorite dish there was the lamb kapama. So, we were enticed. It was very, very good "“ somewhat different from the Cava rendition, but delicious all the same.

Our server was very friendly, very knowledgeable, and very helpful. All in all, it was a lovely experience that we'd be happy to repeat.

[mr food]

The Suckling Pig over orzo and flavored with dill and orange was exquisite. All of us loved this and my only complaint would be that there just wasn't enough of it!

I might return just for the suckling pig!

[Choirgirl21]

I had an outstanding meal on Monday night. A large group of us (11) went to celebrate a friend's birthday. We had a large table just in front of the open kitchen, which was a nice touch. Food, beverages and service were all outstanding throughout. The trade off is that you pay for it here, but I am eager to go back.

With such a large table everyone sort of ordered what they wanted within couples or individuals and then a lot of things got passed for others to at least have a bite so I got to taste a good bit of the food that way. Two of the three dishes I ordered individually were standouts to me, the roasted duck phyllo pie and the charred octopus, both of which have been highlighted in previous reviews. The smoky beets, with yogurt, green peppercorn, and citrus were also impressive. I wanted to round out my meal with another vegetable dish so against my better judgement (I was so full) I ordered the briam, a medley of roasted tomato, squash, onion, and purple potato served over a tomato sauce with fresh rosemary.  Delicious, just not the star of the evening compared to some of the protein dishes.

Highlights from some of the other dishes ordered by our group, the melitzanosalata (eggplant) spread with fresh made pita, the gigandes, giant beans in a creamy yellow pepper sauce which were highlighted by some perfectly roasted cippolini onions, and the classic that night, the moussaka. I'm not sure that the latter would be considered entirely traditional, but it was so delicious that I stuffed several more bites in my mouth at the end of the meal when frankly there just wasn't room left.

The spiced baby goat was also very nice, with a lot of heat from the harissa, and the tuna tartare was enhanced by what I believe was a harissa oil on the bottom of the plate.

For dessert we shared the toukoumades, crispy fritters with pistachio and spiced honey, which were to my surprise and delight not particularly sweet and the pistachio cake with brown butter ice cream, which I enjoyed but was frankly too full to appreciate fully I think.

All of the food was beautifully plated and worked well despite the larger number of components on many of the dishes. I also enjoyed my kegged lemonade (I opted for the one with gin, grilled lemon, honey and thyme) and was happy to see the Fingerlakes cabernet franc that I've enjoyed at Graffiato on tap here. I finished with a glass of the Kapnos red, a blend of syrah, merlot, and xinomavro and it was exactly what I had hoped, medium bodied with a nice amount of acidity.

I have eaten at Graffiato quite a few times and always enjoy it, but I feel like the food at Kapnos is on another level. The service was as well - perfect from the moment we sat down until we paid our bill. I wish I had caught our server's name so I could mention it here as she really was outstanding. I am eager to go back and am certainly eager to root for Chef George on Top Chef having had such a great experience at Kapnos.

[Choirgirl21]

$22 for 3 spreads is an eye-catching price - I did a double-take when I saw it.

I just noticed this comment and have to say that I don't understand the pricing on this and wouldn't recommend ordering the trio. We had a couple at our table order the trio and had quite a few people order full size portions of a couple of the dips. I would say the portions on the trio were about half the normal portion (or 2/3 at the absolute most) so in essence, you are getting about 1 1/2 - 2 portions for $22. Individual portions are all $8 with the exception of the tarmosalata, which is $12. Unless you really feel you must try 3, I think it makes more sense to just order 1 or 2 full portions. The smoky eggplant spread won't disappoint.

[DonRocks]

 

I just noticed this comment and have to say that I don't understand the pricing on this and wouldn't recommend ordering the trio. We had a couple at our table order the trio and had quite a few people order full size portions of a couple of the dips. I would say the portions on the trio were about half the normal portion (or 2/3 at the absolute most) so in essence, you are getting about 1 1/2 - 2 portions for $22. Individual portions are all $8 with the exception of the tarmosalata, which is $12. Unless you really feel you must try 3, I think it makes more sense to just order 1 or 2 full portions. The smoky eggplant spread won't disappoint.

 

Bethesda location is closed per Bethesda Now.

"Vapiano Closes In Bethesda" by Aaron Kraut on bethesdanow.com

And, you'll have your chance to try it in Bethesda because Kapnos is going to be replacing (the just-closed) Vapiano there.

---

[ETA: I originally posted this afternoon at around 12:15 PM, inside of Choirgirl21's post (I was trying to do some fancy cut/paste work, and obviously failed). My apologies if I caused any confusion - my post has now been correctly extracted, and Choirgirl21 had nothing to do with the mistake. Not a big deal, but the above one little sentence apparently caused a mini-storm on Twitter (once again, I underestimate the power of television - it is one potent medium, and Mike Isabella has become a pretty significant commodity because of it). Well, at least one person (a commentor on Robert Dyer's blog) became confused due to my ineptitude - that was some pretty sloppy organizational work on my part.

At this point, there isn't much I can do about the accompanying tweet, as it has pointed to Choirgirl21's post all day long. Breathe, Don, breathe, and better copy editing in the future, young man.]

[Choirgirl21]

So what you're saying is that a ton of people read my petty sounding little snippet about the trio of dips, but didn't see my glowing lengthy review because of your mistake. Great. My twitter debut ruined.

[Rhone1998]

I just noticed this comment and have to say that I don't understand the pricing on this and wouldn't recommend ordering the trio. We had a couple at our table order the trio and had quite a few people order full size portions of a couple of the dips. I would say the portions on the trio were about half the normal portion (or 2/3 at the absolute most) so in essence, you are getting about 1 1/2 - 2 portions for $22. Individual portions are all $8 with the exception of the tarmosalata, which is $12. Unless you really feel you must try 3, I think it makes more sense to just order 1 or 2 full portions. The smoky eggplant spread won't disappoint.

FWIW, the trio of spreads is $12 at the bar during happy hour (5-7pm). Have no idea if the portion is the same as you'd get in the dining room.

[Kev29]

And, you'll have your chance to try it in Bethesda because Kapnos is going to be replacing (the just-closed) Vapiano there.

Anyone know if this is moving forward? Thanks.

[pras]

"Mike Isabella to Open Greek Restaurant in Bethesda" by Steve Hull on bethesdamagazine.com

[Kev29]

"Mike Isabella to Open Greek Restaurant in Bethesda" by Steve Hull on bethesdamagazine.com

Across the street from my parents place. Great news! Really enjoy the original on 14th. Should be the best restaurant on the Bethesda Ave side of town, if they can keep the quality controlled.

[pras]

Across the street from my parents place. Great news! Really enjoy the original on 14th. Should be the best restaurant on the Bethesda Ave side of town, if they can keep the quality controlled.

Certainly an upgrade over Vapiano!

[Lori Gardner]

"Mike Isabella to Open Greek Restaurant in Bethesda" by Steve Hull on bethesdamagazine.com

I am thrilled to hear this news!

[pras]

Some more information in Washingtonian.

[mr food]

Whew, Mike might have to step into the clone machine! 

[DonRocks]

Whew, Mike might have to step into the clone machine! 

Huh?

[darkstar965]

Huh?

Isabella is opening a lot of new places?

[mr food]

Isabella is opening a lot of new places?

That's what I meant.

[cheezepowder]

Kapnos Taverna opening in Ballston on Jan. 27, 2015.

[Bart]

I read some article or blurb about Kapnos Taverna and it said it was going to have a different focus and a different menu than the original. This one is going to be more seafood focused (Greek islands). The same article said the Bethesda version is going to be different from still from the first two. Sounds like a great idea. I hope they all work!

[NolaCaine]

http://kapnostaverna.com/menus/dinner/

Can you spot the spelling error...or should I say "keystroke".  Will wander over soon.  As soon as the wind-chill is above freezing.  Or I get really curious.  One.

[DonRocks]

http://kapnostaverna.com/menus/dinner/

Can you spot the spelling error...or should I say "keystroke".  Will wander over soon.  As soon as the wind-chill is above freezing.  Or I get really curious.  One.

My first impression is that the neighborhood will not support these prices in the long term, and I'm generally pretty confident in my first impressions.

And now you can watch the rest of the media reproduce the press releases without scrutiny.

This is going to be very interesting to see if the power of television and marketing can take what Fabio Trabocchi has tried to do in Georgetown, and pull it off in Ballston.

I'm looking at these prices and literally cringing.

[darkstar965]

Isn't the whole point of an offshoot with "taverna" in the name to go downscale? Make the experience more "accessible" as so many other great chefs are doing here and elsewhere?

Yeah, I share Don's first impression big time. The prices are annoying.

[Choirgirl21]

If you want to talk about underrated, after a second visit, I hardly feel that Kapnos is getting the attention and credit it deserves for what it's doing. And what it's doing is consistently putting out delicious, complex, well-balanced, and beautiful plates of food.

We were set on Red Hen. Finally we were arriving early enough to secure a table in a reasonable time frame. Alas, upon our arrival shortly after 6 pm the wait was over 2 hrs. Kapnos was the first place that popped into my head within a reasonable distance so off we went, calling on our way to secure a table. We were told there were only seats available at the bar or the open kitchen seating. Oh darn, I guess we'll just take those shoddy kitchen seats.

The only disappointment of our entire meal actually was the cold, well really absent welcome when seated. The chef at the station in front of us never acknowledged us, then or throughout the night, despite a 10 min or so wait before a server even appeared to take a drink order. However, Chef George did occasionally pop over to that station and made a point to check in the first time he did. Our server, after an initial apology for the wait was fantastic in terms of him feeling us out and pacing our meal accordingly, frequently checking in, making sure we had clean plates, and giving excellent food and wine pairing recommendations.

I won't detail all of the food we had except to say that the eggplant dip, duck phyllo pies, and charred octopus were all repeats for me and well worth it. The tuna tartare, smoky beets, suckling pig, and goat were all excellent as well. I'm most impressed by the chef's ability to always balance a bright, acidic note with even the richer of dishes. The only thing here that hasn't really moved me are desserts. Tasty and generous, but not memorable.

People have commented that Kapnos is on the pricier side, but sneaking in at the tail end of restaurant week, we left absolutely stuffed, having not quite finished a few dishes at $55/person for a 5 course meal. When I looked at the menu prices, that only saved us a few bucks with the addition of dessert so I believe you can easily leave here well fed for $50 before tax, tip, and alcohol. Even after my 4 drinks (yeah, we paced ourselves into an enjoyable slow meal) I came in around $100 inclusive.

I admit all of the expansion Mike Isabella is doing concerns me. I understand the new location in Ballston is a different region of cuisine, but our server also mentioned a ramen place in Ballston (wtf) and something in Reagan National, along with the Bethesda restaurant slated to open in the fall. Graffiato has always been a place where I've enjoyed good solid food at a reasonable price in a lively setting, but Kapnos is doing something unique and it's doing it well. I can only hope it stays that way.

[darkstar965]

of cuisine, but our server also mentioned a ramen place in Ballston (wtf) and something in Reagan National, along with the Bethesda restaurant slated to open in the fall. Graffiato has always been a place where I've enjoyed good solid food at a reasonable price in a lively setting, but Kapnos is doing something unique and it's doing it well. I can only hope it stays that way.

Since I agreed with Don upthread in teams of cringing at the Taverna pricing planned for Ballston, just wanted to clarify here that I am, like Choirgirl, a fairly unqualified Kapnos fan. Agree with the above wholeheartedly which pains me more to some degree on the expansion. That pain driven by an owner working to grow absolute profit through expansion while also trying to boost unit level margins as I'm guessing is the behind-the-curtain attempt with Ballston.

What the market will bear indeed. Caveat emptor. But, yes, long live Kapnos in the current incarnation.

[Genevieve]

Are the prices at Kapnos Taverna, other than the crazy expensive seafood platter and tower, and the whole lamb shoulder, more than at Kapnos downtown?  We would definitely pay Kapnos downtown prices in Ballston (assuming equivalent quality), and the mezze didn't look that pricey to me.

Edit:  I pulled up Kapnos DC's menu, and the prices look very similar, other than those crazy towers  (2 items on the Ballston menu).  The whole lamb shoulder is also super-expensive ($75), but it's the same in DC.  Am I missing something?  The mezze prices look comparable to Zaytinya, and not that far off from Me Jana's in Arlington (a few dollars more per item).  I wish the wood-roasted suckling pig and lamb mezze were on the Ballston menu, but otherwise, I'm not seeing the problem, if the food is as good.  We'll probably go try it this weekend.

Edit again:  the phyllo pies, I've been wanting to try those so I'm sorry they're also not on the Ballston menu.

[cheezepowder]

Both Mike Isabella and George Pagonis were in the kitchen at Kapnos Taverna (Ballston) last night. Last night was the first night they were open for dinner. (They were open for lunch only last week).

[darkstar965]

Both Mike Isabella and George Pagonis were in the kitchen at Kapnos Taverna (Ballston) last night. Last night was the first night they were open for dinner. (They were open for lunch only last week).

Did you go, cheeze? If so, how was it?

[DaveO]

Did you go, cheeze? If so, how was it?

that is exactly what I was going to ask.  How was it, cheeze?  

[darkstar965]

that is exactly what I was going to ask. How was it, cheeze?

She may not have given her social media and online search skills have to be top 1%. But guess she'll let us know soon enough.

My main target for ire on this btw, isn't even the ridiculous towers. It's the oysters. And I'm even more riled up after paying $2.75 per oyster yesterday at the Four Seasons Baltimore. It's only a quarter or fifty cents but three dollar oysters strike me the same as the handful of gas stations in DC still charging $4 a gallon for premium gas despite the recent petroleum market free fall. Kind of outrageous.

[Choirgirl21]

FWIW, I find the portions to be quite generous at Kapnos, which really mitigates the higher prices. My 5 course meal the other night was the eggplant dip, tuna tartare, duck phyllo pies, suckling pig, and baklava. I very reluctantly left behind portions of the dip, the pig, and the baklava and I can put down food, especially when my number of drinks are keeping pace with the number of courses. I could have easily passed on dessert and still been stuffed with my 4 savory plates, which would have run me about $50. Take that FWIW since I know nothing about Ballston or the Taverna menu/dishes.

[darkstar965]

FWIW, I find the portions to be quite generous at Kapnos, which really mitigates the higher prices. My 5 course meal the other night was the eggplant dip, tuna tartare, duck phyllo pies, suckling pig, and baklava. I very reluctantly left behind portions of the dip, the pig, and the baklava and I can put down food, especially when my number of drinks are keeping pace with the number of courses. I could have easily passed on dessert and still been stuffed with my 4 savory plates, which would have run me about $50. Take that FWIW since I know nothing about Ballston or the Taverna menu/dishes.

I totally agree, ChoirGirl. Kapnos is the known quantity and I'm a fan. My critiques above are solely of the new Ballston spot's (Kapnos Taverna's) menu. Definitely need to try it out and more fairly assess once open and several of us get there. Maybe their oysters will be a bit different, more special or more innovative than all the others. OK, just kidding with that but will look forward to the early reviews.

[Genevieve]

Ah, I didn't realize oyster prices were high, since I don't eat them and therefore didn't know what they usually go for per oyster.  Got it.

[darkstar965]

Ah, I didn't realize oyster prices were high, since I don't eat them and therefore didn't know what they usually go for per oyster. Got it.

Oysters run $1/$1.50 if a Happy Hour Special or right on the water, $1.75 - $2.75 most everywhere else.

[Bart]

FWIW, I find the portions to be quite generous at Kapnos, which really mitigates the higher prices. My 5 course meal the other night was the eggplant dip, tuna tartare, duck phyllo pies, suckling pig, and baklava.

Was it 5 courses that equaled 5 plates? Or was it 5 courses in which each course consisted of multiple plates?

When I first went there (July 2013, post #11) my recollection was something like:  the first course was 3 or 4 different dips/spreads, the second course a couple plates of something (fuzzy memory), the third course was a few different fish dishes, the fourth course was 3 different meat plates and the fifth course was 3 different dessert plates.

It's been a while and my memory is fuzzy,(the details aren't really important)  but we ended up with a lot more than 5 courses or dishes set in front of us. Is that still the way it is?

[cheezepowder]

Did you go, cheeze? If so, how was it?

that is exactly what I was going to ask.  How was it, cheeze?  

So you're not letting me get away with my short post.   Yes, I did go to the new Ballston location, and I've actually been twice already.   I liked it.  Bright space with kitchen counter seating.  My favorites were the half roasted chicken with barley (lots of dill and lemon), the eggplant spread with fresh hot flatbread, and the spit roasted lamb.

I've only been to the DC Kapnos once over a year ago so I can't tell you how the dishes compare.

Are the prices at Kapnos Taverna, other than the crazy expensive seafood platter and tower, and the whole lamb shoulder, more than at Kapnos downtown?  We would definitely pay Kapnos downtown prices in Ballston (assuming equivalent quality), and the mezze didn't look that pricey to me.

Edit:  I pulled up Kapnos DC's menu, and the prices look very similar, other than those crazy towers  (2 items on the Ballston menu).  The whole lamb shoulder is also super-expensive ($75), but it's the same in DC.  Am I missing something?  The mezze prices look comparable to Zaytinya, and not that far off from Me Jana's in Arlington (a few dollars more per item).  I wish the wood-roasted suckling pig and lamb mezze were on the Ballston menu, but otherwise, I'm not seeing the problem, if the food is as good.  We'll probably go try it this weekend.

I was wondering what I was missing too.  I'm not a raw bar fan so I skipped to the rest of the menu, and I didn't see the issue with the prices.  Going by the online menus, some similar items are even a little cheaper in Ballston:

$21 for the spread sampler in Ballston, $22 in DC.

$75 for the whole lamb shoulder in Ballston, $79 in DC.

$20 for a half spit roasted chicken with spanakorizo in Ballston, $21 for a half spit roasted chicken with potatoes in DC.

$9 for spanakopita in Ballston, $11 for spanakopita in DC.

[Choirgirl21]

Was it 5 courses that equaled 5 plates? Or was it 5 courses in which each course consisted of multiple plates?

When I first went there (July 2013, post #11) my recollection was something like:  the first course was 3 or 4 different dips/spreads, the second course a couple plates of something (fuzzy memory), the third course was a few different fish dishes, the fourth course was 3 different meat plates and the fifth course was 3 different dessert plates.

It's been a while and my memory is fuzzy,(the details aren't really important)  but we ended up with a lot more than 5 courses or dishes set in front of us. Is that still the way it is?

Are you talking about a RW experience specifically? I admit I'm a little confused by your description but what we got was 5 courses, one dish per course. The dishes were all straight off of the regular menu (you had an abbreviated list to choose from for the RW week menu, but there were plenty of selections and all of my favorites were included) and were the same portion size you'd get without RW. There was also a 3 course option that I didn't really look closely at.

Ah, I just saw you referenced your post and see that you had the tasting menu. I don't know how they do the tasting menu these days, but it sounds like it's a different experience than what they chose to do for (extended) restaurant week.

[Bart]

Ahhh, I didn't realize your 5 course thing was a Restaurant Week deal. That's the difference!

[Cooter]

With one pretty significant exception, me, my wife, and our five year old had a pretty good dinner on Wednesday night.

For starters, you'd never know that this place just opened.  The waitstaff was knowledgable about the menu and drink list, bussers kept our waters full and the tables clear, and food was paced pretty well.  Our waitress explained that they are looking to focus on fish and seafood the same way that Kapnos downtown focuses on meat.  This doesn't seem evident in the menu, so it will be interesting to see if they make any changes going forward.  They did tell us that they were out of the scallops, because of weather in Mass, and the whole lamb shoulder.   Both Chefs Paganis and Isabella were in the kitchen while we were there.

I started with a papa-bear cocktail.  Great if you like sweet, which I do. 

On to the food . . . our first dish was the king crab.  I know that this isn't ever cheap, but $25 seemed pricey for one leg and part of a cluster.  In any case, it was cooked fine, although the lemon yogurt served on the side, which was tasty on its own, pretty much overwhelmed the crab.

Next up was a serving of three spreads.  We had the hummus, the melitzanosalata, and the taramasalata.  Of these, the melitzanosalata was the favorite, with lots of fresh veggie flavors.  The taramasalata was great, too, almost like an eggy lox blend?  But, it was too rich to have more than a few bites.

For bigger plates, we got the crispy eggplant, Brussels sprouts, meatballs, and spit roasted lamb.  All were pretty great.  The eggplant came out as inch thick discs with a crispy panko coating and whipped interior.  Texturally, these were perfect, although the honey and orange sauces underneath were a bit too sweet for me.  I can't really remember the specific flavor of the meatballs, but they were fantastic.  They came on a bed of, like, eggplant mousse which was my wife's favortite thing of the night.  Brussels sprouts were also perfectly cooked and the lamb was really good and lamby, too. 

Which brings us to dessert.  We ordered the greek sundae which is described on the menu as like a brownie sundae with baklava instead of a brownie.  I don't know if there was some mistake, but this should have been called a salt sundae.  It literally tasted like someone dumped a shaker of salt on each scoop of ice cream/whipped cream/cherry.  It did have some nice like brandied cherries, but there was no baklava to be found.  Embarrasingly, we finished it since we thought the next bite wouldn't be salty so didn't complain.  The waitress said that one of the items was salted caramel ice cream, so maybe someone screwed up?  In any case, it was probably the worst dessert that I've ever had in a restaurant, but not enough to prevent me from coming back.

As to prices, it ain't cheap, but not out of line for Ballston.  Our total was $140, before tip, for the food, one cocktail, one milk, and three glasses of wine.  I don't think that this is way out of line for the area, comparing favorably to our daughter's favorite restaurant, Mussel Bar, down the street.  We'll definitely return.

[Pat]

My husband had a work lunch at Kapnos Taverna today.  They got the pikilia assortment (hummus, taramasalata, and melitzanosalata).  He especially liked the eggplant (melitzanosalata).  All three of them got gyros (2 lamb and 1 pork), and it sounded as if everyone was happy with everything.

He said that they made reservations but it wasn't really necessary for lunch since the place is so huge.  They were happy with the service and pleased that they were able to linger and effectively have their meeting there.

[Genevieve]

We had lunch at Kapnos Taverna today - delicious.  The servings were considerably larger than expected, so while my husband ordered 2 dishes and I ordered 3 (thinking they'd be Zaytinya size), we would have had plenty to eat if we'd had two each, or two each plus one shared.  I thought I might be over-ordering but wanted to try a few different things. My son was not very hungry, and had one dish (aleppo marinated short rib souvlaki), which was about four or five large pieces of short rib (which he said were excellent), on top of shredded vegetables (radicchio, several types of cabbage, and some interesting spices).

I ordered the melitzanosalata spread (eggplant, feta, crushed walnut, roasted red pepper, and some spices) which came with a large folded flatbread and was lovely.  A fairly large serving of a rich flavored, well balanced spread.  The feta was particularly tasty.  My husband and I shared the spread. We ordered an additional flatbread (my son wanted some but not the spread), and the second one was hot from the oven and softer than the first one (which was a bit crisp).  We preferred that one, but they were both good.

 

Next came the cauliflower with olives and feta and red peppers (which turned out to be small circles of somewhat spicy red peppers rather than bell peppers - I ate one or two but otherwise we avoided them) - this was twice as big as I had expected, nearly as big as an entree, and was delicious.  Luckily, we were sharing it. The cauliflower was roasted and nicely browned, there was a slightly creamy sauce I could not identify (maybe it had tahini in it?), and bits of mint, and everything went together beautifully. 

 

Finally, I had the charred octopus with skordalia, radish, caper, and red pepper.  Very tender and very tasty.  Not for the squeamish, since all the suckers were visible and the little circles on the suckers came off while slicing the tentacle (I'm squeamish about some things, but not octopus).  It wasn't overly charred, just the right amount, and was seasoned beautifully, and the skordalia (garlicky yellow smashed potatoes, more than a smear but less than a pile of potatoes) complemented the octopus very well.

My husband had the dolmades and the felafel gyro, and said both were very good.  The gyro was huge, with I think 4 large pieces of felafel).  We barely left a bite of any of our meals. As a downside, though, he said afterwards that everything had peppers or pepper in it (for the dolmades, he had asked them to hold the hot pepper labne that would have been spread underneath, but the dolmades themselves were spicy for him), and as someone who doesn't react well to heat in food, he is not likely to go back.  I will go back with friends or other family.

 

The desserts didn't appeal to us that much and we were pretty full - my son had the Greek sundae with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, crumbled baklava, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream, and he liked it (what's not to like?).

 

One fyi - the upstairs seating is on a narrow balcony with a wrought-iron railing, and one of our party had vertigo so that did not work for him, but they were happy to re-seat us downstairs when we asked.

 

We each had a house soda (five-spice ginger beer, apple cider with cinnamon and orange (which was red), and sarsparilla ginger beer), and my husband and I had tea.  The total bill was on the high side (especially for lunch, but it was our big meal of the day), but I would order less next time and be perfectly happy.  The quality of all the food was extremely good.

[goodeats]

I guess I'll be the first to give a mixed review. My friend wanted to try the new Ballston location, so we made plans for dinner last night. We split the melitzanosalata spread, falafel, and the fava, which was plenty of food for two.

The misses of the night were the melitzanosalata spread and the falafel; both were over-salted and both of us drank at least 5 glasses of water for the rest of the evening.

On the other hand, the fava and flatbread were really well done--the lentils were nicely cooked with very little seasoning (thankfully), while the flatbread was warm and fluffy.

The music was a bit too nouveau chic for me, which contributed to a slight headache, but the interior is well-designed and it was neat to see Chef George IRL, instead of on TV.

[jca76]

I'm surprised that there hasn't been more posting on Kapnos Taverna; I didn't expect to have to dig so far back to find this thread!  Maybe that's a reflection of mixed experiences similar to what I had last night.  It had been on our list for awhile now because we've liked Kapnos for dinner and brunch (a general lack of respect for reservation times and a few bad dishes aside), and this more seafood-focused effort sounded right up our pescatarian alley.  So when a visiting vegan friend said that the menu looked vegan-friendly enough, we trekked out there during last night's deluge.  

Our waiter was very nice, but service was a bit inattentive.  This made sense at the beginning of the meal, when the restaurant was pretty full and we were preemptively and apologetically informed that there were only two servers on the floor, but it became frustrating when the room emptied out and our waiter still didn't come back to ask after our empty drink glasses.

Of the spreads, we ordered the favosalata (yellow lentils, scallions, black garlic - $7 and vegan), taramasalata (carp roe, caviar, cauliflower - $11), and melitzanosalata (smoky eggplant, roasted peppers, walnuts, feta - $8).  Sounds like goodeats and I had pretty opposite views on the two we both ordered.  The eggplant was excellent and our clear favorite -- good smokiness, nicely contrasting crunch and creaminess.  No one really loved the lentils, although they were fine.  The drizzle of black garlic (syrup?) was a bit oddly sweet, while the lentils themselves were bland (they could have use a bit of salt, I think).  A little gremolata-ish dollop in the center was surprisingly spicy and would have been better if we'd figured out immediately to spread it around instead of eating our way to it from the outside of the dish.  I liked the taramasalata more than the bf did; although it's definitely inferior to Nostos's lighter, whipped version, I wasn't as bothered as he by its greater fishiness or runniness.  I appreciated that when we asked for crudite, we got two flatbreads and one crudite plate without charge instead of three flatbreads.  However, the drizzle of olive oil on top of the sliced tomatoes and cucumbers was unnecessary and weird given that we wanted the vegis for dipping; I'd have asked them to leave it off if I'd internalized its mention on the menu.  (As others have noted, the trio for $21 seems like a terrible deal; we would have saved $5 ($4 from the most expensive spread on the menu) and gotten what appeared (from our view of another table's order) to be about half the amount of food.)

The main lobster flatbread (lemon yogurt, caper, dill - $17) was very tasty, but exactly what you'd expect from the description.  The lobster itself was nicely tender, and the portion was large (although it would have been easier to eat if the half-a-square triangles had been halved again).  The most disappointing dish of the meal was the taylor bay scallops (apple, grapefruit - $16).  Five little shells each held a pretty mound of cubed scallop, apple, grapefruit, julienned radish, and dill, topped with a slivered disk of green chile (I'd guess serrano).  Other than the chile, I could only identify the components visually or from the menu description.  The overall impression was of moist, cool blandness followed by a punch of flavorless heat.  Badly in need of salt, the later bites were better once we requested some.

My first thought on reading the description of the crispy eggplant (spicy honey, orange pith puree - $9) is that pith puree sounds disgusting, but I am happy that I risked it.  I loved the orange and honey combination -- I didn't get spice, but it did have a slightly burned-in-a-good way flavor that reminded me of Gypsy Soul's excellent carrots.  In contrast to Cooter's view, my complaint about the dish was about the texture of the eggplant itself. Although the outside was nicely crisp, the insides of the half-inch-thick slices were just unappealingly mushy (which didn't seem whipped to me).  Better were the smoky roasted oysters (ras el hanout, pastirma - $10); the four oysters tasted more raw than I'd expected from the "roasted" description, but they were delicious.  (However, after the fact I am potentially annoyed: I'd asked the waiter what "pastirma" was, and he said a spice blend, which I found kind of funny at the time given that the dish also listed ras el hanout, but I took him at his word.  Google suggests that it's actually a cured meat, which means that (1) as pescatarians, we inadvertently ate meat, and (2) it wasn't even good enough that we realized we were eating meat.  Maybe they just use the spices that would normally go with the meat -- the way that you can find pastrami-spiced non-meat things, which would explain why we didn't see/taste anything meaty.  And now that I write this, I assume that pastirma and pastrami have to be etymologically related.)

Our vegan loved (and I liked) the roasted beets (walnut, orange coriander dressing - $8), particularly the dressing.  (I found the beets over-roasted into softness.)  The horta (kale, chard, chickpeas, baby tomatoes - $9) was odd, its broth so salty that my friend worried from the smell that it couldn't be vegan, although she was assured that it was.  It was basically a mound of wilted greens, chickpeas, and grape tomatoes (cooked to the point of softness but not yet popped) in a briny puddle.  It made me long for Jaleo's superior, hearty spinach and chickpea stew.

Excellent cocktails.  I started happily with the papa-bear (bourbon, cardamaro, cinnamon raisins infused sweet vermouth, pimento bitters, alleppo) -- a bit sweet, the cinnamon strong, kind of a winter-breakfast-in-a-glass thing going on.  The bf went first with the hannibal (mezcal, cointreau, lime, ginger, harissa), which was nicely smoky while remaining light.  I liked the lucky charms (flor de cana 4yr rum, lime, allspice, mint, angostura bitters) -- heavy on the spices flavor, to the exclusion of really picking up on the lime and mint -- but preferred the shepherd (beefeater gin, mountain tea, grilled lemon juice, oregano).  (Grilled lemon has featured in Kapnos: Original Flavor cocktails that I've liked.)

Dinner was good, but didn't reach the same heights as Kapnos (or Zaytinya) have, and we had nits to pick with most dishes.  I want Kapnos Taverna to be better than it currently is.

[Joe H]

Kapnos Arlington tonight with friends-we worked our way through 14 courses including several excellent:  nontraditional saganaki is not flamed but delicious and flavorful, superb hot flatbread frequently replenished, lamb dish was excellent, shrimp pireaus was flavorful, eggplant dip was outstanding-all four of us thought it was the best dip presented; cauliflour was the best vegetable-amazingly delicious;eggplant, the vegetable pesentation of it was excellent, too.  Pikilia with three spreads were uneven (although, again the eggplant dip was preferred), meaatballs, lemon cake were both mediocre.

My real complaint is the room:  it is nothing. It's a suburban two story room with no character, for me a "vanilla" dining hall on two floors. Parking is very difficult-I personally walked over four blocks after parking my car.

For myself I would give Kapnos two stars for the food but less for the overall experience.

Having said this we went to Baltimore's Ouzo Bay late Thursday night which won an award from, I believe, Baltimore Magazine as the best restaurant in Baltimore in 2013 beating out Charleston and Woodbury Kitchen.

It is still Baltimore's best restaurant.  We loved it.  For all the world it feels like Miami's South Beach located in Harbor East.  It is oozing cool but also really delivers on fresh Greek seafood.  Frankly, Kapnos didn't have a chance coming after our late night visit to Ouzo Bay 40 hours earlier.

From their own dips (roast garlic, fish roe, etc), tender wide "sheets" of calamari which enrobe several cheeses, a superb flaming saganacki, properly and deliciously prepared fresh fish (more than a half dozen are available and expensive) and on and on this is a luscious upscale indulgence that has, in several years, became a landmark Harbor East location.

We will deadhead from Reston to Harbor East for Ouzo Bay again in the next several weeks.  Kapnos, for us, is a one time visit.  While much of the food was good we felt let down by the lifeless office building location.  For Ouzo Bay we will return for an upcoming anniversary in a room well suited for a celebration.

To the best of my knolwedge nobody in D. C. has reviewed it.  Not sure I really understand why.  I believe it is easily the single best Greek restaurant in the greater Baltimore/DC area.  Certainly it is the nicest.

Ouzo Bay is special.

[Bart]

This may have to be broken up into two or three threads, but it looks like Mike Isabella is going to take over the Gypsy Soul space and turn it into a Kapnos Kouzina (casual, home-style Greek), but before that happens Isabella and Jen Carroll (a Top Chef buddy and Philly chef) will host a pop up of "Requin", an intimate French-Mediterranean seafood restaurant which will end up being located at the Wharf development in DC.

Read the deets here.
 

[Ilaine]

$8 for tzatzki better be some pretty spectacular tzatzki.  Might fly in DC, maybe even Ballston, but I wonder if Mosaic can support those prices.  Yeah, it's fancy for Virginia, but it's still Fairfax County.

[hopsing]

A group of us ate at Kapnos Taverna for Restaurant Week.  Based on today's lunch, I'm not planning a return anytime soon.   The smoky eggplant spread did not taste smoky and did not taste like eggplant.  It tasted vinegary or astringent.  My shrimp entree was pretty good but not WOW!  The baklava was dessicated.  I tried to cut off a piece with my fork and the whole thing broke apart.  If I blew on it, all the nuts and pastry would fly away.  The only WOW was the mandarin sherbet - now that was good!  In all fairness, my fellow diners all liked their food.  Not sure if they were being polite or it was the truth.

[DonRocks]

Not sure if they were being polite or it was the truth.

A mixture. The Mike Isabella restaurants are becoming wildly inconsistent. A good cook was pumped up by investors, is expanding as quickly as the (PR/TV-subsidized) free market will allow, and you're beginning to see the logical conclusion of such P.T. Barnum-style foolishness.

No more elephants in circuses. The suckers have all died off at the rate of one a minute, and now it's their grandchildren who are reading the internet.