Cava Mezze

The first Cava Mezze burst onto the DC restaurant scene a few years ago, infusing the small plates concept with a greek-inspired flair to its first location on Capitol Hill.  Since then, Cava has turned into a marketing machine, pumping out branded hummus, tabouleh and other mediterranean products to grocery stores all over the DMV, in addition to opening additional outposts in Rockville and Bethesda.  These folks are making some bank.

Last weekend, the newest branch from the Cava team opened in Clarendon (near Circa), and the MTB (missus-to-be) and I stopped in for a happy hour and some initial thoughts last night.

The restaurant is VERY Clarendon - if you've been in a restaurant in Clarendon in the last two years, you know what I mean. Sparse space, with a lot of stained wood warming up the metal and granite warehouse look. Overall the restaurant is a bit smaller than I was expecting, so the call-ahead premier seating Sunday-Thursday may come in handy (not accepted Fri-Sat). I did hear the staff discussing opening an outdoor space after the restaurant has a chance to stretch its legs a bit.

Interesting drink list - quite a few house cocktails that go beyond the norm, with a respectable wine list, including a lot of choices by the glass. Beer selections weren't too adventurous but did go beyond the Bud Light/Miller Light with Mythos and a few microbrew options. I started with a great Cucumber and Jalapeno Margarita that wasn't too sweet, wasn't too spicy, and was refreshing on a hot day.

Being as this was just a happy hour, we got an order of the Hummus and an order of the Crazy Feta - Feta cheese whipped with chunks of Jalapeno. The MTB enjoyed the hummus (I have yet to find a hummus I enjoy), while my Crazy Feta was crazy good (sorry, couldn't resist), but I wouldn't order by myself again - your life concierge doesn't need to be eating big balls of whipped cheese all by himself. Both came with bottomless warm pita bread - good pita but certainly not Zaytinya level.  The bread comes with any food order, along with a trio of comped snacks - olive oil for dipping, greek olives, and an awesome Harissa - the version here is mild with both a tang and a bit of a bite.

The one major drawback - there was no happy hour, at least not on a Tuesday night. In fact the staff almost seemed proud of this fact. Its Clarendon, its a Tuesday night, there are 20-30 options of other places to go within two blocks, all of which offer some sort of happy hour discount. While we enjoyed our experience overall, I won't be quick to drop another $60 at Cava when I can spend 1/3 of that down the street for after work drinks and a snack.