Kapnos, DC #2

After a great first visit to Mike Isabella's Kapnos, other friends immediately wanted to join me for dinner there.  So again, I headed out to Kapnos around 8:30 p.m. on a Thursday night. The restaurant and bar area were packed -- talk about a hip scene. There were people everywhere and I was glad we had reservations.

We were seated immediately and we both ordered wine as recommended by our server. For such a small wine list, we found the glasses we ordered to be superb and were glad we went with the wine. The menu is pretty overwhelming and had already changed since the last time I had been there. All of the dishes are Greek "small" plates, but I knew from previous experience that their definition of "small" was actually quite large. Regardless, we wanted to try a bunch of new things.

We started with the Revithosalata, which was described as chickpea, tahini, and sultan chutney so it was basically hummus. But, a typical hummus it was not. This was the creamiest hummus ever with a great balance of salt and spice. When paired with the incredibly "buttery," soft, wood-fired bread, we really couldn't stop ourselves from eating the entire plate.

Next up was the Kohlrabi Crudite. They took this root vegetable and sliced it into matchsticks and served it with green tomatoes and black sesame seeds. We were impressed with the simplicity of the dish and loved its refreshing flavor.

Then we tried the Dolmades, which was grape leaves with smoked grapes. We found these to be okay, but nothing to write home about.

Lastly, we had the Gigandes made with gigande beans, onion seeds, bulbs, stems, and flowers. We loved this dish! The hearty creaminess of the puree with the beans along with the accents of onions and flowers was spectacular. It was definitely one of our favorite dishes of the night.

We were pretty engaged in conversation so I didn't pay much attention to the service, which I think was pretty good. The wine and food were superb. The prices of $8 - $9 per plate were typical and overall, we had a great experience. I can't wait to see what they will have in store for us next time.

Previous review
August 13, 2013

Kapnos
2201 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 234-5000