Cava Mezze (Capital Hill / Eastern Market)

527 8th St SE, Washington DC 20003 (also has a Rockville location)
http://dc.cavamezze.com/home

I had heard about Cava Mezze from an acquaintance who is a regular at one of my regular bars. The restaurant did not disappoint. Although my experience was rushed because I was running late and had to make another event, the mezze that I ordered was outstanding. Also, the atmosphere was quite nice as well. Dark, long room, with nice wood decor. Also a nice outdoor area, although it was in the 90's so we ate inside.

Because of our press for time, the hostess recommended that we order non-meat dishes. The Washingtonian review that I looked at just before heading out had recommended: Spicy lamb sliders; watermelon salad w/ feta & mint; pork souvlaki; meatballs in tom sauce; avgolemono soup; disco fries; Greek yogurt w/honey & walnuts; loukoumades (Greek donuts). We didn't get any of that. In fact, some of it was not on the menu anymore. Instead we ordered: Grilled Haloumi cheese (with mint), Tyropita (dodonis feta, goat cheese, phyllo), Crazy Feta (dodonis feta & whipped jalapeno), and Eggplant Dip. I listed these in order of amazingness. The first three were really close with a gap before the merely quite good eggplant dip. The portions for mezze weren't as small as some I have seen around DC, so splitting four of them between two people filled up my date and left me satisfied - all the cheese was pretty rich. Also, as I closed the menu, I spied a Cherry Mojito. It was pretty darn good.

Anyway, I was disappointed in Yanni's Greek Taverna and have yet to make it to a Greek place in Old Town that I've heard about, so this place is clearly my favorite Greek place in D.C. Heck, I'll put it above those in Chicago as well and I suspect it even bests my favorite Greek place in St. Louis. More significantly, this is probably the best small dish restaurant I have had in D.C., with the Lebanese Taverna in Woodley Park being the next best. And yes, I have eaten at Jaleo, Zaytina, and most of the Penn Quarter places, even if I didn't rate them here.

Also mentioned briefly in my European section.

Update:
I stopped by Cava Mezze again. While waiting for my friend I tried a Dark and Stormy. It is a rare drink for me, so I am far from a good judge, but it was okay. I'd stick with the Cherry Mohijo. Anyway, the point of this update is the food. We had the Haloumi (again), the Lamb Sliders, Orzo, Tomato Meatballs, and Disco Fries. I might look up exactly what each of these was comprised of later, but the Lamb Sliders were fantastic, the Orzo (pasta shaped like large grains of rice) was quite impressive, and the Disco Fries (basically fries with a tomato and cheese mix dumped on them like spaghetti) were also great. The Meatballs in Tomato sauce were tasty, but not as good as the other dishes. We were stuffed and with 2 drinks the bill came to a reasonable $63.53, so without drinks $47, which is reasonable considering we could have fed 3.