100 Very Best Restaurants 2014: Kapnos

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Chef Mike Isabella tends the fiery spits in the open kitchen at Kapnos. Photograph by Scott Suchman

About Kapnos

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cuisines
Greek

The small-plates menu at Mike Isabella’s Greek hot spot is sprawling, but we’re happiest homing in on two sections. First, his dips and spreads—from a satiny taramasalata to the hummus-like revithosalata, topped with preserved-lemon chutney—which are served with wonderfully fluffy stone-baked flatbreads. Then there are the meats, cut from the whole animals spit-roasting over hickory in the open kitchen. We especially love the crispy bits of goat with fiery harissa and yogurt (excellent swaddled in more of that flatbread) and the lamb, which is marinated in lemon, oregano, garlic, and olive oil. To go with it all, there are rum- and gin-spiked lemonades and smooth cocktails laced with Skinos, an aromatic Greek liqueur.

Open: Monday through Friday for dinner, Saturday and Sunday for brunch and dinner.

Don’t Miss: Royal Red-shrimp crudo; florina, an array of salsify, turnips, carrots, and dates; roasted-duck turnover; potato-garlic turnover; roasted chicken; rice pudding with Armagnac. 


Ann Limpert
Executive Food Editor/Critic

Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.

Food Editor

Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.