Chef and restaurateur Mike Isabella has plans to open Kapnos Taverna, his second regional Greek restaurant, in Arlington, Virginia on January 27th. The 165-seat, 5,700-square-foot space at 4000 Wilson Blvd. is a sister restaurant to Kapnos, Isabella’s Northern Greek restaurant, which opened on the 14th Street Corridor in Washington, DC in 2013.
Isabella once again teamed up with Kapnos executive chef/partner George Pagonis, who will oversee the kitchen along with chef de cuisine Greg Basalla.
“I’m proud of the ways in which we’ve made Kapnos Taverna stand apart from the original restaurant,” Isabella says. “At Kapnos we showed how much more there is to Greek cooking than lamb shank, spanakopita, and moussaka, and I think people are going to see even more of the depth of the cuisine when they see and taste the menu at Kapnos Taverna.”
The restaurant’s look begins with the same rustic, earth-toned inspirations used in the original Kapnos. Kapnos Taverna’s decor is accented with Mediterranean and coastal Greek flourishes. Working once again with Streetsense, a Bethesda, Maryland-based integrated architecture and design firm, the team developed a comfortable look and feel for the space using terracotta and other earth tones offset by a variety of eclectic lighting styles, classic Greek tile motifs, live herbs and plants, and millwork panels. The overall effect evokes an urban Mediterranean garden atmosphere.
The bar conveys a rustic, outdoor quality with its ebony-stained, distressed wood barfront and charred wood backbar, and the dining is highlighted by a steel framed vertical herb garden punctuated with lava rock. A spacious dining mezzanine overlooks the kitchen. In the spring, a 60-seat patio and firepit will be added to further enhance the experience.
Located in the heart of the Ballston neighborhood’s growing business district, two other Mike Isabella Concepts restaurants will join Kapnos Taverna later this year. First, Pepita, a Mexican cantina led by beverage director, Taha Ismail, and in the summer chef/partner Jonah Kim will open Yona, a noodle bar and Japanese small plates restaurant.
