In the summer of 2006, long-time friends Ike Grigoropoulos and Ted Xenohristos, along with chef Dimitri Moshovitis came up with the idea for CAVA while having coffee in a Starbucks in Rockville, MD. Ike and Ted were long time servers, while Dimitri was slaving over a hot stove, training in some of Washington DC’s finest restaurants as an up and coming chef. As 3 children of Greek immigrants they wondered to themselves why no one had opened a Greek restaurant that reminded them of the mezze style dinig in Greece. Mezze are small plates of food, similar to tapas, but slightly larger that are shared.

One day a friend had told them of a bakery in Rockville that was for sale. They visited the location which was a strip center gone bad in the crosshairs of Rockville/Potomac and Gaithersburg. Most of the tenants in the center were going out of business and the parking lots were empty as could be. They wondered if they could ever succeed there, or if any one could ever succeed there…

From friends to family members, one by one, they were told to stay away from the center, and that the location was terrible, but they knew no one would give them an opportunity anywhere else. With very little money, maxed out credit cards and borrowing from friends and family a partnership was formed.

Within days of purchasing the business, construction was started. With the help of their fathers and uncles they completely renovated the spot, from smashing tiles and hauling trash to hand carving the bar and even building the tables themselves. While Ted and Ike worked on building the restaurant, Chef Dimitri worked on creating a Greek Inspired menu that would serve the freshest ingredients with some of the best imports Greece had to offer.

After 4 months that included running out of money during construction the restaurant finally opened in the fall of 2006. Opening night was all friends and family who had come to support a dream of 3 boyhood friends to one day own their own restaurant. The place was a hit!! A year later with the help of great customer reviews and word of mouth they made Washingtonian’s Top 100 Restaurants, and had over 15 great reviews including Tom Sietsema from the Washington Post and Zagat which rated them top DC Nwcomer.

This winter their dreams will be realized again as a 2nd CAVA MEZZE will open in downtown Washington, DC.