Just Born: Kapnos Restaurant

I was excited to receive Karen's email with the information that she had Wednesday night free and could eat dinner around 8 at either Le Diplomate or Kapnos.  I understand her time is precious with a newborn so I jumped at the opportunity and made a reservation at Kapnos.  It's one of the many new restaurants opening on 14th St and this one has Mike Isabella as the chef.  I've loved him since Zaytinya and this menu looks familiar to his time there.

As we entered, we were both taken back by the volume in the place.  I've been reading a lot of criticism about this major change in restaurants - loud music without any interior help to muffle the sounds.  It doesn't stop me from eating at certain restaurants but I feel like my voice should not be strained when I'm done like it is after signing along at a concert.  This with the table knives are my only complaints about the restaurant.  The knife bothered me so much because its resting position is blade up.  This doesn't work very well when the knife is resting on the plate.  It's a bother.

But the food was really nice.

We started with the tyrokaftari spread on the flatbread which was so very good - feta, smoked manori, grains of paradise, and jalapenos.  I was weary of eating the jalapenos but I loved the heat with the soft cheeses.

This was the first thing I saw on the menu and I wish the photo captured more of the red.  It looked like fresh tuna but it was a spicy watermelon salad with urfa, rind, fennel, granite and more jalapeno.  Again, it had a nice bite with the only fruit I crave all the time in the summer.

Another photo that doesn't do justice to the food - underneath are two roasted duck phyllo pies with watercress, cherries and pistachio yogurt.  

My only small complaint was with the spiced baby goat.  It came with yogurt and a spicy sauce but the goat wasn't seasoned very well on its own.  It was perfectly cooked but I missed a little something with the meat.

We didn't really need to order this because we were full but I wanted some vegetables.  This was fava with yellow lentils, corn, spinach and pearl onions.  I liked eating it with the goat to give it some flavor.

It was dark and crowded but it helped me to finally notice that the chandelier is made up of wine glasses. It's a very pretty space and a nice addition to 14th St.