Social Butterfly

One of  my favorite restaurant's in Arlington is Cava Mezze.  If you like tapas and Greek food then you'll love Cava.  When PR informed me he made a reservation there for Valentine's day I was so excited - even contemplated not eating the whole day so that I could order one of everything on the menu (okay, there's no way I can not eat all day).

The menu has a wide variety of options, like most tapas places do - soups and salads, cheeses, meats, veggies, etc.  Since it was Valentine's Day I decided to spice things up and order something different to drink (not my usual prosecco or riesling).  I decided to go with the Social Butterfly - a mix of hanger one vodka, vermouth, lemon juice, lavender, and prosecco.  Okay, honestly best drink I've had.  Not only did it have a flower floating in it, but it tasted unbelievable.  I hate sweet drinks, so I was happy to discover that this was not too sweet at all. If go to Cava, order this drink ASAP.

My mouth is watering just looking at this. I need to recreate these immediately.

When you're seated at your table the waiter kindly brings over fresh pita, olive oil, olives and harissa (Tunisian hot chili pepper paste ).  I LOVE the harissa but if you're not into spicy dips, avoid this one.  I also love the addition of olives!

A great way to start the meal - warning though, it's easy to fill up on the pita!

For dinner we started out with my favorite appetizer, the dip tasting.  It comes with hummus, tzatziki, roasted eggplant, skordalia, crazy feta,  grape leaves, more pita to dip, and sliced cucumbers.  My favs are the grape leaves, hummus and roasted eggplant - so good! 

I want this every night to start my meal!

After licking the plate clean (not literally BUT it appeared that way because the plate was empty after) we order the next round.  PR went with the very popular lollipop chicken and I went with the rocket salad.  Here's the best part about both of our dishes: PR's chicken is deliciously fried and set atop a mixture of greek yogurt and honey; mine is filled with arugula, poached pears, pistachios, and feta.  The combinations that made up both of our dishes was divine.

Arugula is my fav type of lettuce!

I love how the lollipop chicken are plated

For the final order we went with the Kokkinisto.  Have you traveled to Canada and tried poutine?  It's basically the greek version of poutine.  It's fries with feta and shredded beef coated in a tomato, cinnamon, and burgundy sauce on top.  Sounds so weird,but it's actually one of my favorites now.  I tried the fries, and I tried the sauce and I would definitely eat that combo again!

Maybe fries do make everything better

Thank you Cava for hosting a lovely Valentine's Day dinner!