News & Events

Happy Hour

Join us for our new & improved happy hour! Featuring new food specials & drinks, now 5pm to close Sunday thru Thursday and 5pm to 8pm on Friday & Saturday.

Kapnos wins for Cocktail Program of the Year

Come join us for a drink.

All You Can Eat Brunch

We already had you covered on bottomless mimosas, but did you know we now offer bottomless food? Every Saturday 11am – 3pm & Sunday 11am – 4pm, join us for extended beverage options including Greek sangria, as well as your choice of unlimited bites from our brunch menu.

The Restaurant

Kapnos

Chef Mike Isabella opened Kapnos along the Fourteenth Street Corridor in July 2013. Isabella draws inspiration from travels in Greece to create a menu of spreads, breads, vegetables and other small plates, including his signature wood-grilled octopus.

Two wood-fire grills with rotating spits and a large oven for stone-baked flat breads service the 160-seat restaurant. Guests enjoy carvings from whole animals that have been spit-roasted all day, including lamb, goat, duck, chicken, and suckling pig.

Kapnos is open for dinner seven nights a week in addition to brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

Executive Chef

George Pagonis

George Pagonis is executive chef and partner at Kapnos, Kapnos Taverna and Kapnos Kouzina. At Kapnos, George helped put mainland Greek cuisine, including daily whole animal roasting, on the map in the nation’s capital when it opened in 2013. He competed on season 12 of the hit Bravo TV series Top Chef.

Before opening Kapnos, Chef George served as chef de cuisine at Mike Isabella’s Italian-inspired flagship, Graffiato, also in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining Graffiato, Chef George cooked at Aureole in New York under Christophe Bellanca and Marcus Ware. Before that, the fluent Greek-speaker worked at Jose Andres’ Zaytinya, where he first cooked under Mike Isabella. His first tour of duty in a fine dining kitchen was at New York’s Le Cirque. Chef George attended the University of Mary Washington, and though he followed that up with a degree from the Culinary Institute of America, he first earned his kitchen stripes at The Four Seasons, an Alexandria, Va. Greek diner owned by his father.

Meet the Team

Chef/Owner

Mike Isabella

Mike Isabella is a Washington, D.C.-based chef and restaurateur, honored in 2016 by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington as Restaurateur of the Year. In 2011, Isabella opened Graffiato to critical acclaim. Isabella now has more than a dozen restaurants in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia with additional outposts in National Airport. His newest and largest project is a food emporium in Fairfax, Virginia. Isabella Eatery is an unprecedented nine-concept dining experience spanning 41,000 square feet in Tysons Galleria, a luxury retail outlet in Northern Virginia.

In 2012, Isabella was named FOOD & WINE magazine’s The People’s Best New Chef Mid-Atlantic. Mike Isabella’s Crazy Good Italian is his first cookbook, also published in 2012.

Outside the kitchen, Isabella was a judge on “Man vs. Child: Chef Showdown” on FYI. Previously, he competed on Season Six of Top Chef, and Top Chef Duels, and he was the runner-up on Top Chef All-Stars. He was also a member of the American Chef Corps, a network of chefs from across the United States who serve as culinary diplomats and resources to the Department of State.

Before opening Graffiato, Isabella was the executive chef of José Andrés’ Zaytinya. During his three-year tenure, Isabella generated accolades and national attention for Washington, D.C.’s Mediterranean powerhouse restaurant.

Before settling in D.C., Isabella moved to Atlanta and found his culinary niche when he joined Buckhead Life Group’s top-notch Greek restaurant, Kyma. As chef de cuisine of the seafood-inspired menu, Isabella learned the flavors and techniques of Greek cooking.

Isabella’s formal training began at The Restaurant School in New York, taking classes and cooking his way through some of New York City’s finest establishments. Later, he traveled down the coast to Philadelphia, first as a sous chef for James Beard award winner Douglas Rodriguez at Alma de Cuba, then a host of other Stephen Starr restaurants. At El Vez, Isabella learned the true craft of Latin cuisine under the direction of Jose Garces, and as executive sous chef of Marcus Samuelsson’s Washington Square, where Isabella educated himself on the art of opening a fine dining establishment.

Recent Press

Meet the rest of the Kapnos Family

Kapnos Taverna

Kapnos Taverna, a sister restaurant to Mike Isabella’s Kapnos, features more of a coastal look at Greek cuisine alongside some of the biggest hits from his modern ode to mainland and northern Greece. A second location is open in Ronald Reagan National Airport, and a third outpost will open in College Park, Maryland in 2017.

Kapnos Kouzina

Chef Isabella’s third Greek concept features home-style Greek cuisine with a focus on rustic dishes and sharable platters. Kouzina, Greek for kitchen, has a casual ambiance fitting to its name. The Bethesda location is Isabella’s first Maryland restaurant.

Kapnos Marketa

This marketplace will offer house-made Greek staples and spit-roasted meat for take-home dining only. Greek spreads and specialty items like taramasalata, melitzanosalata, dolmades, salads and phyllo pies, will be wrapped and available to-go, along with lamb, pork, and chicken sold by the pound.