The latest restaurant from the founders of the Cava eatery chain will be Bouboulina, a modern steakhouse with Greek influences that’s set to open this fall in North Bethesda’s Pike & Rose development, according to Cava co-founder and chief concept officer Ted Xenohristos.
Bouboulina, which be located at 915 Meeting St., will be the restaurant group’s fifth full-service restaurant in Montgomery County.
Named after Laskarina Bouboulina, a Greek female naval commander in the Greek War of Independence in 1821, the restaurant will be a modern steakhouse that takes inspiration from Greek and Mediterranean culture and flavors, Xenohristos told MoCo360 Wednesday.
“In everything that we do, we go into our roots and we look at our heritage, and we draw inspiration from that. … We always go back to Greece, where our parents were born and raised and came from and emigrated to this country,” said Xenohristos, who lives in Rockville.
Xenohristos is opening the restaurant alongside Cava founders Ike Grigoropoulos, director of culinary excellence at Cava, and Dimitri Moshovitis, executive chef for the full-service restaurant group. The three men grew up in the county.
The trio own and operate Cava Mezze restaurants in Rockville and Olney and the Pike & Rose eateries Julii and Melina–which offers a cocktail named after Bouboulina and has a painting of the commander in its dining room.
Cava’s first fast-casual eatery opened on Bethesda Row in 2011, according to Bethesda Magazine. Thirteen years later the company is valued at more than $6 billion and has 341 Cava restaurants across the country.
According to Xenohristos, Bouboulina won’t be a typical steakhouse “with 30 different kinds of steaks” on the menu.
“We’ll have a select few cuts of meat that we really love and then we’ll bring in some pork, some lamb, some fish, we’ll bring in lots of different kinds of proteins,” he said.
Bouboulina’s chefs will also lean on Mediterranean flavors and spices at Bouboulina, using Aleppo pepper, sumac, Za’atar, oregano and sundried tomato powder in their dishes, Xenohristos said.
He said he is especially excited about the restaurant’s wood- and charcoal-fired grill and oven from Spain that will be used to cook meats, vegetables and other ingredients.
As patrons enter the restaurant–which will be split into a “light” and relaxing lounge for drinks and a darker and “moody” dining room–they will walk by the ovens to see and smell the food being cooked, Xenohristos said.
“We’re really proud of [the ovens]. We think that’s what will differentiate our food from others,” Xenohristos said, noting the smoky flavors that can be achieved from cooking on a charcoal or wood-fired grill.
He said the restaurant is in the early stages of construction and the founders are aiming for opening in October or November.
“We’re really excited,” Xenohristos said. “Obviously, our focus is on expanding our Cava restaurants, but we really, really love doing these full-service restaurants … and doing them in the place we all grew up in, the county that we all went to high school in.”
Xenohristos said it was special for the trio to build the restaurants and share them with family and friends but also people who have supported the restaurant group and Cava over the years.
“Bouboulina will just be an extension of what we do at Cava and Melina and Julii,” Xenohristos said.