The newly opened Melina in North Bethesda and fast casual chain Cava may have similar DNA, but they present very differently. Both are Greek and share the same co-founders: Dimitri Moshovitis, Ted Xenohristos, and Ike Grigoropoulos. While the former is known for its build-a-bowl approach at roughly 135 locations around the country, the trio’s new stand-alone venture offers a more refined, boundary-pushing vision of Greek cuisine.
“This is something we’ve never done,” says Xenohristos. “This is on another level. This showcases Greece’s generosity, hospitality, and the elevated, natural ingredients they work with.”
Hidden away in the Pike & Rose development, Melina is just an olive’s throw from their French-Mediterranean bistro, Julii, close to their original Cava Mezze in Rockville, and short drives to half a dozen Cava locations. The concentration of restaurants is natural; the co-founders all grew up in Montgomery County, the children of Greek immigrants who taught them Greek, cooked their native foods, and took them back to their homeland frequently. “We grew up very Greek,” says Xenohristos. “I didn’t have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich until I went to college.”
Named for Moshovitis’s daughter, Melina is derived from the Greek word for “honey.” The restaurant takes its wider inspiration from some of the most influential women in the co-founders’ lives. “It’s an ode to the matriarchy,” says Xenohristos. “Our moms were these strong, powerful figures in our lives who also worked in restaurants, and then also had time to make us dinner, take us to school, and walk us to the bus stop.”
The co-founders are bringing their vision to life with the help of chef Ari Tsekouras, who came into the picture thanks to Instagram. He moved to the States from Greece in 2016 to open Vasili’s Kitchen in Gaithersburg, but the pandemic put him out of a job. Turning to his longtime passion for sourdough bread baking, he began selling loaves and posting photos. Moshovitis found them while doom scrolling, liked what he saw, ordered a few, and got hooked. After a Zoom interview, Tsekouras came on board as a partner.
“It was the ideal time,” says Tsekouras. “He had in his mind what I had in my mind for a restaurant. We need to show people that Greek food isn’t just moussaka, baklava, and pastitsio.”
From the opening dishes onwards, the departure from the Greek canon is apparent. Order the roasted beets and you’ll be presented with a garden pot sprouting miniature basil leaves from a soil made from a savory mixture of crumbled carob and smoked walnuts. Dig in to reveal vibrant purple beets tossed with beet blackberry vinaigrette and yogurt.
As Tsekouras puts it, “The carrots look simple, but the dish has a lot of stuff behind it.” He isn’t exaggerating. Roasted heirloom carrots come dressed in carrot vinaigrette with ginger and oranges, as well as oil infused with the root vegetable’s green shoots. Filling out the picturesque plate: carrot puree, smoked whipped manouri cheese, granola crumbles, and a trio of pickles – mustard seeds, raisins, and carrots.
Soft pink slips of cured hamachi sidle up alongside a smoked taramasalata cream made with fish roe and black garlic. There’s an acidic zing from citrus-chili dressing, as well as slivers of grapefruit and orange. For a little crunch, puffed farro, black rice, and quinoa are scattered across it.
Slow-cooked lamb neck arrives swaddled in parchment paper with chunks of parmesan-like kefalograviera cheese and roasted peppers. There is an array of fixin’s: ginger and mint-laced tzatziki, crispy potatoes, pickled onions, sourdough pita. The idea is to gather up the components to make miniature souvlaki.
Of course, Tsekouras’ attention-grabbing breadmaking is on display. The bread basket showcases rotating boules – including sourdough whole wheat and sourdough punctuated with lemon and thyme-marinated olives – and some dishes come with Greek classics, such as lagana (a flatbread), focaccia-like ladenia, and sesame seed-dotted koulouri thessalonikis, which is reminiscent of a bagel.
The beverage program maintains an allegiance to Greece. The wine list is ruled by Greek varietals, including a few made by female wine makers, while cocktails are laced with Greek ingredients – from mountain tea to mastiha, a piney flavored liqueur. Greek coffee is made with an imported Arzum Okka machine, which brews the grounds with sugar into an espresso-sized blue and white ceramic cup with the phrase “We are happy to serve you,” mimicking an old-school Grecian-style paper cup from a New York City bodega.
With a high ceiling, lots of honeyed woods, and white walls, the space comes alive with natural touches evoking Greece: Hanging knotted ropes represent the fishing culture, marble counters nod to the country’s iconic monuments, and a lifelike model of a koroneiki olive tree sprouts at the center. “We wanted to bring the elements of a taverna on the water without creating it again, because you’ve seen that design a million times,” says Xenohristos.
Conceiving and building out Melina during the pandemic was challenging, as materials and specialized contractors were in short supply. It couldn’t have been more different than debuting a new location of Cava.
“We have hundreds of people rolling those stores out,” says Xenohristos. “We have a development team, an operations team, a culinary team, and a marketing team. You’re stamping those out. You’re always improving on what you have, but those changes are minimal, so you don’t affect the constant rollout of stores. When it comes to something like Melina, there’s no process. It’s all very loose.”
Melina is located at 905 Rose Ave., North Bethesda, Md. Open Sunday-Thursday 5 p.m.-9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 p.m.-10 p.m.
