Cava, or as people say Cava Grill is a chain of American Mediterranean fast-casual restaurants that spreads through the whole land. It is run by Cava Group, an openly traded company, that bought Zoe’s Kitchen for more than 300 millions of dollars in August 2018. The whole chain finds itself in a period of strong growth.

Here is what makes the origin story of Cava so attractive. In the year 2006, three friends from childhood chose to launch Cava Mezze. Ike Grigoropoulos, Ted Xenohristos and the chef Dimitri Moshovitis all grew up as first-generation Greek Americans with immigrant parents.

How Cava Grill Started and What It Serves

They had this vision: deliver the real Mediterranean flavors from their Greek origin to American eaters, but in a way that seemed modern and easily accessible. Right here was born the difference. Cava Mezze grew into full service restaurants, while Cava Grill basically became the Mediterranean match of Chipotle.

The menu twists around bowls, that you build yourself, together with salads and pitas. It builds on that settable assembly-line idea. At them you find five to six separate stations lined up along the counter, where you pick the toppings that you want in your bowl.

There is also an option for children, if you arrive with little ones, it includes half a serving of your main protein and grain, one side, one bread and up to three toppings.

Between the main ingredients you find grilled chicken, brown rice, tzatziki, hummus, feta, pickled onion, tomato and arugula with Greek dressing. You also find harissa-chicken, popped feta, red pepper-hummus, chips of pita, grilled corn, pickles and garlic bread. Also the spicy lamb roll in pita is worth keeping in mind.

All this leans to that Mediterranean style with fresh items and flavors, that truly fills the taste.

The grilled steaks have around 160 calories each serving and almost 1 gram of carbohydrates. About fat you count 8 grams, while the protein reaches 23 grams (very good amount for proteins). Even so warning: it stores a lot of sodium and cholesterol.

The method is notable, one starts by means of sous-vide cooking, later it hits the grill for some minutes on every side until internal temperature of 140 degrees. Later it gets sliced there way and seasoned. When you try it, the thickness of the steak shows, although it does not amaze you by itself.

Ordering at Cava could not be easier. The app of Cava allows pre-orders for contactless pickup, home delivery or drive-through, as you prefer. Also the web page works well.

If apps are not for you, Uber Eats and DoorDash take care of delivery from third parties. The app itself is very handy: you can set everything, filter by Nutrition needs, save your usual orders and earn prizes.

What truly separates Cava from Chipotle is the theme in servings. No one leaves feeling cheated by a weak bowl. They made info about allergens and Nutrition available through the app orweb page for anyone that needs that.