Yerevan Market and Cafe in Adams Morgan

I was excited (and a bit wary) to learn of this new place in AdMo featuring Armenian food. I ate like a king on my recent trip to Armenia, and there are very few places anywhere that highlight the cuisine.

The first thing to know is that this is a very modest enterprise. It's about the third of the size of a Starbucks and I imagine with no more of a kitchen. Half of that space is a market for Armenian goods. The menu is mostly coffee and pastries, some salads kept in a refrigerated case, and three cooked items.

The limitations are mostly in its favor.

I tried three items from the case, and they were all very good and spot on for the cuisine. A lentil salad had walnuts and dried apricots. The olivieh salad was nice with a touch of sour cream. And the stuffed grape leaves had a nice vegetarian mixture with a faint sweetness of fruit and hearty grains. These are probably best enjoyed at room temperature brought back to your place, but they fared pretty well right form the case. High marks all around.

We also got the mini kufta, quite moist on the inside. Very well executed. The lahmajeune was small and tasted like all the others I've had, not very interesting.

The market section has some unique selections (aveluk, which is wild horse sorrel, braided and dried), and the tiny place attracted quite a few people, more than they could hold.