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A round bread with two opposing bread handles and cheese and an uncooked egg yolk in a pool in the middle.
Adjaruli khachapuri, shown here at Chito Gvrito, first kindled our interest in Georgian food.
Robert Sietsema/Eater

11 Great Places to Find Georgian Food in NYC

Beyond khachapuri and kebabs, where to find the city’s leading Georgian menus

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Adjaruli khachapuri, shown here at Chito Gvrito, first kindled our interest in Georgian food.
| Robert Sietsema/Eater

Crisp-skinned chicken tabaka that’s smashed flat and carpeted with garlic has long been a feature of Russian menus around town, as have the charcoal kebabs called mtsvadi or shaslik, and khinkali — bulging, purse-shaped dumplings teeming with lamb, pork, cheese, or potatoes. All three come from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, but it wasn’t until more recently that restaurants exclusively dedicated to Georgian food began to appear in New York, first in Brighton Beach, but later in Bensonhurst, Midwood. Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Murray Hill, and the Upper East Side.

These newer Georgian places, which burgeoned after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, introduced New Yorkers to a dozen more key dishes. But none could quite match our growing affection for khachapuri, a unique bread boat with handles, molten cheese, an egg yolk, and butter in its reservoir — all meant to be stirred before eating. And soon other dishes like walnut-sauced cold vegetables, kebabs cooked over charcoal, several sorts of beans, cornbread, and stews fragrant with fresh herbs become favorites, too.

Many of the early Brighton Beach pioneers like Kavkaz and Georgia 21 are long closed, but here are nearly a dozen great places to relish Georgian cuisine today.

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Oda House

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Oda House, a sort of Georgian pub, first opened on Avenue B in 2013. The original has since closed, but its still-open Upper East Side offspring is even better — and the bigger, brick-walled, and extensively decorated space mounts a menu with more items and a longer Georgian wine list. Three types of khachapuri are offered, as well as many hot and cold apps doubling as drinking snacks, and entrees that run to kebabs and herb-laced stews of lamb, beef, and chicken.

A tube of bread with ground meat inside.
Lula kebab comes wrapped in flatbread.
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Chama Mama

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Chelsea’s Chama Mama has the city’s best Georgian wine list, highlighting some very dry examples in addition to the semi-sweet bottles many fear (don’t fear them, sweet wine is becoming more appreciated lately). Breads and khachapuri fly from a domed oven in a glassed-in bakery that forms the heart of the dining room, and the usual kebabs and casseroles are available.

A teal bowl filled with red bean stew next to a white plate with an assortment of fermented vegetables arranged on it.
Lobio, a red bean stew, with pickled vegetables
Erika Adams/Eater

Chito Gvrito

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Georgia is justly famous for its lamb, chicken, and beef stews, many of them rife with fresh herbs and some showing Turkish, Persian, and other Middle Eastern influences. Lamb chakapuli, for example, is green with tarragon, coriander, and dill, giving the stew a grassy and licoricey taste. This Gramercy Park restaurant, which debuted during the pandemic, also excels at several cheesy versions of khachapuri, and a dish of chicken simmered in garlic-laced milk called shkmeruli.

Slivers of lamb and dark green herbs in a white bowl.
Lamb chakapuli
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Cafe Delia

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This small Georgian bakery and cafe in Greenwich Village concentrates on pastries — some savory, some sweet — and hot dishes, and offers some unique forms of khachapuri. Among the latter are penovani khachapuri, a flaky cheese turnover that varies in shape depending on the region. The khinkali here are thick-skinned and stuffed with pork and beef, and at room temperature, they make fine picnic fare. Plenty of sweets and cookies are also for sale, and counter seating is available.

Three dumplings in a round plastic container and three brown, flaky. triangular pies in the background.
Beef-pork khinkhali and penovani khachapuri
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Old Tbilisi Garden

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An unexpected addition to the hubbub that is Bleecker Street, Old Tblisi Garden, which name-checks the capital of Georgia, opened in 2014. There’s a small but picturesque back garden with a waterfall, and walls decorated with modern Georgian paintings. The setting is elegant and the menu expansive, highlighting cheese khinkali, bazhe (chicken with walnut sauce), chakapuli (veal tarragon stew), and megruli kuchmachi (a hash of veal liver, heart, and kidneys served with corn grits).

A bowl of stew with another of white cornmeal grits on the side.
Megruli kuchmachi with hominy grits
Daniel Krieger

Cheeseboat

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Well, it was inevitable that a restaurant would focus on khachapuri, and that restaurant is Williamsburg’s Cheeseboat. It spins off a dozen variations on the classic adjaruli khachapuri, including ones in which the molten cheese is supplemented with prosciutto, bacon, mushrooms, meatballs, and even macaroni. A full Georgian menu is available, with some dishes modernized and at least one featuring quinoa.

Cheeseboat’s khachapuri with prosciutto
Adjaruli khachapuri with prosciutto
Cheeseboat [official photo]

Georgian Dream

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The newer Georgian restaurants to open outside of Brighton Beach, including this Bay Ridge place, tend to be more slick with fewer traditional Russian influences. For instance, the charcoal grilled kebabs are a specialty here, including a magnificent pork skewer that comes wrapped in a flatbread dusted with sumac, but the cold composed vegetable salads laced with walnut paste, dubbed pkhali, are equally as good — and there’s nothing better on a warm summer day.

Eggplant salad and assorted pkhali
Pkhali
A.E. Davis/Eater

Mtskheta Cafe

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Gravesend’s Mtskheta Cafe, right at the corner of 86th Street near Stillwell Avenue on the way to Coney Island, is named after a town in Georgia that dates to the Bronze Age. The interior resembles a dukani, a country tavern and a very nice place to spend an afternoon or evening. The khinkali are particularly good and filled with juice; the kharcho soup teeming with meat, rice, and vegetables; the round cornbread machadi made with white cornmeal; and the khachapuri stuffed with imeruli cheese that oozes out the moment it’s cut in wedges and served.

A round bread cut in quarters oozes white cheese.
Imeruli khachapuri
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Toné Café

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This small cafe off the beaten path in Brighton Beach in the former home of the bakery Georgian Bread is a great place to dash in for a quick bite, though more elaborate, sit-down meals are also available. While pastries and stuffed breads are a specialty, Toné also provides complete main courses, including chicken satsivi, which features boneless cuts of poultry covered in a thick walnut sauce — perfect to pair with one of the Georgian wines.

A pair of flaky pastries on a paper plate.
Georgian pastries
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Georgian House

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Located on a side street, Georgian House is one of the city’s most elegant restaurants of its type, with exposed brick, formal place settings, and hanging chandeliers. All of these touches are ironic, especially after a recent visit when the establishment was more for carryout than dining indoors. The chicken tabaka is spectacular, with the crispest skin imaginable, the walnut-studded vegetable dishes called pkhali abundantly served and creatively plated, and lamb, pork, and chicken kebabs come with great fries.

A beautiful bowl of fried chicken with a metal boat of sour plum sauce on the side.
Chicken tabaka with tkemali sauce
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Berikoni

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Though the central function of Berikoni Brick Oven Bread — as the longest of its several names reads — is baking multiple types of Georgian bread, it offers a fulsome menu of vegetable apps, khinkali, khachapuri (typically, six varieties, including the meat-stuffed kubdari), and hot dishes that run to chicken tabaka, stuffed grape leaves, and lamb chakabili. Plan on carrying out, because there are only two seats in this busy space.

Lamb stuffed flatbread.
Kubdari
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Oda House

Oda House, a sort of Georgian pub, first opened on Avenue B in 2013. The original has since closed, but its still-open Upper East Side offspring is even better — and the bigger, brick-walled, and extensively decorated space mounts a menu with more items and a longer Georgian wine list. Three types of khachapuri are offered, as well as many hot and cold apps doubling as drinking snacks, and entrees that run to kebabs and herb-laced stews of lamb, beef, and chicken.

A tube of bread with ground meat inside.
Lula kebab comes wrapped in flatbread.
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Chama Mama

Chelsea’s Chama Mama has the city’s best Georgian wine list, highlighting some very dry examples in addition to the semi-sweet bottles many fear (don’t fear them, sweet wine is becoming more appreciated lately). Breads and khachapuri fly from a domed oven in a glassed-in bakery that forms the heart of the dining room, and the usual kebabs and casseroles are available.

A teal bowl filled with red bean stew next to a white plate with an assortment of fermented vegetables arranged on it.
Lobio, a red bean stew, with pickled vegetables
Erika Adams/Eater

Chito Gvrito

Georgia is justly famous for its lamb, chicken, and beef stews, many of them rife with fresh herbs and some showing Turkish, Persian, and other Middle Eastern influences. Lamb chakapuli, for example, is green with tarragon, coriander, and dill, giving the stew a grassy and licoricey taste. This Gramercy Park restaurant, which debuted during the pandemic, also excels at several cheesy versions of khachapuri, and a dish of chicken simmered in garlic-laced milk called shkmeruli.

Slivers of lamb and dark green herbs in a white bowl.
Lamb chakapuli
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Cafe Delia

This small Georgian bakery and cafe in Greenwich Village concentrates on pastries — some savory, some sweet — and hot dishes, and offers some unique forms of khachapuri. Among the latter are penovani khachapuri, a flaky cheese turnover that varies in shape depending on the region. The khinkali here are thick-skinned and stuffed with pork and beef, and at room temperature, they make fine picnic fare. Plenty of sweets and cookies are also for sale, and counter seating is available.

Three dumplings in a round plastic container and three brown, flaky. triangular pies in the background.
Beef-pork khinkhali and penovani khachapuri
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Old Tbilisi Garden

An unexpected addition to the hubbub that is Bleecker Street, Old Tblisi Garden, which name-checks the capital of Georgia, opened in 2014. There’s a small but picturesque back garden with a waterfall, and walls decorated with modern Georgian paintings. The setting is elegant and the menu expansive, highlighting cheese khinkali, bazhe (chicken with walnut sauce), chakapuli (veal tarragon stew), and megruli kuchmachi (a hash of veal liver, heart, and kidneys served with corn grits).

A bowl of stew with another of white cornmeal grits on the side.
Megruli kuchmachi with hominy grits
Daniel Krieger

Cheeseboat

Well, it was inevitable that a restaurant would focus on khachapuri, and that restaurant is Williamsburg’s Cheeseboat. It spins off a dozen variations on the classic adjaruli khachapuri, including ones in which the molten cheese is supplemented with prosciutto, bacon, mushrooms, meatballs, and even macaroni. A full Georgian menu is available, with some dishes modernized and at least one featuring quinoa.

Cheeseboat’s khachapuri with prosciutto
Adjaruli khachapuri with prosciutto
Cheeseboat [official photo]

Georgian Dream

The newer Georgian restaurants to open outside of Brighton Beach, including this Bay Ridge place, tend to be more slick with fewer traditional Russian influences. For instance, the charcoal grilled kebabs are a specialty here, including a magnificent pork skewer that comes wrapped in a flatbread dusted with sumac, but the cold composed vegetable salads laced with walnut paste, dubbed pkhali, are equally as good — and there’s nothing better on a warm summer day.

Eggplant salad and assorted pkhali
Pkhali
A.E. Davis/Eater

Mtskheta Cafe

Gravesend’s Mtskheta Cafe, right at the corner of 86th Street near Stillwell Avenue on the way to Coney Island, is named after a town in Georgia that dates to the Bronze Age. The interior resembles a dukani, a country tavern and a very nice place to spend an afternoon or evening. The khinkali are particularly good and filled with juice; the kharcho soup teeming with meat, rice, and vegetables; the round cornbread machadi made with white cornmeal; and the khachapuri stuffed with imeruli cheese that oozes out the moment it’s cut in wedges and served.

A round bread cut in quarters oozes white cheese.
Imeruli khachapuri
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Toné Café

This small cafe off the beaten path in Brighton Beach in the former home of the bakery Georgian Bread is a great place to dash in for a quick bite, though more elaborate, sit-down meals are also available. While pastries and stuffed breads are a specialty, Toné also provides complete main courses, including chicken satsivi, which features boneless cuts of poultry covered in a thick walnut sauce — perfect to pair with one of the Georgian wines.

A pair of flaky pastries on a paper plate.
Georgian pastries
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Georgian House

Located on a side street, Georgian House is one of the city’s most elegant restaurants of its type, with exposed brick, formal place settings, and hanging chandeliers. All of these touches are ironic, especially after a recent visit when the establishment was more for carryout than dining indoors. The chicken tabaka is spectacular, with the crispest skin imaginable, the walnut-studded vegetable dishes called pkhali abundantly served and creatively plated, and lamb, pork, and chicken kebabs come with great fries.

A beautiful bowl of fried chicken with a metal boat of sour plum sauce on the side.
Chicken tabaka with tkemali sauce
Robert Sietsema/Eater

Berikoni

Though the central function of Berikoni Brick Oven Bread — as the longest of its several names reads — is baking multiple types of Georgian bread, it offers a fulsome menu of vegetable apps, khinkali, khachapuri (typically, six varieties, including the meat-stuffed kubdari), and hot dishes that run to chicken tabaka, stuffed grape leaves, and lamb chakabili. Plan on carrying out, because there are only two seats in this busy space.

Lamb stuffed flatbread.
Kubdari
Robert Sietsema/Eater

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