COURTESY CHAMAMAMANYC/INSTAGRAM
Eats
Adjabsandali, which includes eggplant with
tomato, mixed peppers and purple basil.
Georgian on my
mind in Chelsea
BY GABE HERMAN
A new Georgian
restaurant in the
Village boasts a
wide variety of dishes
from the Eurasian country
and has been getting
good reviews since it
opened this spring.
Chama Mama opened
in March at 149 W. 14th
St., between Sixth and
Seventh Aves., after signing
a 10-year lease for the
space.
The restaurant touts
its “classic Georgian cuisine
with a modern spin,”
including three foundational
“ingredients.” One
is called tone, which is a
large clay oven, custom
built in this location, for
baking daily bread.
The second key element
is khachapuri, a
cheese bread that is part
of traditional Georgian
cuisine. Two of the signature
types of the bread
are lobiani, which includes
kidney beans slow
cooked with smoked
pork, and adjarui, with
cheese and egg.
The third key is qvevri,
an egg-shaped clay pot
for making and storing
wine.
The menu features fi ve
kinds of the khachapuri
cheese bread, ranging
from $13 to $15. “Small
Cold Plates” on the menu
include stuffed eggplant,
stuffed sweet red peppers,
gebjalia (handmade
cheese rolled with yogurt
and mint), and adjabsandali
(eggplant stew with
tomato, mixed peppers
and purple basil).
Small hot plates, from
$10 to $13, include lambstuffed
grape leaves, a
bean stew called lobio,
roasted wild mushrooms,
and house-made dumplings
called khinkali, with
fi llings, such as cheeses,
nuts and meats.
Larger “shared plates”
feature meats, such as
game hen, braised lamb,
braised beef short ribs,
and a beef and pork dish.
Chama Mama gets
good reviews, averaging
four-and-a-half stars out
of fi ve on Yelp. While
some noted the small
space can get crowded,
the food gets high marks.
“Everything was extremely
delicious and the
bread was so soft and
yummy, it literally felt
like it was melting in our
mouths,” one diner wrote
in July. “I could literally
eat all of their dishes daily
because of how fresh,
fi lling and fl avorful it
was. The honey cake was
absolutely perfection and
tasted like tiramisu and
baklava in one.”
Other desserts include
Easter cheesecake, a parfait
with cottage cheese,
and cream cheese with
dried fruits and almonds,
plus Death By Chocolate,
with chocolate, chestnuts
and citrus sauce.
For more information,
visit chamamama.com.
Chelsea: 242 West 23RD
Fordham (Little Italy)
Lenox Hill
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF LOCATIONS AND HOURS, GO TO NECB.COM
20 August 22, 2019 TVG Schneps Media
/chamamama.com
/NECB.COM