FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JULY 6, 2017 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 65
dining out
Saturday, July 8, 2017: 1:00PM -8:00PM
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
CURATED BY JON BATISTE
WITH A FEATURED PERFORMANCE BY
JON BATISTE AND STAY HUMAN
VINCE GIORDANO & THE NIGHTHAWKS
MEMBERS OF THE DAP-KINGS
WITH FREESTYLE RAPPERS
DON FLAMINGO • AVENUE • KRIS KASANOVA
HAVANA ROOTS COLLECTIVE
����������������������������������������������������������������
��������������������������������������������������������������
For More Information & Tickets Visit Us At:
www.armstrongswonderfulworld.com
Upstairs, Downstairs at Marani
BY JOE DISTEFANO
You might think Marani is just another
kosher restaurant specializing in a cuisine
from the former Soviet Union. Aft er
all, there are at least a dozen Uzbek
restaurants in the neighborhood that
serve grilled lamb and beef shashlik on
fl at skewers. Marani also serves the lamb
kebabs, but it’s not an Uzbek eatery. It has
the distinction of being the only Georgian
restaurant in Queens.
What really sets this kosher restaurant
apart from others though is not
the food’s provenance, but the fact that
Marani is really two restaurants in one.
Downstairs the dairy kitchen specializes
in freshly made Georgian cheese pies
known as khachapuri. Th e most elaborate
dish, adjaruli khachapuri ($13) is
a shaped like an eye, the white a lake of
salty molten cheese with a pat of butter
for good measure, the pupil, the yolk of
a just cracked egg. Stir the egg and cheese
together, and tear of bits of the outer edge
to dip in the decadent cheesy lava. Wash
it all down with an electric green colored
tarragon soda.
Aft er laying down a nice base of khachapuri,
head upstairs to the non-dairy dining
room for such meat-based Georgian specialties
as khinkhali ($18), thick-skinned
dumplings fi lled with beef and lamb and
seasoned with khmeli suneli, a special spice
blend imported from Georgia. It contains
coriander, paprika, blue fenugreek and fragrant
marigold blossoms.
Owner Ana Epremashvili had tried
spice blends from Israel and India, but
insists that the best stuff comes from
Georgia. Th e Tbilisi-born Epremashvili
also has some advice on what she likes to
call Georgian soup dumplings. “If they’re
too hot to touch they’re too hot to eat,”
she says. “Wait until they cool off and
pick it up by the nipple and bite it, drink
the broth and eat the rest of it.”
Khinkhali are a very traditional
Georgian food as is chakapuli ($22), a
hearty lamb neck stew that takes about
eight hours to make. Scallion, parsley and
lots of tarragon temper the lamb’s gaminess
as does tkemali, sour green plum.
Th e plums are in season for only two
weeks a year, so the restaurant uses a bottled
version imported from Georgia.
Most cooking back home is done by
women, but not the preparation of chakapuli,
which is cooked by men. Leading
the feast is also the man’s job, especially
the drinking of wine from horns
known as khantsi. Th ose ram horns on
the wall of the dining room aren’t just for
show; they belonged to Epremashvili’s
father. Other traditional dishes include
harcho ($7.50), a tomato and pepper soup
made “with rice, lamb and love.” Starters
include adjapsandali ($12), slow-cooked
eggplants, with peppers and tomatoes
and satsivi ($16), sliced chicken in a rich
Georgian walnut sauce.
Th e upstairs kitchen also makes what
might be best thought of as a meat lover’s
khachapuri. Called simply adajaruli ($20),
like its cheesier downstairs cousin, it features,
beef, mushrooms, and of course
that most beloved of Georgian herbs, tarragon.
In lieu of butter, the adajaruli uses
margarine.
And somehow the upstairs kitchen
manages to pull of a non-dairy Napoleon
that is crunchy and sweet, a perfect ending
with a strong cup of Turkish coff ee.
Marani, 97-26 63rd Rd., Rego Park,
718-569-0600
Best Dishes: Adjaruli khachapuri ($13),
khinkhali ($18), chakapuli ($22), adjaruli
($20)
Tip: Most people in Georgia don’t
eat the chewy tops of the khinkhali; the
choice is up to you.
