Mtskheta Restaurant

Brooklyn Georgian Restaurant Mtskheta Cafe Is a Restaurant Robert Sietsema Usually Keeps a Secret | Eater NY

"For the last decade, one of those places for me has been Mtskheta Cafe in Gravesend, Brooklyn, named after an ancient town and housed in an intimate space made to look like a partly finished basement with a stone fireplace whose mantle is lined with bottles of Georgian wine. The restaurant, run by two Georgian-born chefs, Nana Naghradze and Kate Wheeler (who is also a part owner), serves the sort of cold composed salads dressed with walnut sauce, garlicky chicken tabaka, herb-laced stews, and especially khachapuri that helped spark interest in Georgian food. Their khachapuri is eggless but brilliant: Imeruli cheese pressed between two thin layers of dough, cut into quarters so the salty cheese oozes; I advise springing for an $8 bowl of classic walnut sauce, bazhe. Khinkali (six for $10) are large, steamed Georgian dumplings filled with ground meat; mchadi ($4) are hot white masa cakes; the chicken tabaka is tender and crisp-skinned though a little low on garlic. Charcoal kebabs are satisfying — order the lamb ($8) for the smokiest, fattiest option — and the young potato with garlic ($10), a giant plate of small red potatoes boiled skin-on, deep-fried, and strewn with garlic and parsley, is revelatory for garlic lovers. Supposedly famous for its Napoleon pastry (which I haven’t tried because I’m always too full), the place also offers a nice, not-too-sweet bottle of Georgian wine for $22; overall it’s very price-friendly and blessedly quiet." - Robert Sietsema