Georgian food isn’t something I’m very familiar with, but when a neighbor asked if I wanted to grab dinner in the garden of Chama Mama down the street where they serve that cuisine, I said, “Sure.”

I started with the mint chacha cocktail made with their grape vodka ($15). Interesting, yet a tad too sweet for my tastes.


We ordered the wild green ekala ($10) as a small plate with the Loblani ($15), one of their famous breads. (That wild prickly green is used in the cuisine of the Imereti region of Georgia.) It came chopped in a paste of walnuts and garlic with pomegranate arils mixed in and served with a hockey-puck shaped and textured cornbread. Not something that I’d recommend, although glad I sampled it.

The Loblani’s signature dough comes filled with mashed beans crying out for seasoning. We requested some adjika — their chilies and garlic hot sauce — that made the bread palatable.

If you go, don’t miss the roasted blend of wild mushrooms ($13) containing cremini, oyster, shitake and some white button mushrooms along with roasted sweet red bell pepper. That was my favorite.

My dining mate was still hungry, so we ordered their most classic bread. The Adjaruli ($15), Chama Mama’s open-faced signature dough from the Adjara Region that’s served hot, filled with a cheese blend that’s topped with an egg with a runny yolk. We opted for it without the extra butter. My dining partner first tossed the cheese and egg, then ripped off some of the crust to dip into the hot mixture.

As I sit here scratching the bug bites on my legs, I don’t recommend garden dining as lovely as it is. We had even used the bug repellant they had on hand to no avail. Pavement will be my preferred dining at dusk.

Chama Mama
Chelsea
149 West 14th Street
(Near Seventh Avenue)
646-438-9007
chamamama.com