{"id":48547,"date":"2024-11-18T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=48547"},"modified":"2024-11-22T21:41:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-23T02:41:53","slug":"georgian-food-nyc-manhattan-khachapuri-chama-mama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/georgian-food-nyc-manhattan-khachapuri-chama-mama\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than Khachapuri: Explore Georgian Cuisine at this NYC Restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Come for khachapuri, but stay for everything else at Manhattan’s Chama Mama.<\/h4>\r\n
\"Nino<\/a>

Nino Chiokadze, the chef at Manhattan\u2019s Georgian restaurant Chama Mama, with the spot’s signature khachapuri.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If you\u2019re at all tuned into cheese media, you\u2019ve likely encountered mesmerizing images of khachapuri, a traditional Georgian bread bowl baked with a luscious filling of cheese. (Georgian, to be clear, as in the Republic of Georgia, not the southern US state\u2014no offense to pimento cheese.) Dotted with cubes of butter and an egg yolk and mixed tableside to create molten cheese ribbons, khachapuri \u201cputs on its own show,\u201d says Tamara Chubinidze, owner of Manhattan\u2019s Georgian restaurant Chama Mama. \u201cIt\u2019s very Instagrammable.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

She believes khachapuri is what brings people in the door for the first time, but once they\u2019re in, they\u2019re hooked by the vibrant and diverse flavors: everything from pickled flower buds known as jonjoli to sturdy and garlicky soup dumplings called khinkali. Georgian cuisine isn\u2019t a one-trick pony, and Chubinidze was determined to demonstrate its breadth with a sleek and contemporary setting that defied preconceptions about dining in a Caucasus-inspired restaurant. \u201cIt\u2019s like the Italians,\u201d she says. \u201cThey don\u2019t just have pizza,\u201d nor decor that is only characterized by red-checkered tablecloths.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"A<\/a>\r\n
The bar at Chama Mama is heavily stacked with Georgian gin and brandy, as well as Georgian grappa.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A love letter to Georgia, Chama Mama\u2019s name is more than just an approachable rhythm or rhyme scheme. It also speaks to Chubinidze\u2019s personal history. In Georgian, \u201cchama\u201d simply means \u201cto eat,\u201d Chubinidze explains. \u201cThis word is probably used in about 90 percent of all conversations,\u201d given that the culture is centered around food and feasting. \u201cMama,\u201d however, has a twist. \u201cIn Georgian, \u2018mama\u2019 ironically means \u2018father,\u2019\u201d she says, recognizing that internationally speaking, \u201cmama\u201d typically connotes mothers and grandmothers across a spectrum of languages.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Chubinidze\u2019s father brought her to the US when she was just a teenager. He worked a variety of jobs, eventually becoming an importer of Georgian foods that included various breads, cheeses, and tkemali: a dynamic, sweet-and-sour sauce made from preserved green plums that\u2019s used on everything from beets to meats.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Roasted<\/a>\r\n
Roasted beets in tkemali with farmer\u2019s cheese.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When she was a young woman, Chubinidze didn\u2019t foresee a life in restaurants, but it was this access to traditional foods from her homeland, combined with a passion for wanting to share them, that eventually inspired her to open Chama Mama in 2016. Her father was able to import many native ingredients through his business and became her wish-granting \u201cgolden fish,\u201d a reference to a Russian fable about a fish who grants wishes to the fisherman who caught it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Georgia is located along the historic Silk Road, and as a result, various non-indigenous ingredients and techniques passed through the country, which Georgians made their own. In Georgian culture, food is synonymous with love, so everything is made from scratch. Rich and savory ingredients such as walnuts and mushrooms are prominently featured, yet bright components such as tarragon, cilantro, and pomegranate seeds also appear in Georgian cuisine. Cheese often plays a starring role, not only in the Instagrammable khachapuri dish, but also in recipes highlighting fresh and creamy farmer\u2019s cheese, as well as salty and smoky pasta filata\u2013style cheeses eaten alongside various breads and spreads.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As for seeking out your own taste of Georgia, Chubinidze says, \u201cCome for the khachapuri, stay for everything else.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re at all tuned into cheese media, you\u2019ve likely encountered mesmerizing images of khachapuri, a traditional Georgian bread bowl baked with a luscious filling of cheese. Dotted with cubes of butter and an egg yolk and mixed tableside to create molten cheese ribbons, khachapuri \u201cputs on its own show,\u201d says Tamara Chubinidze, owner of Manhattan\u2019s Georgian restaurant Chama Mama. \u201cIt\u2019s very Instagrammable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":48548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"coauthors":[34547],"class_list":["post-48547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMore Than Khachapuri: Explore Georgian Cuisine at this NYC Restaurant - culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/georgian-food-nyc-manhattan-khachapuri-chama-mama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"More Than Khachapuri: Explore Georgian Cuisine at this NYC Restaurant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you\u2019re at all tuned into cheese media, you\u2019ve likely encountered mesmerizing images of khachapuri, a traditional Georgian bread bowl baked with a luscious filling of cheese. 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