As you can see, it was impossible to get a photo without hands in the photo, so anticipated was this dish. While purists might contend that it should be a flatter bread and not such a well risen yeast bread, I personally thought it worked very well to have more bread to dip into the molten egg-cheese center. It was brought to our table piping hot from the oven on a wooden board, and the server mixed up the soft poached organic egg with the melted cheese: Our favorite, of course, was the Adjaruli Khachapuri. Delicious, and all of us loved the meat filling, although the dumpling skin is a bit thick (that said, it's supposed to be this way–this isn't dim sum). Ground black pepper is offered alongside, to add to taste. We were instructed to not use a fork and knife, and to instead pick them up with the top “stem” and eat them in such a way as to not lose the broth. Next to arrive were the Khinkali, for which we'd chosen the beef/pork, although lamb version and even a variant with cheese, mushrooms and potatoes are also offered. While the garlic proved to be too much for the munchkin, my husband and I had no trouble polishing off the pkhali. While it's admittedly been some time since I've had pkhali, these were as good as I ever remember tasting. From left to right are leek, eggplant, and spinach. The first appetizer to come out, not surprisingly, was the cold appetizer we orderd, the pkhali trio. The one dish I expected to see that wasn't there is Chicken Tabaka. The main dishes are primarily grilled or stewed Georgian meat dishes, although there's also pinto bean Lobio for vegetarians, and of course a salad and khachapuri makes a fine vegetarian meal. Here's the menu of soups, salads, appetizers and khachapuri: It would be easy to compose an entire meal of a few appetizers and a khachapuri, and I'd recommend this option as it enables you to sample more dishes. The appetizer part of the menu included pkhali, Georgian vegetable pates redolent of garlic and ground walnuts green bean Lobio Khinkali, plump meat and broth dumplings salads and soups, and very traditional starters such as Kuchmachi (chicken liver and gizzards mixed with ground walnuts, herbs and spices). While we only ordered the Adjaruli, which comes with an egg, I'll be back to try other varieties. Thanks to its Georgian chef, Maia Acquaviva (formerly the Executive Chef at upscale Russian restaurant Mari Vanna), Oda House menu offered almost all my favorites–most importantly, several different types of khachapuri, that quintessentially Georgian cheese bread made with deliciously melted Georgian sulguni cheese. This is not a fancy place–it's a cozy, convivial place, and some nights there's live Georgian music. By the time we left, around 7:30pm, about half the tables were seated, and there was a good mixture of Americans and Russians, most of them couples. We went early on a Friday night, since the munchkin was with us, so there were only a few tables already seated. The closest subway station is the F train's 2nd Avenue stop, or you can take the 15 Bus either down 2nd Avenue, if you're coming from uptown, or up 1st Avenue, if you're coming from further downtown. Oda House, which serves Georgian cuisine (Georgia as in the country, not the state) is on Avenue B, between 5th and 6th Streets, in the East Village. Visiting New York? See all of our posts tagged NYC. This Oda House Restaurant Review is one of our many NYC Restaurant Reviews.
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