Review: Georgian Cuisine Shines in Parma Heights

After our dinner reservation at a Chagrin Falls restaurant was scuttled because of a power outage, we scrambled to find a last-minute substitution. The problem was, there were four of us and it was 7 p.m. on a Saturday night.

I took a quick look at “The List,” my never-ending catalogue of places that I one day hope to visit, and saw Georgian Bakery. I called to make sure they were open and to see if I needed to make a reservation. The person on the other end of the line answered yes and no, respectively.

Despite a full dining room when we arrived — including a party of 20 — it was a short wait before we were seated. And despite the size of the open kitchen (small) and the number of people toiling within (few), it wasn’t long before platter after platter of gorgeous food was making its way from that kitchen to our table.

Giorgi Chincharauli, who formerly operated a restaurant in Moscow, opened Georgian Bakery Tiflis (6440 Pearl Rd., 440-638-8485) in Parma Heights this past fall, just three years after immigrating to the States. It’s Northeast Ohio’s first and only Georgian restaurant, and our hurried server helped provide some guidance on what to order and expect.

Georgian cuisine is a captivating genre filled with bright salads, pickled items, flatbreads, dumplings, stews and grilled meats – and all of those categories are well represented on the (thankfully illustrated) menu. Those dumplings, called khinkali ($14.99), are like a cross between Russian pelmeni and Chinese soup dumplings. These are large, supple and pleated at the top. Inside is a tender, comforting blend of beef and pork in a flavorful broth.

We skipped the famous khachapuri – the boat-shaped bread filled with melted cheese and an egg yolk – in favor of something we had never tried. We were rewarded with the mkhlovani ($13.99), a golden brown savory pie stuffed with spinach, cheese and herbs.

A sentence I never thought I’d write: One of the best chicken dishes I have ever enjoyed landed on my table at a strip mall-Georgian restaurant in Parma Heights. The shkmeruli ($24.99) arrived in an earthenware crock and consisted of an entire bird cut into smaller bone-in pieces. The chicken was well browned and then simmered until tender in a rich, creamy and garlicky sauce. Kharcho ($14.99), another comforting stew, tasted as though it quietly bubbled on a stovetop for days. Large pieces of fall-apart beef are bathed in a rich and savory broth.

We cut the richness of those dishes with a bright, crunchy and colorful assortment of pickles, pickled cabbage and pickled peppers ($11.99). In the Georgian salad ($14.99), thick-sliced cucumbers and ripe tomatoes are tossed in a creamy walnut dressing with cilantro. Light and airy pkhali ($12.99) are Christmas tree-green balls of minced spinach, walnuts and herbs, each one garnished with a single pomegranate seed.

Everything is made to order, a fact easily confirmed by a quick glimpse into the open kitchen. The irony of a Georgian restaurant not serving wine is not lost on us. But the owner says that a license is in the works so that a restaurant from the birthplace of wine will soon be able to showcase many of those gems in a bottle.

I’m sure I would have made my way to Georgian Bakery Tiflis eventually, but a last-minute scramble got me there so much quicker, and for that I’m thankful.