I don't have a cooking background but I found that you don't have to go to
culinary school to learn how to cook a new particular cuisine I mean I I feel
like we had the best teachers in the world people who have been making it
their whole life in Georgia we're really fortunate to have that experience and
feel really fortunate to be able to give this food to other people here who never
had it and just extend the experience that we had when we were in Georgia I
was accidentally introduced to Georgian food really my wife and I volunteered
for the Peace Corps back in 2010 we were assigned to Republic of Georgia so we
went over not knowing anything about the country and very shortly after getting
there started to really like some of the food I remember thinking why can't we
get this in the States why have I never had this before
Georgia sits at the crossroads between Europe and Asia and has kind of been
conquered by everybody throughout history Mongols the Turks and Persians
Russian left their mark but at the same time Georgia still has a really strong
unique culinary identity and the fact that it's relatively unknown outside of
that part of the world was just amazing to me and my wife and as we finished our
Peace Corps service or like we're gonna miss his food so much and not just the
food with the culture of hospitality around the food and so we thought well
what if there's a way that we can recreate that here in the States and so
came back and within six months we opened Carvey Go Go as a food cart
downtown Portland
early on in our Peace Corps experience we had Hachi poori a Georgian cheese
bread Pat report it is a staple of Georgian cuisine some say it's the
national dish of Georgia if the Georgians had settled in America before
the Italians we would all be touched pouring and not pizza it's just so
simple and so delicious Emeril Itachi poori is the most common kind of Hot
Chip Ori that you'll get in Georgia it serves at virtually every event it's on
every table everybody in every home makes it to round flatbread that's
stuffed with the cheese and at the end gets brushed with butter and sliced up
for as simple as it is it's amazing in Georgia it is the most common kind of
hutch aboard the Jolly Roger really cacciatore is probably the most famous
George and cheese bread outside of Georgia this type of hot shatori comes
from the western part of the country on the Black Sea coast it's shaped like a
boat open faced with a big cauldron of cheese in the middle and then topped
with an overeasy egg and pat of butter and so you mix that all together and it
becomes a really kind of cheesy eggy fondue
it's super decadent in English here in America if you see a hatchet
poori on Instagram or online somewhere chances are 9 out of 10 times it's gonna
be this because it's just it looks amazing
Georgian dumplings khinkali big juicy dumplings I remember going to
these feasts in Georgia which called supras and there's multiple courses and
plates stacked on plates stacked on plates and they stretch on for hours and
hours and they can have the superest for weddings for birthdays but also just
because it's nice weather so at these events khinkali is one of the stars of
the show so I remember going to these super dinners and giant plates dozens of
dumplings coming out and guys would reach for these dumplings and just eat
them and kind of drink out the juice I never really seen anything like that
before it's not as soupy as a soup dumpling but it's definitely juicy when
it cooks the fat that's in the meat renders and then mixes with the water
that's in the mixes well and that creates this sort of a broth inside
there we always tell people to pick it up by the handle and take a bite and
kind of drink out the juice as you go if you cut into it juice spills all over
the plate and then missed out on half the fun beating the dumpling
kubdari is a round bread that's stuffed with meat so it's technically maybe a
kind of Hot Chip Oriya but there's no cheese in it it's just meat onions and
spices so I'd had this dish several times in the town where we lived and in
the capital it was okay it was nothing in that special but to dish hails from
the high mountains that's one eddy in Georgia and one time we went to Swann
Eddie and then stopped at a little roadside diner on the way there and our
driver he made us stop he was like we have to go here for this kubdari
and this dish was unlike any other kubdari that I'd had I mean the meat was
big and chunky and it was just perfectly seasoned and the the fat that was in the
meat it kind of soaked into the bread as it cooked in amis chissus delicious
decadent dish it didn't even resemble the other coupe diaries that I'd had and
that's when I was like I want to learn how to make that because it's just
amazing over the course of the next few days.there in Swan Ettie we had the
chance to learn how to make this dish people in Georgia are very open and and
proud of their food and the kubdari and so much of what we learned there is
because of the generosity of the Georgian people and it's always been
important to us with all the dishes to be really good stewards of the thing
said they are so proud of we always want to be respectful to them and so with
this kubdari recipe in particular I'm trying to get it as close as possible to
what we learned up there in the mountains to me it tastes really close
we didn't know what we were getting into when we went over there we didn't know
anything about Georgia at all but it ended up being such a perfect fit
on so many different levels my wife and I just want Georgia to continue to be a
part of our lives and that's why doing this restaurant is so much fun because
it gives us a reason to stay connected to Georgia not like we need a reason not
like we needed a restaurant to go back and spend time with people but this just
gives us a deeper connection