Pasta and Pizza / Pizza and Pasta Fantastico

Pasta and Pizza
32, Barnov Str.
Tel: (995 32) 98 29 82
11:00 a.m - 10:00 p.m

Pizza and Pasta Fantastico
3a, Napareuli Str.
Tel:(995 32) 29 46 75
10:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.

Tucked away in an easy-to-miss courtyard in Vera, Pasta and Pizza is a supremely pleasant, unpretentious place to eat. The restaurant is set back from the street, and has a long, narrow courtyard — lined with tables with Viking-capacity benches under broad umbrellas — leading up to the entrance.

The menu here is surprising in its scope and playfulness, with a good selection of entrees running the gamut from Italian and Alsatian pizzas, pasta, quiches, Turkish dishes, and a list of meat platters and vegan items.

Italian Bread Balls (available with or without garlic) — piping hot boules of baked dough, with a dab of olive oil and seasoned minced garlic inside — make a good appetizer. The Italian–style pizzas are delicious, with a good crust and a very flavorful marinara sauce under–girding their generously applied toppings. The Capri pizza (GEL 12.80) — with field mushrooms, tomatoes, pepperoni, peppers (listed as ‘paprika’), and olives — was especially good. The Alsatian (white) pizzas are a bit under–dressed. We tried one with sour cream, onion, garlic, and bacon (GEL 6.80), and while it was good — the topping was thick with bacon, and the onions had a gentle caramel aroma —l it didn’t compare to the Italian-style pizza vying for space on the table.

The restaurant has serves pasta straight up and al forno (baked). We tried the gnocchi with pesto (GEL 5.80) and the ‘lasagna legumi’ (vegetable lasagna, GEL 12.80). The gnocchi were freshly made — so much so that they didn’t hold their form. The resulting boiled dough balls were surprisingly edible (the dough was light and airy), but the pesto was made from dried basil, and on the whole the dish would have been very disappointing as a main course. The lasagna legumi, on the other hand, was fantastic, with layers of pasta and cheese thickly interspersed with a decadent cream and vegetable filling. Mushroom lovers especially will enjoy this dish.

Pasta and Pizza’s menu also features so-called “international khachapuri” (for GEL 6.80 a piece), which include French (spinach, onion, garlic, and Roquefort cheese), Turkish (minced lamb, paprika, pepperoni, garlic, onion, sheep cheese), and Dutch (pickled pork loin, onion, edamer cheese). Turkish dishes — including moussaka (GEL 12.80) — comprise a major section of the menu, and there is a respectable selection of unusual meat entrees (roasted chicken breast with spicy walnut sauce and fries) as well as vegan dishes (there are many vegetarian options throughout the menu). It’s easy to miss, but at the back of the menu fondues (cheese or chocolate) are available either as single (GEL 14-18) or double (GEL 25-35) servings.

Wine, beer (draught and bottled), spirits all available. There is usually an “open” village wine available in half liter and liter carafes — on the evening we visited, this was a honey-colored tsinandali with a moment of intense dryness on the tongue, and a mellow, creamy mouth-feel.

Our decadent dinner left us no room for dessert, unfortunately, but we will be back to try the “whipped wine foam’ and the Tiramisu. The waiters were prompt and attentive — and English-speaking — and we continued to enjoy the smells from the dishes wafting by to other tables even as we exhausted our appetites.

Menus are available in English.

Very decent pizza can also be had at Pizza and Pasta Fantastico. True to its name, this small pizzeria makes oven-fired pizza and pasta, as well as a handful of other entrees such as eggplant parmesan. The pizza here is a bit pricier than that at Pasta and Pizza, with small Pizzas for GEL 7-10, mediums for around 15-18, larges 18-22. Lots of possible toppings are available, including ham and pineapple. The small pies are quite substantial for one person, while a medium makes a good meal to share between two people. We tried one pizza with paper thin-slices of ham and layers of rich musky mushrooms, and one pizza with bell and pickled jalapeño peppers, olives, tomatoes. Both were excellent, with crisp and chewy crusts.

The eggplant parmesan is heavy on the marinara sauce and melted cheese, with thin slices of breaded baked eggplant swimming in there. Gnocchi with pesto was not a very generous serving, and the gnocchi were gummy and a little tough. The pesto was quite good, with a bright emerald color. (Perhaps pesto on another pasta would be better than on gnocchi.) At other tables plates with ravioli drenched in cream sauces seemed popular.

Lots of cocktails are available, and from the looks of it there is a serious espresso machine behind the counter. A narrow selection of Georgian wines cost around GEL 18 per bottle, no house wine is available. More extensive are the Italian and European wines can be ordered by the glass for around (GEL 7 per 200 ml). The restaurant is small, and fills up quickly. Menus are available in Italian, Georgian, English.

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Published in Georgia Today, 22 June 2007

Rustic-yet-Spiffy and Always up to the Task: Shemoikhede Genatsvale

5 Marjanishvili Street – Tel: 91 00 05
25 Leselidze Street – Tel: 43 96 46

Shemoikhede Genatsvale (“Drop In, Love”) has tasty, reasonably priced Georgian food in a refined yet un-stuffy setting. The restaurant has two Tbilisi locations, one on Leselidze Street in Old Tbilisi, and one on Marjanishvili Street on the left bank of the Mtkvari.

Shemoikhede Genatsvale, which is owned by the GMC Group, manages to both provide a pleasantly rustic-yet-spiffy environment featuring exposed brick walls, Pirosmani reproductions, murals of men at supra and a powerful ventilation system to diffuse the accumulation of indoor cigarette smoke.

Both restaurants have the same menu – printed in Georgian on a rough piece of paper meant to resemble a 1920s newspaper. The Marjanishvili location is larger, with high vaulted ceilings and lots of solid, elaborately carved wooden furniture. The atmosphere here does more to evoke ‘ye olde sakhinkle,’ while the Leselidze Street location is a bit more mainstream in its tastefully appointed decor. The only major difference in the quality of the food between the two locations is that the Marjanishvili location has consistently better mtsvadi than the Old Town incarnation—Marjanishvili’s mtsvadi is a toothsome platter of juicy, succulent, piping hot grilled meat, while Leselidze’s tend to be somewhat tough and dry.

Many khinkali aficionados frequent Shemoikhede Genatsvale, and after eating there it is easy to see why. While the restaurant offers only four types of khinkali (two kinds with meat – kalakuri (meat with chopped herbs) and khevsuruli (slightly spicier meat without chopped herbs) – as well as mushroom or potato varieties), there are few other establishments whose dumplings are as light and wolfable. The khinkali are formed from dough as thin and smooth as silk, and the meat is well seasoned and of even texture (no nubbly bits). For those inclined to abuse khinkali, the lightness of the dough makes it possible to bolt quite a few. (If, however, you have any leftover, ask to have them fried. This will buy you some time to digest, and the fried dumpling is delicious. If your Georgian isn’t up to the task, pointing at the remaining dumplings and saying “shemtsvari” will do the trick. If you really want to hurt yourself, request some sour cream (arajani) on the side – though probably not traditional, this goes very well with a fried khinkali.)

Shemoikhede Genatsvale’s menu is fairly wide-ranging and inexpensive. Chebureki – large fried pastries stuffed with cheese or meat – seem to be very popular with many of the younger people who dine here. Also extremely good is the chkmeruli—chicken fried in a garlic sauce. While a bit pricey – at GEL 19, it’s one of the restaurant’s more expensive entrees – it is extremely tasty (the chicken arrives – still sizzling – in a ceramic dish, and drenched in a rich buttery garlic sauce) and comes in a very generous shareable portion – more than enough for four people, if you are ordering other dishes as well. Also excellent are the lobio nigvsit (this is a cold bean salad with walnuts, herbs, and spices), and the kababi (one restaurant connoisseur swears that the Marjanishvili location has the best kababi in town).

Nakhtaktari and Kazbegi beer is usually on tap for around GEL 2 per glass, and several varieties of wine, vodka, and cha cha are available as well.

The wait staff is brisk and friendly. While a few waiters and waitresses speak English, the menu is in Georgian only.

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Published in Georgia Today, 8 Jun 07

Alanis Ludi: Ossetian Beer and Khatchapuri Bigger than Your Head

The Alanis Ludi Bar in Old Tbilisi serves an excellent house beer and decent, cheap food. It isn’t fine dining, but is a good spot to enjoy an unusual - and cheap - beer with an unusual - and cheap - khatchapuri under the beady glass glare of a taxidermied bird of prey.

As I was standing outside the entrance to Alanis Ludi, trying to decide whether “Alanian” stood for “Ossetian” (it did), a man tending the nearby parking lot assured me that the food inside was cheap and good.

“IN THERE IS IT OSSETIANS OR GEORGIAN FOOD?” I asked in rickshaw Georgian.

“A bit of both,” he replied.

Inside the bar, stuffed and mounted birds – and the occasional mammal - line the wood-paneled walls. Many birds are posed suggestively above the bar tables – we caroused under the glass glare of a hawk posed clutching a doomed pigeon in its claws.

A stuffed duck perches on the Efes cooler behind the bar, and a mountain goat with a modest rack surveys the room. Retro-looking fans are also stationed at each table – these presumably help move the air conditioning along. The bar has four dining areas for large parties; these are separated from the main eating area by saloon-style doors. The combination of effects gives the place a saloon-meets-hunting-lodge feel, which is further complicated by the inevitable flat-screen TV that partially eclipses the bar.

Most of the available food is standard Georgian restaurant/bar fare. We had (at our waiter’s suggestion) cucumber-tomato salad with walnut, eggplant with walnut, some spongy kababi and above-average mtsvadi. Our smattering of Georgian food was okay, but what sets this bar apart – and makes it worth a visit - is the house Ossetian beer and the Ossetian-style khatchapuri.

The beer at Alanis Ludi has a semi-opaque amber color and an almost fruity taste, like a Hefeweizen, and is welcome respite from the pallid Kazbegi more often on tap in Tbilisi, and far less pricey than the Germanesque microbrewery across the way. (However, you are less likely to find orange slices at the bar at Alanis Ludi than at Kaiser Brau– bring your own if you think you might want one). The Ossetian khatchapuri is thin and crispy, as big as a pizza, and filled with butter, cheese, and mashed potatoes, and is a good complement to the beer.

The bar is located on Gorgasali Square (at the very start of Gorgasali Street), a short jog away from the sulfur baths. If you are walking towards Abanotubani, the bar will be on your right (before the traffic light but after the Metechi Bridge), just after a spate of small grocery stores. A flight of stone steps leads up from the street, and large wooden panels frame the entrance.

The bar was lively on a Wednesday night; we had about a 10-minute wait for a table to open up. Bathrooms are downstairs; loo-users are expected to pay 20 tetri (honor system: pay your toilet toll to the red bucket at the top of the stairs).

There is no printed menu, and no English spoken – be prepared to make your way in Georgian, Russian or Ossetian.

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Published in Georgia Today, 1 Jun 07