Supra - Georgian Cuisine, with Khachapuri and Dumplings, at 11th Street and Blagden Alley near Mount Vernon Square

[ktmoomau]

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I went to Supra the other night with friends.  We tried the Amber wine flights, which were interesting, but not my favorite wines, one was very smoky flavored, one a bit too acidic-harsh for my taste .  We then switched to the red wine flights, which still wasn't my favorite wine, but was something a bit more palatable for me.  We all shared dishes, so I got to try a fair amount of the menu- we had the Roasted Vegetables Saidumlo, which was grilled red and yellow peppers, eggplant, fresh minted nadughi (soft cheese)- I liked this dish, the vegetables were in small pieces and it made a nice side to other more rich items.  The cheese was fine, but honestly I could have done with a splash of lemon juice and no cheese.  We also had Satatsuri Salad- grilled asparagus, cucumber, arugula, sunflower seeds, creamy guda dressing, this was a really nice salad with delicious dressing, I really enjoyed this dish too, the dressing reminded me of a sesame dressing.  

We then moved to hot items- we had the meat and potato dumplings- the meat dumplings had broth like soup dumplings, but the skins were so thick, it was hard to eat them like that, I wish they were served with little bowls.  The potato dumplings though were really rich and if you cut them in half after eating the others, they soaked up all the extra juice.  I liked the potato ones the best, maybe it is the Irish in me, I thought they were rich, but delicious.  We also had the Ikhvi- LaBelle Farms duck breast, peach and fennel salad, hazelnut, roasted ajika- this was a delicious dish, I liked the varying components, especially after the dumplings, I liked the peach.  We also went all out and had a Ajaruli- boat-shaped cheese bread, organic egg- now this bad boy was rich and man my lactose intolerant system, despite taking a pill did not like me later for this, but oh boy this was a rich, gooey cheese delight that I would recommend having maybe once a year at most, but oh man, once a year it is true decadence of cheese and bready goodness.  I thought the bread was nicely done too. Mmmmm.  Service was a tiny bit haphazard in that we had trouble finding our server a few times, but everyone was incredibly nice and helpful.  It was a fun place to go with friends, I liked the atmosphere and didn't think it was too loud (although it was a nice night, so a lot of people were outside).

[KeithA]

I had a very nice large meal with friends a couple of weekends ago at Supra. I'd recommend going with a group as this is a great place to sample lots of different things and most are served in smaller portions that are good for sharing. We started with cocktails that were all riffs on classics but with Georgian spirits or wine - very nice. Then, we had the supra tasting board of cold mezze which is a really great way to get a broad selection: 3 kinds of cheeses (I liked the smoky gouda-like one and the creamier one, but watch out for the extra salty one), several vegetable spreads (highlights were the all vegetable one (possibly grilled original but consistency of baba ganouj, the beet-walnut), and I really liked the small eggplant rollups with walnut spread inside. If you are a fan of walnuts, apparently Georgian cuisine is the way to go they put them in 4 out of 5 dishes and use them for flavor, thickening, etc. The hot mezze were really good - the one bite cheese croquettes were delicious, the duck breast was cooked perfectly and you got a choice of a savory dip or chopped peaches, the grilled salmon was excellent and paired well with the creamy walnut tomato sauce.  The only merely ok hot mezze was the potatos - they were good but basically just roasted potatoes.  We then had the cheese and potato dumplings as described above - very rich and good but don't let the menu description fool you - they are not at all soup dumpllings - more like hearty perogis with a thicker dumpling skin. I was less impressed with the khachapuri with egg and butter. It may be that it was overly rich and somewhat one note in flavor compared to the preceding courses. I thought the boat bread underneath was very good and fresh but the filling was only so so. They have several varieties on the menu and I think I would have chosen a different one next time. We had a bottle of one of the amber wines (note the wine list is 100% georgian wines I believe) that was described as effervescent and it was fruity and a bit bubbly which I liked a lot and thought paired well with the food. We were stuffed but still indulged in their panna cotta (ok but nothing too special) and their walnut cake which is a huge slice of rich but light cake that we really liked. Overall a really nice experience with somewhat different flavors. 

[chinarider]

Nice to have a good Georgian in the area. Fun atmosphere, friendly helpful staff. Went here on NYC and mainly stuck to the classics - pickles, the eggplant rolled over walnut paste, spreads,  dupmplings, lobio kotanshi, the ajaruli khachapuri, lamb chops, chicken, and a sea bream.

I thought everything was at least solid, and a few things - the khachapuri and the lamb chops - were very good. The khinkali dumplings were not the best I have ever had - i like them a little fuller and the meat/soup more flavored.

As mentioned, the wine list is very Georgian. Many of the wines are very "stretching" to western tastes. My recommendation is to try the more traditional qvevri wines by the glass before plumping for the bottle, just to make sure you are up for it. I enjoyed a glass of the vinoterra kisi, but my companions found it too vinegary and unusual, so we switched to more "modern-style" wines for the bottles.

But all in all, I enjoyed the meal a lot and would like to go back.

[Bart]

I came here last week for the first time and would like to come back and try more.  As was noted above, they have a large menu and with a party of two, you don't get to try much of it. 

We started with a cold eggplant dish and warm squash dish.  The eggplant (Ajapsandali - $10 - roasted eggplant, cubanelle peppers, green beans, onion, tomato, fennel, fresh herbs) dish was very good but perhaps not the best choice on a cold night.  I'm a sucker for eggplant, and always looking for new ways to cook it, so I have no regrets!  The squash was warm but boring (Gogra - $15 - roasted delicata jester squash, walnut sauce 'bazhe,' pomegranate molasses, toasted pumpkin seeds)  It was just chunks of roasted squash, which was pretty bland and unseasoned, with some other stuff strewn around.  The "other stuff" was much better than the squash itself.

Next was the signature Khachapuri, the Ajaruli ($17 - boat-shaped cheese bread, organic egg).  This was wonderful.  Warm and gooey, and the egg/cheese mixture was mixed tableside.  This was a perfect dish for a cold night.  Hearty and filling.

We finished with an order of their very LARGE soup dumplings.  We didn't realize how big they were when we ordered so we opted for six instead of three, thinking they were the size of a typical soup dumpling.  They were not.  These things were at least twice and probably three times the size of a normal xiao long bao!  The dish is called Khinkali Qvelit (3/$12 or 6/$22 soup dumplings - filling of cheese & fresh mint).  I'm also a sucker for dumplings so I loved these but they were so big, it was hard to get the "soup" out of them without spilling it all over the plate or picking them up and trying to suck out the liquid.  They were far too big to pop into your mouth in one bite and they weren't served in those "dumpling spoons" which would have contained the liquid.  We ended up taking 4 of them home because we were pretty full at that point, and it was much easier to get the liquid out at home because I could pick them up, bite into a corner to create a hole and suck out the liquid like a barbarian!  

 

[saf]

On 2/2/2022 at 9:49 AM, Bart said:

I came here last week for the first time and would like to come back and try more. 

I want to try this place - also want to try the Georgian place on Georgia Ave - but am afraid to. How were the cilantro levels?

(When I was a child, I read a book called "Anything Can Happen," by a Georgian immigrant. It was funny, it was sad, it was such a good story. I eventually read all his other books, once I found out they existed, as got the Time-Life cookbook that he and his wife worked on. Ever since I read that book, Georgian stuff fascinates me.)

[dracisk]

11 minutes ago, saf said:

How were the cilantro levels?

I ate there awhile ago -- pre-COVID -- and really enjoyed it. I don't remember any cilantro issues at all (and cilantro is significant to me 🤢).

[Bart]

29 minutes ago, saf said:

I want to try this place - also want to try the Georgian place on Georgia Ave - but am afraid to. How were the cilantro levels?

I don't recall there being any cilantro in any of the dishes, but I'm not bothered by it, so there may have been some that I didn't notice.