georgian food from bevri
There's a theory in biology (well, not so much a theory as a bunch of enthusiasts on Tumblr making jokes) about the fact that all species will eventually tend toward looking like a crab in their evolutionary history. It's a strange pattern, but a ton of families of the animal kingdom do start to seem to develop crustacean characteristics at some point. I'm going to take this into the world of grub and say that every culture has miraculously, independently, evolved some sort of stuffed cheesy bread. And that's wonderful.
For Georgia's part, the country's culinary gods have decided to produce something called Khachapuri Adjaruli; it's a doughy bread-bowl filled with melted cheese and topped with a raw egg and pat of butter (to be mixed in). When we decided to visit Bevri on a swing through Palo Alto, and saw the dish on the menu, we lept at the opportunity. We also got dumplings and two kabobs. Bevri did not dissapoint.
Khachapuri Adjaruli
I mean, what more do I need to say? It's what you want out of a cheesy bowl of bread and butter. The dish was absolutely devourable. The cheese was more chewy than anticipated, but that's honestly nice— I was a little worried it would be too melted and fluid to enjoy. The dough tasted like an artisan pizza dough, which was great to dip in the cheese. The egg gave a nice textural boost.
Dough: 8.5/10
Cheese: 9/10
Egg: 7/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Dumplings
The pork and beef inside of these dumplings was fantastic; it was clearly well-prepared and thoughtfully seasoned. However, the dough exterior was a little too flavorless and unenjoyable. The dumplings definitely could have used sauce. Once again, though; great filling.
Dumpling filling: 9/10
Exterior: 6/10
Size: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Lamb and chicken kabob
These were actually my favorites of the night. The potato side dish was excellent, and the dipping sauce was very sweet. The chicken kabob had a nice, smoky taste; the lamb was immaculate. Both were tender and very juicy. I definitely could have gone for seconds here.
Lamb: 9.5/10
Chicken: 8.5/10
Potato: 8/10
Sauce: 9/10
Overall: 8.7/10