Well howdy, y’all! Hope you’re hungry, because today we’ve got a real special restaurant coming for you all the way from Georgia, bless your heart! It’s called…wait a minute… I think I have the wrong Georgia…
That’s right, a new restaurant is making its way to Manhattan from the country of Georgia, and sadly I’ve got no opening gag for this one. Cheeseboat is a new restaurant concept from Georgian restaurateur Shalva Davitashvili. Established in 2016, Cheeseboat is a family-owned Georgian bistro offering an eclectic variety of authentic Georgian cuisine with locally sourced ingredients. Wanting to introduce New Yorkers to an entirely new world of cuisine, Shalva founded Cheeseboat to bring America the best dishes from the mighty country of Georgia.
As I’m sure you’re already well aware, Georgia is an East European/West Asian republic nestled in the heart of the Caucasus region between Russia, the Black Sea, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. With such a centralized geographic location, Georgia has acquired an equally eclectic culinary history thanks to its position at the crossroads of civilization. Bordering between so many different cultures, Georgian cuisine is influenced by Turkish and Greek cooking as well as Russian cuisine.
The heart of the Cheeseboat experience centers around their take on Khachapuri, a Georgian traditional cheese bread dish. Served up by Shalva’s mother and Cheeseboat co-founder, all of Cheeseboat’s dishes come from original family recipes traced back to their days in Tbilisi. Specializing in the melted cheesy boats that the name implies, Cheeseboat also offers a traditional selection of kababs, soups, and an assortment of toppings for your cheeseboats like steak, meatball, lobster, honeycomb, and smoked gouda.
Moving into the space at 747 Ninth Avenue, Cheeseboat will be replacing Uncle Nick’s Greek Cuisine, which previously operated at the space. Prior to moving to Manhattan, Cheeseboat only operated a single location in Brooklyn at 80 Berry Street. While Shalva and the team closed the Brooklyn Cheeseboat to make time to prepare their Hell’s Kitchen location, it appears that the Brooklyn location will reopen on January 7th, 2022, and will be managed by Shalva’s sister, Maria.
