“The best seat at Tabla opening in Park View in late 2019 will be at the khinkali bar where diners can watch chefs hand-rolling the Georgian soup dumplings“, Washington City Paper spreads the word.

The new restaurant, incidentally on Georgia Ave in DC will be called Tabla. Tabla will be a reformed branch of Supra, a Georgian restaurant opened in 2017. Both of the “embassies of Georgian cuisine” are under the ownership of Jonathan and Laura Nelms.

"Supra is the flagship restaurant where you get the full range of Georgian cuisine," Jonathan says. There are more than 40 dishes to choose from there, ranging from cold salads to stick-to-your-ribs stews,” The Washington City Paper reports.

Tabla will offer a different experience than Supra. Guests of the restaurant will be able to watch the chefs cook – surely enough, the possibility of seeing how the cooks wrinkle the dough of Khinkali, will attract more gourmands. However, the menu of Tabla is said to be tighter than what Supra has to offer. Tabla will only show expertise in Imeruli and Adjaruli Khachapuri and Khinkali. Not having too many different dishes to prepare, chefs will be comfortable enough to be more inventive. So different varieties of the legendary exports of Georgian cuisine are expected in the capital of the USA. A range of starters like salads, and other choices, as well as kebabs will round out the streamlined menu executed by Chefs Lonnie Zoeller, Alfredo Martinez, and Georgian Ani Kandelaki. As expected, an all-Georgian wine list will be available, but Georgian-inspired cocktails and Georgian soft drinks will complete the Georgian surrounding.

“The idea came from a trip co-owners Jonathan and Laura Nelms took to Georgia for their 5th wedding anniversary in 2011. They stopped at a little house on the side of the road. "This 100-year-old lady was in there making khinkali," Jonathan recounts. "She was making them so fast, it was as if she made 100,000 in her life," reads the Washington City Paper.

The co-owner, Jonathan was first charmed by the Georgian culture in 1990 when he befriended a Georgian exchange student. Jonathan sees the culture in a simple, yet complicated process of twisting Khinkali. He told the Washington City Paper "There's a lot of folklore and culture and interesting stuff wrapped around the making of khinkali. Like how a mother-in-law watches her soon-to-be daughter-in-law make khinkali with 19 pleats to be a worthy bride. I like watching people cook."

Additionally, Tabla will also feature artwork from one of Tbilisi’s top street artists, LAMB.

“It all goes together, the food, the wine, and the culture of enjoying it together," predicted Jonathan Nelm, the co-owner of the restaurant.

source: GeorgiaToday