Assessment and photographs by Sandi Masori
SAN DIEGO — I’ve been listening to about Pomegranate for a while, however simply by no means had the chance to attempt it. Fortunately destiny stepped in and located me proper on its North Park doorstep not too long ago. You may assume, given the identify, that it’s a Center Jap restaurant, nevertheless it’s really Russian-Georgian. From what I hear, they’ve been there for over 20 years, and have steadily expanded to take over two storefronts.
It’s a cute restaurant, one aspect feels just a little extra informal than the opposite, with patrons invited to actually go away their mark on the restaurant and signal the wall. There’s additionally a sidewalk patio for al fresco eating.
I’ve to confess that I wasn’t very impressed with our waitress, although she did give us some good recommendations on what to order. She didn’t care for us very properly as soon as the meals got here out. I did see different servers giving nice service to different tables, so I assume we have been simply unfortunate. However, her menu recommendations have been on level, so we’ll give her credit score for that.
One of many issues I knew I needed to attempt was the Adjaruli Khachapuri – it’s a bread boat with gooey cheese and an egg, the egg and sizzling cheese are combined tableside for yummy gooey perfection. The bread has a pleasant crust and satisfying chew, and the cheese is the proper texture and taste to enrich it. It’s best when the cheese is gooey, and never nearly as good straight from the fridge the subsequent day.
After we requested her what one of the best Georgian dishes on the menu have been, she really useful the Chakhokhbili – which they known as Georgean Eagle within the menu – It’s a Georgean rooster stew with tomatoes, basil, parsley, mint and cilantro. And the Chakapuli – which is a Georgian lamb shank stew with white wine, bitter plum, onions, tarragon. Each have been scrumptious. I ordered the rooster and my good friend had the lamb. We sampled every others’. The lamb was actually good and jogged my memory of the same dish I’ve had in Greek eating places. The sauce was wealthy and filled with umami taste.
The rooster was completely dream-worthy. The mix of the mint, basil, parsley and cilantro makes for a really savory and contemporary taste. The mint tones linger in your palette after the chew has been swallowed, making it really feel very gentle. MMM… Simply considering again on it’s making me hungry and wanting to return already. The dish is an effective measurement with a full-size rooster leg and thigh piece. It was massive sufficient that I had leftovers for the subsequent day, and when reheated, the flavour was even higher.
Each stews have been accompanied by rice which was fluffy and savory with grated carrots inside.
To spherical it out, we obtained a dessert as properly, and determined to attempt the Medovik Torte, which is a honey cake with ice cream and pomegranate molasses. I believed it might be one thing just like the honey truffles we see at Rosh Hashanah, nevertheless it was under no circumstances. In actual fact, I’m actually considering that we should always begin doing our Rosh Hashanah honeycakes like they make the Medovik Torte, It was layers of honey cake with walnuts, and a cream frosting that made it kinda style/ really feel like carrot cake, however with out the carrots or the carrot cake spices. It was each fluffy and dense and pleasing to the palette and chew.
I do must report that I used to be disenchanted to study when the invoice got here that we have been charged for the refills on ice tea. I didn’t see that on the menu, and when she provided the refills, the waitress didn’t inform us that there can be an extra cost. I don’t know if that is the coverage or if it was a mistake on the a part of the waitress, and I simply didn’t really feel like making a problem about it to ask.
The poor service however, I’ll undoubtedly return for an additional go to, as a result of as I mentioned, that Rooster stew is wonderful and I will need to have it once more.
Pomegranate is situated at 2312 El Cajon Blvd and is open weekdays from 5pm, and open at 4 on weekends. Sorry no brunch or lunch service.
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Sandi Masori is a restaurant and theater reviewer for San Diego Jewish World