Pkhali platter at Badageoni has Georgia on my mind

Badageoni’s signature pkhali platter. AMY SOWDER PHOTO

By AMY SOWDER 

Walnuts are a big deal in Georgian cuisine.

Since Badageoni opened in July 2019, diners heading to the downtown Mount Kisco restaurant expect authentic cuisine from the small country that sits in between Eastern Europe and Western Asia with Russia to the north and Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan to the south. 

This country — not to be confused with the American namesake state in the South — is also nestled between the Black and Caspian seas.

Yet it might come as a surprise how much this humble nut flavors and enriches the appetizers, salads, entrees and desserts.

Yes, walnuts intensify the velvety, ivory-colored sauce surrounding the pan-fried Cornish hen in the Taraka in Bada dish. They add crunch to the classic Georgian Honey Cake.

But no other dish exemplifies that nutty hallmark of Georgian cuisine than the colorful “pkhali platter.” Pkhali, from the Georgian word for wild greens, is a dish of chopped or minced vegetables bound with ground walnuts.

“It’s very popular because it has a lot of different combinations,” said Nika Jankarashvili, operations and marketing manager and son of co-owner Gigi  Jankarashvili. “The dish is a go-to for trying a little bit of everything.”

Gluten-free and vegan, the dish includes generous mounds of mild, savory spinach pate, an umami-filled green bean pate with a slight kick, a sweet beet treat and a carrot pate that tastes mildly sweet, clean and earthy.

An adjruli egg boat. AMY SOWDER PHOTO

Eggplant roll-ups

Then there’s the pan-fried eggplant roll-ups stuffed with walnut pate and the sweet red and yellow peppers stuffed with more walnut pate. To balance it all out, two football-shaped disks of pan-fried cornbread with dense, creamy interiors.

Walnuts have meaning

Walnuts have cultural, religious and agricultural significance in this deeply Orthodox Christian country, where many citizens give up meat and dairy during Lent. Also, a walnut tree on your property was seen as a marker of wealth.

And these nuts are hearty.

“They have a lot of protein and are very filling,” said Inga Duignan, who owns the restaurant with her brother, Gigi. The spot used to be Hito Japanese. “People get this dish as a meal or appetizer.”

The siblings grew up in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, where their father ran an ice cream business and their grandmother, a bakery. Badageoni, named for a historic winemaking village in Georgia’s Kakheti region, has a selection of traditional wines. Duignan loves the reds, but for this vegan pkhali platter, a bottle of Mosavali Rkatsiteli — a 2019 dry amber wine fermented in qvevri, or clay barrels, with notes of dried pear, apricot and gentle tannins — would pair especially well. 

The dining room at Badageoni in Mount Kisco. AMY SOWDER PHOTO

“We decided to try to introduce Georgian cuisine here. It’s such a small country, and there were only one or two other Georgian restaurants in the city at the time,” she said of New York City.

Michelin recognition

Badageoni has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand since 2021, an honor that sits above the Guide’s basic “Selected” listing and below its stars. It recognizes quality cooking at a moderate price, and the restaurant is one of the few Georgian kitchens in the country to earn it.

“That award has really helped us,” Duignan said. “We’ve never known who it’s been who came in to review us.”

This country’s cuisine can teach Westchester locals a thing or two about the versatility of this rich, buttery nut with a subtle earthy umami and satisfying crunch — especially the pkhali platter.

“In Georgia, in general, we make our pkhali spicier, but here we made it more suitable to the American palate,” Duignan said. And don’t forget the sprinkling of tart, sweet, crunchy pomegranate arils sprinkled atop the dish. That’s different in Georgia, too. “At home, we put the pomegranate inside the pkhali,” she said.

Badageoni is also known locally for its Adjaruli bread, aka, “egg boat,” which presents as a baked bread with a pool of cheese and sunny-side-up egg in the middle. 

TASTING NOTES

Hedgerow hosts farmers market in Pound Ridge

Pound Ridge has a new farmers market, hosted by Dana Worlock, proprietor of Hedgerow Flower Farm and Studio, located at 65 Westchester Ave. 

The market launched outside, behind the garden and provisions store in mid-September and will continue running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., each Saturday, until the week before Thanksgiving. 

Expect fall staples like heirloom root vegetables, apples, hearty cooking greens, winter squash, and seasonal alliums from small-acreage regional farms, plus cottage specialty foods like baked goods, savory pantry items, artisanal jams and local honey. 

This market is not to be confused with Pound Ridge Farmers Market, a year-round indoor farmers market with local, organic, and ethically sourced foods located at 22 Westchester Ave.

Brunch House adds cocktails and dinner

Beginning Saturday, Oct. 10, The Brunch House, located at 74 Westchester Ave., in Pound Ridge will now be open for dinner until 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sunday through Thursday, the restaurant will continue serving breakfast and lunch until 3 p.m.

The Brunch House is now serving cocktails.

Tell us your local food news at asowder@therecorder.org.