This popular dish at Tzarevna, a wine bar in New York’s Lower East Side featuring food and wine from countries in the former Soviet Union, is a tangy, seafood version of a cheesy bread from the Republic of Georgia. Chef-owner Ricky Dolinsky goes against tradition by leavening the dough naturally for two days with sourdough starter. Also going against tradition, he uses cheddar cheese from upstate New York, and crab meat. The crab is seasoned with adjika, a Georgian paste made with herbs such as coriander, dill and blue fenugreek, as well as chiles, garlic and walnuts.
“The hot and spicy adjika flavors the crab in a way that’s strikingly similar to the way Old Bay seasoning enhances Maryland blue crab,” he said.
That’s all baked, and then it’s garnished with an egg yolk, celery and brown butter, and the egg is mixed into the bread tableside.
Price: $23