Rustic Surprise

Tbilisi is Encino’s little outpost of the Caucasus. Its walls boast a small gallery of primitivist paintings by the Georgian artist Dolidze--who happens to be the sister of one of the owners. Like Helati, a market that shares the same mini-mall, Tbilisi’s food is a combination of Russian and Georgian.

You could come here for the Russian dishes, such as borscht, chicken Kiev and beef stroganoff, but I wouldn’t bother. They’re perfectly fine, but you can get them all over town. The real attractions here are the unfamiliar Georgian dishes.

Russians know Georgian food, of course. They’re familiar with satsivi (cold chicken in a creamy walnut sauce) and khinkali, the garlicky, softball-sized ravioli.

But even your average Russian wouldn’t know some of the dishes served here. Take chakapuli: chunks of fork-tender stewed lamb served in a metal serving dish that looks rather like an urn. The meat tastes of fenugreek and onion, plus the characteristic Georgian spice mixture khmeli suneli, which contains marigold buds. (By the way, it’s spectacular.)

The place serves Georgian standbys like spicy pureed kidney beans (lobio) and the smooth-textured sausage called kupati, made from a mixture of meats. Khachapuri is a hot loaf of bread baked with a filling of farmer’s cheese--you eat it in delicious but rather unmanageable wedges. Better yet is tabaka, a chicken flattened (like the Italian pollo alla mattone), fried crisp and served in the same iron skillet it was cooked in.

Tbilisi has a long menu of classic Russian hors d’oeuvres (zakuski), and a few of them are terrific. The smoked sturgeon, in thin slices, is fabulous, and so is salmon caviar (known as ikura to aficionados of sushi), here served with onion slices. There’s a Georgian-style appetizer of eggplant slices rolled up with a dense filling of walnut paste.

Georgian soups are hearty enough to be main courses. Chikhirtma is a chicken soup with lightly pureed spring vegetables and a heavy dose of vinegar. Another good one is the spicy rice and meat soup khartcho.

With your meal, you get hot, crusty loaves of a Georgian bread called shotipuri. You might want to wash things down with Borzhomi, a Georgian mineral water popular in Moscow but not with me. This is a mineral water with so many minerals, it’s metallic. It practically clanks.

A visit to Tbilisi practically guarantees hearty, rustic food and an exciting cultural encounter. Georgian cooking may never become as familiar to us as it is to Russians, but it is, to its fans, one of the world’s great, unheralded cuisines.

BE THERE

Tbilisi, 18000 Ventura Blvd., Encino. Open 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. No alcohol. Parking in lot. All major cards. Dinner for two, $33-$47. Suggested dishes: Georgian-style eggplant rolls, $5.99; khachapuri, $2.50; tabaka, $8.99; chakapuli, $9.99. Call (818) 344-0466.