![\"Restaurant](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/pomogranate.jpg\" "\\"pomogranate\\"")
<\/a>Sleek, chic Cucina Urbana painted a graffiti wall to elevate its \u201ccool quotient,\u201d but that doesn\u2019t compete in the least with Pomegranate, whose patrons have used the white plaster walls and the ceiling (standing on tables) as an enveloping canvas for multilingual messages, quips and gibberish, as well as dates and even phone numbers (don\u2019t look for mine). There are sayings like \u201cVoltaire Here,\u201d which obviously is untrue, along with comments like \u201cShelyn, you missed out,\u201d which would be true if the lady who skipped a dinner date otherwise would have shared in a heaping dish of vareniki dumplings.<\/p>\n
The d\u00e9cor is calmer at ground level, where comfortable wooden tables are lighted with wicker-shaded lamps supported by such figures as a Revolutionary War drummer boy and a Charlie Chaplin-esque hobo on a park bench. Recorded music is mostly European vocals, and frequently sounds French. Sometimes it must be Russian pop, but only educated ears can be sure.<\/p>\n
Serious restaurants almost always are designed as sensory experiences, but Pomegranate is unusually engaging. \u201cWould you like a slice of cucumber in your glass?\u201d the waiter inquired, adding, \u201cIt purifies the water.\u201d Naturally, this led to the smart aleck query, \u201cDoes the water need purification?\u201d which of course it does not. Oddly, the cucumber added a very pleasant flavor. The waiter, from Talinn, Estonia, adds his Baltic accent to the ragout of heritages that make Pomegranate unique among local eateries. Proprietor Marko Zhukov, who supervises from the bar at the rear of the dining room, is from Georgia, and chef Jon Skorepa, who blithely cooks the lengthy menu of Georgian and Russian specialties, says his background is Czech, English and Irish. Even the Russian black bread carries a passport, although it\u2019s issued by Lithuania. Essential with many dishes, it is imported frozen and tastes utterly delicious spread with Skorepa\u2019s garlic and herb-flavored butter.<\/p>\n
The lengthy menu makes an entertaining read, since each item carries descriptions like \u201cBeans! We love it. And with walnuts, ah.\u2026It is eaten to set the appetite going\u201d that follows the listing for lobio ($7.75). This smoky-tasting stew of beans, walnuts and other ingredients (the murky brew defies efforts to identify specific items) can be eaten as an appetizer, or in slightly more liquid form as a soup. Finish a portion all by yourself and you may regret having ordered an entr\u00e9e. Since this comment is true of most starters, and because Pomegranate generally piles entr\u00e9e plates high, sharing a first course makes sense for many guests. It is well to remember the restaurant\u2019s motto, \u201cBorscht by the bucket, vodka by the inch.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a guest at a nearby table enthusiastically exclaimed to the waiter, \u201cThere are flavors here I\u2019ve never had in my life,\u201d it became a challenge to select dishes that would show Chef Skorepa at his best. The waiter suggested a platter of six vegetarian appetizers, which frankly sounded overwhelming, although it was interesting to note just how many vegetarian dishes Pomegranate serves. To list a few, there are ajap sandali, a Georgian stew of eggplant, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, assorted herbs and something called \u201ckhmeli-suneli seasoning\u201d ($7.75); Georgian eggplant salad ($10.75); and pkhali, an appetizer of finely cut vegetables flavored with herbs, lemon and garlic ($7.50). The menu notes, \u201cSometimes the mountain folk add beets and walnuts to this sprightly mountain dish,\u201d but doesn\u2019t make clear if Skorepa follows their lead. Vareniki ($10.25), plump dumplings served swimming in melted butter and nearly drowned in sour cream, can be ordered with potato-onion filling or an even richer mixture of potatoes and cheese. Either way, they\u2019re tasty and quite filling.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything tastes better with sour cream\u201d supposedly is a common Russian saying, and Americans inclined to spoon a half-pint into a hot baked potato won\u2019t disagree. It crowns the borscht, a soup of infinite variety that here contains beets, assorted meats, potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables, and easily constitutes a meal ($9.75; the menu also advertises a \u201cvegan version,\u201d which necessarily would not include sour cream). Among entr\u00e9es, sour cream enriches the beef Stroganoff ($20.50), a dish that Americans seek out on Russian menus, and golubtsi ($16.50), the Georgian version of the stuffed cabbage rolls that are common throughout Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The sort of hearty food that must go down especially well on snowy days, the filling rolls contain a ground beef mixture and are nearly submerged in creamy sauce.<\/p>\n
On Fridays and Saturdays, Pomegranate offers meats (pork loin and chicken cost $17.50, lamb $23.50) barbecued outdoors over various aromatic branches that evidently supply a marvelous aroma. Called shashlik, the meats first are marinated in yogurt or pomegranate juice. The huge menu also includes a well-spiced lamb stew called chanakhi ($19.60); Cornish hen split, flattened and fried under a flat rock ($19.50); and unique desserts like the tartly delicious wild cherry soup ($7.50). There are just a couple of wines by the glass, including a drinkable Georgian red.<\/p>\n
2302 El Cajon Blvd.<\/p>\n
297-4007<\/p>\n
russiangeorgianfood.homestead.com<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POMEGRANATE By David Nelson At Pomegranate, the writing is on the wall \u2013 and on the ceiling, as well as on the personal checks some guests write to pay for dinner (does any other local restaurant still accept them?). Cash also can be traded for the restaurant\u2019s Georgian-oriented cuisine; note that this Georgia is not […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":243252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Restaurant review: Pomegranate","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}