The New York Times released its annual list of the 100 best restaurants in New York City, and a Georgian cafe from Brighton Beach ranked 23rd!

Tone Cafe, which calls itself the oldest Georgian bakery in the United States, has been in business since 1997 and is famous for its fresh bread from a traditional clay oven. This is where the name comes from, as “Tone” in Georgian means a deep, cylindrical pit oven where bread is baked by pressing the dough against the hot walls.

Against the backdrop of the flourishing* Georgian fusion cuisine scene in Manhattan, it seems to me that Tone Café’s critics were captivated by the opposite: the authenticity and legendary heartiness of traditional Georgian cuisine. On the other hand, this only underscores the extraordinary interest in Georgian culture in general and Georgian cuisine in particular among New Yorkers of all stripes.

*Let me remind you that Laliko received the Michelin award in 2025, Chama Mama was in the Michelin Guide before that, and Ubani is one of my favorite restaurants in the City.