Seven years after opening their first location in Chelsea, Chama Mama has opened their fourth location with a new space on Bushwick’s Morgan Avenue, marking both a milestone and turning point for the Georgian restaurant group. Alongside it comes Let’s Chama, a bakery concept devoted entirely to Georgian pastries and breads — an extension of the restaurant’s mission to introduce the depth of Georgian cuisine to a broader audience.
Founded in 2019 by Tamara Chubinidze, Chama Mama’s motto is that every guest is a “gift from God,” a mantra that guides every aspect of the space.
For executive Chef Nino Chiokadze, who has been with Chama Mama since its earliest days, the opening is about continuing a story that began seven years prior.
“I was there from day one,” Chiokadze said. “Chelsea was the first location, and in the beginning, it was the first place where we decided to have Georgian cuisine with traditions, with Georgian wines, authentic inside the open kitchen with some Georgian arts. That was the start of Chama Mama.”
At the time, that introduction required explanation — and sometimes a lot of it. Diners frequently confused the country of Georgia with the U.S. state. The restaurant responded not just with menus, but with storytelling: facts about the country, its history and its culinary traditions woven into the dining experience.
“People mostly were connecting us to the state of Georgia,” Chiokadze said. “We had to explain that, oh, that’s a country, and we are Georgians. We started putting out facts about Georgia and sharing little by little all these stories behind where we come from.”
That educational component became central to the restaurant’s identity. But over time, something shifted.
“After two years, I was feeling like, ‘okay, I’m explaining less,’” she said. “Each part of our department was explaining also — the beverage, the art. Now I feel that I’m more enjoying bringing real Georgian dishes on the menu than explaining too much.”
The evolution is evident in Bushwick, where the 6,300-square-foot space is divided into three interconnected experiences: a main dining room centered around a traditional Georgian oven, a bar and lounge and the Let’s Chama bakery. Together, they create a seamless flow from morning coffee to late-night wine.
“It’s not just delivering food,” Chiokadze said. “It’s delivering the love with it.”
That ethos is embedded even in the restaurant’s name. Beverage Director Lasha Tsatava explains that “chama” means “to eat” in Georgian — a word often repeated by mothers and grandmothers urging their families to the table.
“Chama is the word every Georgian hears all childhood,” Tsatava said. “Mom or grandma will run around you to feed you. This is how we share love. We feed you. That’s why the guest is a gift from God. This is a cultural saying that we adopt, and this is our motto.”
It stretches from the way dishes are shared to the way wine is poured and explained. And at Chama Mama, it’s central to understanding the cuisine itself.
“First of all, we are the birthplace of wine,” Tsatava said. “There is a scientific publication that officially puts Georgia as the birthplace of wine. We are growing up [in Georgian culture] — we know this, we live in that culture.”
For Tsatava, introducing Georgian wine is as important as introducing Georgian food. The country boasts thousands of years of winemaking history and hundreds of indigenous grape varieties, many of which are unfamiliar to American diners. At Chama Mama, the goal is not just to serve these wines, but to contextualize them.
“If you are a wine lover, sooner or later you are going to come to Georgia,” he said. “Your journey is incomplete without Georgia.”
The journey often begins with amber wine, a traditional Georgian style made by fermenting white grapes with their skins in clay vessels buried underground. The result is complex, textured and unlike the white or red wines many diners are accustomed to.
“When you drink amber wine, you are literally tasting a history,” Tsatava said.
At the Bushwick location, the history is paired with a menu that highlights both staples and seasonal offerings. Dishes like khachapuri — an open-faced bread filled with cheese, egg yolk, and butter — remain central, alongside khinkali dumplings, pkhali vegetable pâtés and richly spiced stews. The menu shifts with the seasons, showcasing a variety of the Georgian experience.
“Every time we step into a new menu, it’s a lot of work,” Chiokadze said. “Now we’re stepping into a spring menu at Chama Mama— herbal flavors, crunchiness, sourness. And of course, we have special Easter dishes, baking Easter breads and coloring eggs. When any holiday comes in Georgia, we have special food, and that’s what we are sharing.”
The addition of Let’s Chama expands that seasonal, everyday approach into the morning and afternoon hours. The bakery offers a range of Georgian pastries — both savory and sweet — alongside coffee and specialty drinks. It’s designed to be approachable, a place where neighbors can stop in for a quick bite or linger over a latte.
“Coffee and bakery is something that a lot of us start with,” Chiokadze said. “We have that joy of combining Georgian pastries with some Georgian flavors and twist into that routine that we are all in love with.”
In Bushwick, that routine is already beginning to take shape. Though the location has only been open for a short time, both Chiokadze and Tsatava describe a neighborhood eager to engage.
“We already have newcomers and neighbors,” Chiokadze said. “It’s a lot of introducing.”
For Tsatava, the connection feels particularly natural in a neighborhood known for its creative energy.
“We know we have a lot of artists here,” he said. “Anybody who walks in is like walking over to the studio that they have in a block or so. When we talk about culture and art, there is a lot of story to share.”
That curiosity, he added, sets Bushwick apart.
“I think what connects to the Bushwick community more than other communities is curiosity,” Tsatava said. “There is a predisposed narrative behind everything — through the dish, through the drink, through the cocktail. This will be a separate story — how Chama Mama becomes part of the Bushwick community and vice versa.”
Chama Mama is based in Bushwick, Brooklyn Heights, Chelsea, the Upper West Side and coming soon to Greenpoint.
