FOOD & DRINK: A taste of Russia FOOD & DRINK: A taste of Russia (December 03, 2003)

By Jane Knoerle

Almanac Lifestyle Editor

Italian, Chinese, Mexican and Thai food are almost as popular today as the All-American hamburger.

Russian cuisine? That's a different story. With so few Russian restaurants outside major cities, most diners are familiar with just a few dishes: beef stroganoff, borscht, maybe chicken Kiev.

Before traveling to Russia in September with a group of food writers, my only taste of Russia was at the annual Christmas festival sponsored by The Nativity of the Holy Virgin Church in Menlo Park. The women of the church work for weeks preparing and freezing such Russian delicacies as pelmeni, pirozhski, and blintzes to serve at their bazaar, which will be held this Saturday, December 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the church hall, 1220 Crane St., Menlo Park.

Pelmeni, Siberian meat-filled dumplings, are the original frozen food. They are made by the hundreds, and, at one time, they were stored outside in huge bags through the long Siberian winter. Russians often brag about how many pelmeni they can eat at one sitting, up to 100. Pirozhki are small pastries filled with meat, mushrooms, fish, cheese or cabbage. Blintzes are ultra-thin pancakes that are filled with cottage cheese, fruit or meat mixtures.
The Zakuski table

My Russian adventure began August 27 when we arrived in Moscow after flying overnight from JFK, via Helsinki. Bleary-eyed, we were escorted into the Balanchine restaurant at Hotel Radisson SAS Slavanskaya, where an elaborate array of zakuski awaited us. Zakuski, which means little bites in Russian, is the traditional way to begin a festive meal.

The table was laden with marinated mushrooms, smoked sturgeon, trout and salmon, bliny (little buckwheat pancakes) served with caviar and sour cream, composed salads, stuffed eggs, pates, and several kinds of crunchy pickles, all accompanied by vodka.

We stuffed ourselves before realizing this was only the first course. Hot entrees and French pastries followed. There are still French influences in Russian cooking, dating back to the days when the Czars were fascinated by anything French.

The zakuski table is similar to the Swedish smorgasbord. Its popularity grew during the 19th century on the great Russian estates, when, because of the cold weather and distances, they were never certain when guests would arrive. Coming in out of the cold, guests would be given a shot of vodka to warm them and food to go with it. (Food is essential when drinking vodka, even if it's just a piece of bread.)

The zakuski table would be a point of pride, laden with goodies such as caviar, hams, smoked fish, salted and pickled vegetables, and filled pastries set out on fine china and silver.

Although today's zakuski table is simpler, an assortment of appetizers before the meal is still part of Russian cuisine.
Moscow restaurants

During our stay in Moscow, we dined at trendy restaurants before sailing up the Volga-Baltic Waterway to St. Petersburg on the cruise ship Vladimar Mayakovski.

Forget those stories of gloomy restaurants serving cabbage and potatoes. There are plenty of cosmopolitan hot spots in Moscow, only too happy to take your money.

Cafe Pushkin, considered one of the best, is located in a building with a former pharmacy on the first floor, and library on the second floor. There are three floors; the price goes higher each floor. Both French and traditional Russia foods are served. A Russian dinner runs from $60 to $80; a French meal is around $100.

Our lunch, on the first floor, included cabbage and caraway soup, beef stroganoff with fried potatoes, tomato and cucumber salad, and a torte made with sour cream.

The next day, lunch at Samovar featured a composed salad, cucumbers and tomatoes, borscht, pelmeni and bliny, all served with sour cream. The borscht was accompanied by little rolls topped with garlic, sort of like our garlic bread. The meal concluded with Turkish coffee, which is full of coffee grounds. "I don't even drink Turkish coffee in Turkey," one of our group quipped.

As "foodies," we included on our sight-seeing agenda not only a visit to the Kremlin and Red Square, but a supermarket, Ramstor, and a farmers' market.

Ramstor, is a sparkling new high-end supermarket selling everything from back-to-school supplies to vodka and caviar. The pre-packaged fruits and vegetables came from Spain, Africa, and Israel. "We used to be the bread basket of the world; now we import everything," said our guide.

We loved the farmers' market, where every fruit and vegetable imaginable was beautifully displayed, along with poultry, meat, eggs and cheese. That's where we saw the babushkas (grandmothers) doing their shopping.

Prices at both Ramstor and the market were high. Our guide told us that while most Russians can't afford a new condominium or car, they are willing to spend a lot on food and little luxuries. For example, Mary Kay and Avon cosmetics are big sellers.

We also stopped in a McDonald's on the Arbat shopping street, where a bride and groom, dressed in wedding finery, came in for a Big Mac to go with their bottle of champagne!

After Moscow's restaurants, the food on our ship was filling but dull. A four-course meal was served every night, and cucumbers and tomatoes were served three times a day. Cheese, cold cuts, and yogurt I can deal with for breakfast -- but cucumbers?

Boris Diedovitch of Menlo Park, who with his wife Tania is a pillar of Menlo Park's Russian Orthodox church, says it's because the growing season is so short and diners want to enjoy the veggies while they can.

Today most Russians live in big cities, but retain their love of the country. Those who can afford a dacha, or cottage, often have a vegetable garden and go into the woods in autumn to pick wild mushrooms. In times past, the garden would yield enough potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onions and beets to last the long winter. Meat would be salted or smoked. Pickles and preserves would add variety when the season of fresh vegetables was over.

One of our stops en route to St. Petersburg was Mondraga, a "created" village on the river begun around five years ago. We had lunch in a log cabin that was both a home and restaurant. As soon as we sat down they brought the zakuski: pickled mushrooms, sauerkraut sprinkled with cloudberries, herring, boiled potatoes (you always have potatoes with the herring, according to our guide, Olga), and, of course, tomatoes and cucumbers. After fish soup, there was shashlik (grilled skewered meat), baked potatoes slathered with butter and garlic, and homemade pastries filled with blueberries or cherries.

Hot tea completed the meal. I learned that the traditional samovar holds hot water, not tea. A strong tea concentrate is poured from a teapot, then added to the hot water.

Another log cabin lunch at Podvorie, outside St. Petersburg, had just as many tempting dishes, all eaten outside at a long table. The waiters wore costumes and we were entertained by singers and musicians as we sipped vodka and sampled the restaurant's specialties of borscht, stuffed cabbage and grape leaf rolls, beef with a special sauce, pickled vegetables and pancakes with foxberries and honey.
Not for sissies

Although traveling in Russia has become much easier in the past 10 years, getting there and getting around takes stamina. There's a lot of walking and many flights of stairs in the historic buildings. Ships have no elevators and few of the amenities we expect on cruise ships.

Sales people are learning to smile, but you still get a lot of cold stares when you don't speak the language. The Cyrillic (Slavic) alphabet also makes it impossible to read signs.

Here in Menlo Park we are fortunate to have a Russian Orthodox Church where the customs of the "old country" are still treasured. Visiting its Christmas bazaar this Saturday for a traditional Russian lunch will bring back memories of my trip on the "Waterways of the Czars."

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