russian cuisine

[matadorpoeta]

i've seen a few russian restaurants around town which have aroused my curiosity. does anyone here know russian food well and do you have any dishes that you recommend highly?

 

[West24]

they only have borsht and votka.

 

[odoreater]

I've been to Russia itself, and all I can say about Russian food is that it generally sucks. The only good restaurants I went to in Russia had central asian food.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by West24

they only have borsht and votka.

Pierogi!

 

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by odoreater

I've been to Russia itself, and all I can say about Russian food is that it generally sucks. The only good restaurants I went to in Russia had central asian food.

+1. I have had soem really horrible food in russia. the best food I had there was an Uzbeki place

 

[Milhouse]

Originally Posted by West24

they only have borsht and votka.

I grew up eating so much damn borsht. It is one of the few things I refuse to eat anymore.

 

[scarphe]

i will agree with the everyone else russian cuisine for the most part should be avoided . I would rank it under british cuisine.

 

[Renault78law]

Which place did you have in mind? I went to Diagelev years ago, it was wonderful and tacky but more of upscale Russian/French fusion. They closed down a while ago. The only other Russian place I've seen is a shady looking spot on Fairfax.

 

[why]

Russian caviar? Kabobs? Pierogies? Blintzes?

It's not all bad.

 

[sonz]

-Borsh ( with some sour cream)
-various buttermilk based cold soups, dont know what it translates too
-They might have shawarma
-if they do breakfast then russian style crepes
-Green pea salad (traditionally this is, apple, spam like meat, green peas, mayo,pickle and carrot
-potatoes with garlic, butter and dill

anything listed, paired with some club soda and rye bread=

 

[dpw]

Originally Posted by why

Russian caviar? Kabobs? Pierogies? Blintzes?

It's not all bad.

agree, it's not all bad. i have been to russia many times and it was difficult to find great cuisine. of course very different now, given all the $$, so you can find anything you like.

years of communist rule forced restaurants to pay attention to needs of the state and not the customer with predictable results. in addition, the farms and animal husbandry co-ops also did not care a whit about the end user and they tended to attract the lesser motivated employees. absolutely no pride in their work and no attention to quality.

demonstrates the major failings of a command economy.

 

[dkzzzz]

I would avoid Russian restaurants in US as they are usually a throw back to Soviet era feeding stations for lumpen-proletariat (nostalgic babushka places).

A few times that I have been to Moscow I always ate too much. Food in Moscow is great, even cheap fast food is beyond anything I can find here.
Pastries and cakes are well worth the visit. It is not your typical crappy muffing or glazed dohnut.

BTW, there is no such thing as Russian cousine really. It is an eclectic mix of middle-eastern and french cousine with some ad libs thrown in...

The best Russian food you can have in US are crepes with black caviar (it is very hard to ruin this combo).

 

[dpw]

Originally Posted by dkzzzz

I would avoid Russian restaurants in US as they are usually a throw back to Soviet era feeding stations for lumpen-proletariat (nostalgic babushka places).

A few times that I have been to Moscow I always ate too much. Food in Moscow is great, even cheap fast food is beyond anything I can find here.
Pastries and cakes are well worth the visit. It is not your typical crappy muffing or glazed dohnut.

BTW, there is no such thing as Russian cousine really. It is an eclectic mix of middle-eastern and french cousine with some ad libs thrown in...

The best Russian food you can have in US are crepes with black caviar (it is very hard to ruin this combo).

cuisine = local food associated with a particular culture. thus: russian cuisine is perfectly phrased and in tune with many generations of cooking and eating

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by dpw

cuisine = local food associated with a particular culture. thus: russian cuisine is perfectly phrased and in tune with many generations of cooking and eating

LOL, you can totally tell that dkzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz gets homesick for his former motherland in that post.

 

[Maharlika]

Originally Posted by Renault78law

Which place did you have in mind? I went to Diagelev years ago, it was wonderful and tacky but more of upscale Russian/French fusion. They closed down a while ago. The only other Russian place I've seen is a shady looking spot on Fairfax.

Yes, I 've been to Diaglev at the Bel Age Hotel on Sunset. After tasting the different vodkas and five different kinds of caviar, I couldn't remember what the sturgeon with champagne sauce tasted like. The live trio of strings, piano and clarinet was a nice touch though. When I feel like Russian, I go to a deli in West Hollywood around Crescent Heights.