MOSCOW ON THE HILL (AND BLINIS IN THE BELLY)

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never given much thought to Russian food. Never thought of it as good or bad….just never gave it much consideration.

I suppose that if pressed to talk about it, among the words I might have used in the past would include: peasant food… heavy… filling… fattening… robust… substantial… potatoes… cabbage… beets… and rural.

And yet, in my travels I’ve found otherwise. Because I may have been fortunate enough to have had some of the best of what Russia has to offer…right here in the U.S. of A. (..if it was actually Russian food).

To wit…several times Joanne and I have dined at THE RUSSIAN TEA ROOM, a block south of Central Park on W. 57^th Street in New York. The red and green dining room with bright gold theatrical accents, is rich, vivid and warm. Joanne and I were so young back then and had never tasted real caviar. But we couldn’t ever afford any of the finest glistening black choices like Beluga, Osetra and Sevruga. However, we came close (well, sort of), because the restaurant also had a pink-orange salmon roe at less than half the price of the expensive real stuff. Both were served atop blinis (tiny pancakes) with wads of delicious crème fraiche. Woody Allen, who once sat in a booth next to Joanne and me along the wall, no doubt thought that we were a part of the moneyed glitterati just like him. If only he knew.

After the fake caviar, Joanne and I would most always order the CHICKEN KIEV, oozing with hot melted garlic butter and parsley, or the BEEF STROGANOFF, laced with mushrooms and sour cream over handmade noodles. Once in a while, we would break the pattern and share an order of PELMENI…but more about that later.

As usual, I was star struck by celebrity sightings. In addition to Woody Allen, we also saw Mary Tyler Moore and her co-star Georgette (played by Georgia Engel) lunching in the coveted “lady-slipper” booth – smack-dab in the center of the dining room. 

And then the movie Tootsie came out, and there, in the film, in a red leather booth, sat Dustin Hoffman.

Another spot, opened early on in 1996 and well hidden in a basement on Lafayette Street in lower Manhattan, was PRAVDA, a vodka bar created by Keith McNally – the wizard of New York restaurateurs. Think BALTHAZAR, PASTIS and MINETTA TAVERN. The basement seemed warm, cozy and secretive with low vaulted ceilings, cigarette-stained ocher walls and patinated buttery leather furniture.

Pravda was Soviet-chic, sporting 70 different kinds of iced-down vodkas as well as a plethora of house-infused vodkas. They also were big on caviar, including a do-it-yourself sampling of three iterations. While Joanne and I couldn’t swing the real caviar sampler, we did dig deep enough to share a Smoked Salmon Pizza with dollops of industrial caviar. Soft cheese-filled blintzes with black cherries and sour cream put a nice veneer on our evening of pizza with caviar and big-boy vodka indulgence.

Now Vegas is Vegas, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when I discovered the over-the-top RED SQUARE bar and restaurant in the Mandalay Bay Hotel. It was everything you could have imagined about the USSR, from the emblematic architectural Stalinist style of the 1930s to the soaring 30-foot-high ceilings, as well as a beheaded bronze oversized statue of Vladimir Lenin (whom Stalin deeply distrusted). Most notable about Red Square was its bar, the length of which was ice, cooled from beneath and illuminated. This was the first time I’d seen such a thing. We didn’t eat there – just sat at the glacial bar with dropped jaws, sipping and sipping ice-cold vodkas.

WRITER’S NOTE: Sadly, both PRAVDA and RED SQUARE have closed recently. THE RUSSIAN TEA ROOM lives on.

I should note another restaurant that closed some time ago. This one was local: ST. PETERSBURG RESTAURANT & VODKA BAR, located above Robbinsdale’s American Legion post, near Hwy 100 at 36^th Street & N. France Avenue, in a building that has since been replaced by apartments. This place was FUN – especially if you booked a table on a Saturday night, when there was live entertainment. Invariably, large groups would be celebrating birthdays or anniversaries – maybe even a wedding. The main dining room was a large rectangular space with a stage on one end. Adjacent to it was an intimate vodka bar. We went back again and again.

Perhaps that’s why it took me until recently to make my first visit to MOSCOW ON THE HILL, which opened in 1994 in St. Paul on Selby Avenue, near the St. Paul Cathedral.

It was worth the wait.

To my knowledge, Moscow on the Hill is family owned and operated by the Liberman family, Marina and Naum, who emigrated from Russia not long after the collapse of the Soviet Empire in 1991. In honor of their homeland, the menu seems to be fundamentally RUSSIAN, UKRAINIAN and EASTERN EUROPEAN comfort food.

Yes, vodka plays a central role. But the food was what draw us to Moscow on the Hill. It’s clearly a neighborhood spot with a few curious interlopers like ourselves. Hosts, servers, food runners, managers and even bussers warmly greeted and chatted with what appeared to be locals. I’ll bet they even know their guests’ kids’ names.

A few tables appeared to start by sharing the impressive six-shot flight of house-infused vodkas ($25).  Our group? White wine, Dewar’s on the rocks, and one Shirley Temple.

A nice homey touch was a wandering accordion player, playing what I assume were familiar old-world Ukrainian and Russian tunes. The music selection seemed to fit hand-in-glove with the genuine home-spun vibe of the place. It was not loud or intrusive…just nice.

THE FOOD….

We started with a melty, cheesy and gooey bread boat called KHACHAPURI…….nicely chewy and warm…$11.50.

Crispy potato pancakes called DELUNY were topped with a slightly sweet caramelized onion relish and a dollop of sour cream. I love potato pancakes.

The assortment of appetizers looked so unfamiliar and yet had such appetite appeal, that we just kept exploring.  

ESCARGOT A LA RUSSE…snails bathed with a garlicky white wine butter sauce married with Asiago cheese followed.

PELMENI…stuffed boiled dumplings are apparently foundational to much of Russian cuisine, as they are at Moscow on the Hill, where they appear in several different iterations. We tried ‘em all.

First SIBERIAN PELMENI, which are beef and pork-filled dumplings lavishly buttered and served with a gob of sour cream and vinegar. For an extra kick, order them with the chili-garlic vinegar. It will clear your sinuses.

Then there is PEASANT PELMENI, a step up the delicious calorie ladder. It consists of dumplings also stuffed with beef and pork and mixed with mushroom sauce and cheese, then broiled ($16.95).

DEEP-FRIED PELMENI? Of course! Filled with beef and pork and served with fruit preserve, sour cream, cilantro and freshly grated horseradish. YUM. Another vodka, please.

And finally…VARENIKI, which are of Ukrainian origin and filled with potato and sauteed onions and garnished with sour cream. They’re slightly tangy and soft with Asiago and fresh-cut herbs.  $16.95.

THE MAINS:

Believe it or not, while most all these dishes were a brand-new adventure to me, there is actually one Russian dish that I grew up with in our uber-Swedish household on Central Blvd. in Kewanee, Illinois. I don’t know how that happened, but we had it rather often and I loved it. What was it? BEEF STROGANOFF. But the difference between my beloved childhood rendition was that we used hamburger. Moscow on the Hill uses filet mignon strips…$26.95.

BABUSHKA STEW…braised pork and root vegetables with rice pilaf. This never adorned my childhood dinner table, but I wish it had. Our guest pronounced it, ”hearty and satisfying.”

Actually, another dish of Eastern European origin also graced my pre pubescent dinner table from time to time – stuffed cabbage, filled (as I vaguely recall) with rice. Consequently, I just had to try GRANDAMA’S GOLUBTSY: cabbage rolls jam-packed with pork, beef and wild rice braised in a rich tomato sauce. Were they better than the stuffed cabbage my mother made? I can’t recall. But they were damn good and very affordable at $20.95.

Remember VARENIKI, the Ukrainian dumplings stuffed with potatoes and caramelized onions and Asiago cheese in sour cream? Well, Joanne had them topped with a grilled salmon filet. The Italians say NEVER have seafood with cheese. Joanne snorted, ”What do Italians know…this is delicious!”

Among our sides, we ordered MOSCOW FRIES, seasoned with garlic and fresh dill; OLIVIER, a traditional Russian potato salad with chopped vegetables; and UKRAINIAN BEET SALAD with chevre, walnuts and prunes. All were family sized, all about 10 bucks.

For dessert, we ordered ZAPEKANKA, Russian-style cheesecake with cranberries; PUSHKIN TORTE, traditional Russian cake with alternating chocolate and honey layers…$8.95. SWEET BLINTZES, filled with lemon-vanilla mascarpone cheese, candied pecans and whipped cream, drizzled with cranberry port wine, also offered, there’s a WHITE RUSSIAN TIRAMISU, featuring lady fingers soaked in espresso and Kamora coffee liqueur in whipped mascarpone cream.

I would guess that really good, really authentic Russian food can be found in several major metropolitan areas around the country if you search hard enough.

But is it really necessary to seek it out when we’ve got MOSCOW ON THE HILL right here in the Twin Cities?

My answer….

NYET!

W.T.F.

PHIL