Piroshky Piroshky UPDATE - Seattle, WA

When I think of my Seattle trip all those years ago, PIroshky always comes to mind.  It was a whirlwind of Russian rolls, both savory and sweet, with such perfect pastry crusts and wrappers.

I jumped at the chance to pick them up from a Playa parking lot last week, hoping to revisit Seattle in my stomach. The nostalgia didn't disappoint, but the pies themselves sure did. The packing job was poor, some a little squished from the weight of the ice packs, flimsy paper bags failing covering pies getting soggy with melting condensation. 

They do heat up well enough, but the oven temp and time they give you leaves the center cold. It's a battle to calibrate, and I only have so many pies to mess with. 

My favorite is the seasonal Swedish Meatball. It has big, tender meatballs in every bite, and every bite is awesome. 

Smoked Salmon Pate was smoky, a flaky fish with a balanced cream cheese to stick it together, but not so much that it's cheesy.  

The Moscow Roll is unusual, in the best possible way. Cream of wheat adds texture and dilutes the bavarian cream. Makes it a little more interesting. 

Apple Cinnamon is one you'd recognize. A run-of-the-mill roll with Granny Smiths sticking out. I like the tart twist, and it's a lovely classic.

Beef & Cheese is a dense one, a savory starter if you're looking for a meal. It's a brick of ground beef, heavy on the onion. I like it, but not everybody would agree.

The Cinnamon Cardamom Braid tastes as pretty as it looks. Cardamom adds an earthy aroma and spices up the citrus. 

Chocolate Cream Hazelnut is so delicious, buttery-sweet like a pudding in solid form. 

I'm still a sucker for their Rhubarb. Sweet and tart like strawberry, it's hand pie with extra crust. 

Nothing is better than getting your piroshky hot and fresh, and delivery, especially the way they pack it, puts a real damper on these delicious things. I still love this place because I've seen what they can do under the right condition, but next time I get Piroshky, I'll do it in Seattle.

Piroshky Piroshky - Seattle

Off the cruise ship and onto the streets of Seattle. Not traditionally a food capital, but definitely rising in the ranks.

The food adventure begins at Pike Place Market because the first thing I want is something that isn't processed, mashed, or made into compote in a corporate, cruise-ship kitchen.

I would kill for a Fresh Rhubarb pie, and I can smell the dough baking from 20 feet away. No bloodshed required, but the line will try your patience at the ever-popular Piroshky Piroshky. The golden, baked-this-morning, hand-pie crusts are a sight for sore cruise-eyes, and this square of fresh rhubarb is to-die-for, with a filling of sweet cream accented by a pulpy tang.

Steam is still rising from the Potato and Cheese as I claw it open. The potato is soft and salty, a baked potato in a half-moon pastry; firm cheddar topped with a fresh breath of dill.

The best-selling Beef and Cheese is a baked bowl of salt n' pepper ground beef sprinkled with more yellow-melt. It's basically a beefaroni-cheeseburger, Russian style.

The Smoked Salmon Pate is oblong with a mid-line suture and a whimsical fishtail that barely holds back the ample belly of finely-chopped salmon flakes. The blend of woodsy smoked salmon with a modest cream cheese paste enriches the smoldering flavor and turns the flaky texture luxurious.

Piroshky Piroshky, small pies small pies, with crusts that leave a lingering impression and fillings that are hard to forget. So what if I didn't see Russia from anyone's Alaskan house; at least I got to taste Russia from Pike Place. 

Palate-Pleasing Pomegranate – San Diego

If I had to make a list of my favorite words in the English language, fusion would make the top ten. Not that I would ever make a list that nerdy…or at least if I did, I wouldn’t tell anyone…hypothetically speaking, of course. But all nerdy denial aside, I really do like fusion. Fusion depicts the coming together of concepts, ideas, and sometimes objects, and both are often better because they met. Maybe we need a little more of that these days.

My favorite form of fusion occurs on a palate, from a plate. While foods of Asian fusion tend to be hit-or-miss, Pomegranate had the right idea when they combined the literal “meat and potatoes” of Russian cuisine with the lesser-known gastronomies of its neighbor Georgia.

My familiarity with Russian cuisine limited at best, but everyone has heard of the beet soup Borscht, a pomegranate-colored broth, boiling with all the fresh, hearty-yet-light sweetness of a rarer root vegetable. And when it comes to borscht, Pomegranate doesn’t miss a beet.

I know very little about Russian cuisine, and the only exposure I’ve had to “Georgian” cuisine takes the form of an entire pig in a barrel-shaped grill. Then again, Florida-Georgia Line is one of my favorite bands right now so I figured I’d give the Russia-Georgia line a chance.

Believe me, crossing that Georgia line was one of my better decisions ever, a decision in the form of Khachapuri, a bread-bowl of dripping, gooey cheese made just that much goopier when mixed with a soft raw egg.

The best part of the khachapuri is that it goes well with anything you order. Dip in the borscht, and the cheese will give the beets a new dimension. Mix and eat with the Salad Sampler, and the veggies will balance out the dairy and starch. I didn’t care for what was basically the Russian version of a mayo-loaded potato salad, but I loved all the others. The Lobio is light and full of spice- and walnut-flavored beans. The Carrot Salad is sweet and simple, and since no Russian experience is complete without a good beeting, the Kavkaz Beet Salad doesn’t disappoint. The Ikra Badrijannaya is full of smoky, garlicky eggplant made with the perfect soft, seedy texture, and I think they’re onto something when they call it the poor man’s caviar. How can something as simple as a salad taste so good? Beets me.

At an American wedding, the perfect mix of “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” promises a lifetime of happiness, and every culture prefers a combination of their own. Every culture has their own tradition when it comes to dumplings too. The Chinese are perhaps the best known, with endless combinations of ground meats and various veggies, but chicken n’ dumplings have pleased many an American generation, and Italian ravioli is not to be sold short. The Geo-Russians also have their version, the Vareniki, which seems to borrow from its neighbors near and far. The body of tortellini, the thicker wrapper of an Asian dumpling, plus the cheesy, smushed potato filling of a Portuguese pierogi melds into a masterful mix.

So many mixes had me craving a simple Russian Beef Stroganoff, with its tender cubes of beef in a savory sour cream. But even this dish is partly borrowed. Although it’s traditionally served with mashed potatoes, this version has you spiraling sauce around rotini al dente. As the server astutely explained, “Americans like it with pasta, and it just tastes so good”.

I know that Russia is the literal meat and potatoes of cooking, but I could only hope the Georgians weren’t vegetarian. One bite of the tender meat-falling-off-the-bone shank of Chakapuli lamb had me eating my thoughts. Sure, I prefer the stroganoff, but this lamb is straight-off-the-spit good!

I love my cultures, and I love my traditions, but if SimCity is any indication, it’s the power of fusion that powers the future. When our cultures combine their power…we get Captain Planet. And when we combine the two great countries of Russia and Georgia we get an amazing place like Pomegranate. Seriously though, multiculturalism is fun, multilingualism is awesome, and mixed babies are both attractive and smart. Rihanna and Chris Brown aside, can you think of anytime when collaboration wasn’t for the better?

Brookline Bites at Cafe Stoli - Brookline

The Table: The funnest (is that a word?) table I’ve ever had is at Café Stoli, and yes, it is worth the trek to Brookline Village to sit here. Why you ask? Read on…

The Chairs: This high-back red booth is ensconced at the middle of this minute restaurant and its two seats wrap around to face the window to the street. Perfect for the Dixie Chicks who love wide open spaces (that’s an old country song for those who are too young to get the reference) and ideal for those who love watching people walk by/interact and making up their conversations “Date Night” style.

The Soup: My first taste of borscht will not be my last. It’s the Russian take on mom’s tomato-soup-and-grilled-cheese-after-sledding. Makes sense considering the weather in Russia (which I sadly cannot see from my house). Except mom’s tomato soup was never bland…

The Salad: Never in a million years would I have expected to fall in love with the salad. The baby argula is crisp and bitter and the flavor is enhanced by salt, pepper, and maybe some oil and lemon juice (?). It’s so simple but it may be the best salad I’ve had this year...no flavorless-water-they-call-iceberg-lettuce served here!

The Meat and Potatoes: My one sticking point here was the presentation of the food. I can’t tell if it’s totally baller or totally retirement home/a-clean-plate-is-a-happy-plate when you’re 5 years old. In all fairness, it is pretty ballsy to divide a plate into 3 sections and serve mashed potatoes, zucchini and carrots, and beef stroganoff separately – there’s no hiding flaws here, and honestly, I couldn’t find a single flaw, especially with the beef stroganoff.

The Verdict: “Less is more” seems to be the theme at Café Stoli but all I want is MORE.