Dining Out / A savory trip to Mother Russia

Tag : Potatoes Carrots Onions Cabbage

One cannot help but think that the old-fashioned lighting fixtures,wood floor, attractive waitstaff, good wine glasses and hearty foodwould make Chichikov feel quite at home here.

Although the restaurant claims to offer European cuisine, theobvious specialties of the house are Russian, in many cases with adistinctly French flair. This harks back to pre-revolutionary dayswhen French chefs managed the kitchens of many upper-class Russianhouseholds.

My meal opened with a pate that was based in part on ground chickenand beef, which were mixed with halved pistachio nuts and springonions to form a firm base.

To this mixture, the chef added butter and then, in a distinctlyRussian touch, Marsala wine (the French use either Cognac orCalvados), pressing the mixture into a casserole that has beenlined with goose breast, folding the goose breast over the top ofthe pate and then baking slowly.

The just coarse enough country-style pate was just firm enough, theflavor was rich and, spread on rounds of toasted brioche with justa bit of butter the dish was a treat.

The dish was said to be served with roasted garlic but whatappeared in its stead was a rather disappointing slice of tomato ofno particular charm that was best just pushed to the side andignored.

From there it was on to an even more country-style offering, a deepred borscht, which contained a perfectly soft and ideally fattychunk of beef along with carrots, onion, white cabbage, potatoesand of course red beets.

That this is a dish with its roots in the peasant kitchen isundeniable but as Italian minestrone soup is sometimes referred toas the "queen of soups," this kind of borscht is indeed entitled toits title as the "king" of soups, the kind no one eats delicatelybut digs into with a spoon, a knife, a fork and, once at the bottomof the plate, even with his fingers.

Classic beef Strogonoff

Staying with the Russian theme, I made my way on to a portion ofvareniki. Vareniki (or varenekes in Yiddish) is nothing more thandough filled with potato puree and fried onions and folded overinto half-moon shapes but, when made right they are fit for tzars,tsarinas and peasants, Jewish or not.

The ones I received, served in a generous portion in a deep bowlwith cubes of butter melting over them to make a sauce, had beenseasoned perfectly with salt and pepper, and boiled until the doughwas cooked through and the filling was piping hot. Whatever one'sroots, these are good enough to make anyone wish they had been bornRussian.

The list of main courses is extensive but who was I to refuse thebeef Strogonoff, the dish most consider the quintessential Russiandish. No Russian dish has caused more historical confusion thanthis well known offering but no one is quite sure after whichmember of the royal Strogonoff family it is named and mosthistorians credit the dish to French chef Charles Briere who wasworking in St. Petersburg when he invented the dish in 1891.

In any case, the dish I received was indeed a classic - thin slicesof beef sauteed together with mushrooms, onions, and bits of barelysour pickles, all seasoned with salt, pepper, nutmeg and tarragon.

In a true nod to French cuisine, the dish had been made with sweetcream and not sour cream and the result was a delight, the pile ofPersian rice in the center of the dish being just fine forfinishing off the excellent and just salty enough sauce thatremained after the meat had been consumed.

The dessert of my choice had nothing whatsoever to do with Russia.The distinctly Swiss mini-chocolate bomb, a ball of dark,bittersweet chocolate, was so dense it had to be cut with a forkand knife and so rich it could only be declared an absolute sin. Myclosing espresso was strong enough to clear the palate of thatsuper-concentrated chocolate and was much appreciated.

Menus appear in a host of languages, including French, English,Italian, Spanish, German and Hebrew. What was surprising is thatthere is no menu in Russian.

As for the wine menu, there is a good selection of primarilyIsraeli wines at reasonable prices and, for those who want to showoff, a few champagnes that cost up to NIS 2,500 per bottle. Basedon the dishes I sampled, the food bill for two will come to areasonable NIS 311 to which a bottle of the Chardonnay of Segalwill add an equally fair NIS 98. Whether for nostalgia or for a funexperience in Franco-Russian cuisine, a good bet. I shall return.

Baba Yaga: 12 Hayarkon St., Tel Aviv. Open daily 12-11 P.M.Telephone: (03) 516-7305.