Reviews for Stolovaya

04/03/2009 - MenuPix User
Squirreled away in a crappy strip mall in the Great Northeast, wedged in between a bingo hall and a grocery store, who looks to find a magic portal to the Old World? Stepping through the door, we found a smallish dining room of maybe a dozen tables presided over by a big LCD TV playing a Russian variety show that seemed like the quarter-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest. From behind the takeout counter toward the back came a cheery, imposing Russian girl in after-school clothes who immediately began to treat us like royalty and never stopped. The table wobbled, but it was immaculate. There were paper placemats and napkins, but there were also real carnations in a vase. The dishes and flatware were of eclectic vintage and origin, but the food they conveyed was wonderful.

We ordered the cold smoked fish platter, and just as I was asking my companion what she supposed was taking so long, out it came, and we saw what had taken the time. A pretty arrangement of lettuce and garnish held ample portions of sweet eel, heavily smoked butterfish and delicate lox. I had the Russian schnitzel (not great, but I didn't know what it was), like a ho-hum meatloaf, undistinguished but fresh and good and well-prepared, served with a dab of homemade cole slaw and tomato slices. She had zhazkoe, a little lidded crock full of a sort of veal stew, hot as hell and delicious. Two bottles of water brought the bill to around $32, not bad at all for a trip to Russia on a Friday night.