We tried to get a variety of everything we could find, since we were really only familiar with goulash as being Hungarian. The first item we tried as an open-faced sandwich served on rye bread. It had a type of pimento cheese spread, slices of salami, sliced bell peppers, and sliced pickles. We read that this type of dish is a common Hungarian breakfast food. Salami is popular in Hungary and they make many varieties.

We also ordered some main entrees. These included the infamous Hungarian goulash and a bean soup, served with sour cream. The Budapest Tourist Guide describes goulash as:

Authentic gulyás is a beef dish cooked with onions, Hungarian paprika powder, tomatoes and some green pepper. Potato and noodles (csipetke in Hungarian) are also added according to some recipes. Hungarian goulash is neither a soup nor a stew, it’s somewhere in between. Though in Hungary it’s considered rather to be a soup than a stew, so look for it among Soups on restaurant menus. If cooked in the proper way goulash has a nice and evenly thick consistency, almost like a sauce. In Hungary gulyás is eaten as a main dish; noodle or pastry dishes, especially the ones made with cottage cheese (túrós csúsza, túrógombóc, strudel) go down well after the heavy soup.

Our soups came with noodles (nokedli or galuska), which were similar to spätzle and a liberal dollop of sour cream.

The entrees came with túrós csusza, which was noodles with cottage cheese, chopped bacon, and sour cream. Chew.hu notes:

Along with mákos tészta (poppy seed pasta), túrós csusza (“TOO-ROS CHOO-SA “) is a Hungarian pasta dish that non-Hungarians are likely to find somewhat outlandish. In addition to heaps of túró (curd cheese), túrós csusza is usually topped with plenty sour cream and cubes or strips of greasy bacon.

We actually found it to be similar to a cross between a carbonara and an alfredo. This is a very traditional Hungarian dish. There’s a recipe for it on Best Things Hungary. Along with this, we were also served szekely kaposzta, which is a traditional stew made of cabbage, sauerkraut, and pork. There are recipes for it online, and it is a perfect winter dish. Our other entree was white rice topped with tomato, which was rather bland.

They had a wide variety on desserts and we received somloi galuska with our meal and ordered palacsinta. The somloi galuska is best described by Eastern European Food at About.com (which also includes a recipe):

This decadent Hungarian trifle recipe is known as somloi galuska (shom-loh-ee gah-LOOSH-kah), and is made with three different-flavored sponge cakes, pastry cream, raisins, walnuts, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream.

The traditional presentation is to scoop three balls of this dessert into a bowl or on a plate, dollop with whipped cream and garnish with chocolate sauce. A modern presentation is to cut it into squares so the different layers are evident. Rum is traditionally used in the simple syrup and chocolate sauce, but it can be omitted.

Ours did not have raisins, but did have chopped walnuts, whipped cream, and rum in it. It was definitely decadent, especially after all the other heavy food.

The palacsinta was a filled crepe. These can also be eaten with savory fillings, but ours had strawberry jam, apricot jam, and nutella garnished with whipped cream. We read that this is very traditional.

By the time we left, the whole building was packed and their was dancing and a big party happening.

Armenian food has a lot of elements that might already be familiar to many from other Ottoman cuisines. Items featured at the festival included lamb and chicken kebab (served in platters off the skewer at the festival, these kebabs were prepared in bite-sized chunks), hummus, cheese pies, dolmas, and baklava.

Advantour describes one key element of Armenian food: the importance of meat and diary:

Armenian Cuisine is as ancient as its history, as the land it is standing on. Armenian

culinary traditions are over 2000 years old. The abundance of meat on Armenian tables is the result of the most ancient development of cattle breeding in Armenian uplands which led to such a variety of livestock and poultry. Cattle breeding was also the source of various dairy products – basically brine-ripened cheeses as well as sour-milk products which serve as the basis for traditional Armenian dishes and beverages.

We ordered stuffed peppers (stuffed with ground beef, rice, vegetables, herbs, and spices), tepsi boreg (baked pastry made of phyllo dough filled with feta cheese and shredded mozzarella), khadayif (dessert made with shredded phyllo, sweet cheese, and simple syrup), and kurabiya (four-based cookie shaped like a diamond or the letter “S”). They also offered eech (bulgur salad), kebab, hummus, yalanchi (stuffed grape leaves), Armenian style green beans, and more.

Stuffing is apparently a feature of Armenian food, according to Armenian Cuisine on Wikipedia, which notes:

In addition to grape leaves, Armenians also stuff cabbage leaves, Swiss chard leaves, eggplants, zucchini or squash, tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes, various meats (particularly organ meats), whole fish, apples, quince, and even cantaloupe.

We really enjoyed the tepsi boreg, which also seems to be common in Turkey since we found a lot of Turkish sites referring to it. This is a cheese pie filled with feta, but the pastry is also soft and almost lasagna-like in the middle. It was cut as a rectangle. Our other cheese pie, the triangle boreg, was filled with muenster and had a crispy phyllo crust. We probably have never met a cheese pie we don’t like.

The food festival had an impressive spread of desserts. Since one of us has a prohibitive nut allergy, we ended up only getting those desserts that did not contain nuts. This included choreg, which is brioche-like bread that was filled with cheese. It wasn’t sweet, but was more savory. This was also available in a twisted variety and this bread is common in the Ottoman Empire countries and is often served at Easter. We sampled a cookie called kurabiya, a sweet and simple cookie which reminded us a lot of Greek kourambiethes and other Middle Eastern cookies we’ve come across. Finally, we also tried khadayif (or kanafeh), which we’ve also seen in the Middle East (especially during the end of fasting at Ramadan). This one had cheese in it and was soaked in syrup and topped with vermicelli noodles. We would have liked to try some of the other desserts, which looked very interesting and unique, but were prohibited by their nut content.

The festival ends on Saturday, Oct. 22, so we recommend going to St. Mary’s, if possible, because this might be the only place to sample Armenian food in the area.

There will be more Russian Bazaars this October, including the Russian Bazaar at St.  Nicholas Cathedral on Massachusetts Avenue near Embassy Row. It will be held October 15 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and October 16 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. This festival will also feature food from the Ukraine, Georgia, and Serbia (and a rummage sale). We’re planning on going, since it is hard to find Ukrainian, Georgian, and Serbian food here (at least from what we have researched so far).

The Russia House is a strange restaurant suffering from an undiagnosed multiple personality disorder, somehow caught between a European (eurotrash?) club, expensive high-end restaurant, mixology bar, and an overcrowded house party taking place in someone’s grandfather’s row house. The owners of the restaurant were (on the phone) very responsive and accommodating, but the restaurant itself on arrival was strange and disorganized. Upon entry, there was no host in sight (just a clueless bouncer) and we had to figure out how to get to where we were being seated (the piano lounge), which was upstairs. The restaurant is tall and multi-leveled, situated in a row house downtown. However, it was unclear how the different sections (or levels) of the restaurant operated. It seemed akin to a nightclub with tons of people packed in all different levels free to mill around. We were seated upstairs at a large table with leather backed chairs near the front of the restaurant. Our reservation was for 8 p.m., but by then the music was so loud that it was difficult to even talk to the person sitting directly across without yelling. The music was of the European variety, loud, and repetitive. The actual restaurant was very dark, as well, especially since the wallpaper, carpet, floors, are dark wood, wine colored, and heavily draped. We were a little thrown off by this loud and chaotic atmosphere because the website stated that:

The Russian-European elegance of the Russia House offers a uniquely warm and comfortable meeting place for anyone appreciative of its friendly and intimate coziness.

Moving on to Russian cuisine, according to Way to Russia:

Russia is mainly a northern country with long-lasting cold winter. The food should give us much energy and warmth to survive during the winter time. So, the essential components of Russian cuisine are the ones, which provide more carbohydrates and fat rather than proteins. Fresh fruits and vegetables are rarely used in food. So, the top five components of a Russian meal are potatoes, bread, eggs, meat (especially beef) and butter. Other popular foods include cabbage, milk, sour cream, curds, mushrooms, lard, cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, berries, honey, sugar, salt, garlic, and onions.

Appetizers, as in any cuisine culture, and Russia is not an exception, serve as small snacks before main course. Russian appetizers (in Russian, they are called “zakuski”) were meant mainly not to provoke keen appetite but to have them with strong drinks. So, most favorite Russian appetizers were all kinds of pickles and cold meats which go best with ice cold vodka. But not only vegetable pickles were used in Russian cuisine, the abundance of sea and river food provided cooks with a wide range of various fish appetizers.

The Russia House’s streamlined menu features small plates, which are small samples of Russia’s traditional dishes, and full size portions located under the large plates section of the menu. We ended up ordering borsch, pelmini, pierogis, wild game sausage sampler, pickled herring croquette, roasted garlic beet dip, and pan seared duck breast (large plate). Wikipedia notes that soups are extremely important in Russian cuisine. In addition to the the most well-known and featured soup on the menu, borsch, Russian cuisine also features several other traditional staple of soups such as shchi, ukha, rassolnik, solyanka, botvinya, okroshka, and tyurya.

Russian soups can be divided into at least seven large groups:

• Cold soups based on kvass (a fermented beverage made from black rye or rye bread) or sour milk (a.k.a. buttermilk), such as tyurya, okroshka, and botvinya.
• Light soups and stews based on water and vegetables.
• Noodle soups with meat, mushrooms, and milk.
• Soups based on cabbage, most prominently shchi.
• Thick soups based on meat broth, with a salty-sour base like rassolnik and solyanka.
• Fish soups such as ukha.
• Grain- and vegetable-based soups.

Wikipedia has some interesting facts about cold soups, the history, and their relationship to hot soups:

Tyurya is very similar to okroshka, the main difference being that instead of vegetables, bread is used. It is rather historical meal, that was consumed during rough times (WWII, WWI, Revolution) and by poor peasants. Also, due to its simplicity, it was very common as a meal during religious fasting. Comparing to other cold soups it is based on water and rarely on milk.

Botvinya is one of the most typical cold Russian soups. It almost became extinct because it is difficult to make. Some modern cookbooks list recipes showing how to prepare it “easily” by substituting some of the ingredients, but cutting corners tends to diminish much of the authentic taste.

A full botvinya consists of three parts:

1. The soup.
2. Boiled “red” (most prized) fish (salmon, sturgeon, or stellate sturgeon), that is served separately from soup.
3. Crushed ice, served on a separate platter or cup.

The name of the soup comes from the Russian word botva, which means “leafy tops of root vegetables“, and the ingredients are in line with the name: leafy tops of young beet, beetroots, oxalate sorrel, green onions, dill, cucumbers, and two types of kvass, then some mustard, lemon juice, and horseradish as spices.

It is eaten as the first course or right after a hot soup, before the second course as an appetizer. It is eaten using two spoons and a fork: the fork is used to eat the fish, the first spoon to sip the soup and the second spoon to put ice into the soup, so it stays cold for a long time. Botvin’ya is eaten with fresh rye bread.

We had a woman from Russia along with us, and she informed us that the borsch served at The Russia House tasted as she would expect it to and that there is a lot of variation in the preparation of borsch in Russia and Eastern Europe. Wikipedia notes that borsch is Ukrainian in origin, and owes its popularity in the U.S. due to Jewish immigrant populations. Borsch usually includes a stock made from beets, although there are some kinds of borscht that do not use beets (instead sorrell or tomato). Borsch is commonly served with sour cream and white bread and in other regions (like Lithuania) can be served hot or cold. In Poland “borscht” (barszcz) may include bacon or dumplings. Unlike borsch, which Westerners most likely identify as the most popular Russian soup, in fact, shchi (cabbage soup) had been the main first course in Russian cuisine for over a thousand years.

We were not able to try kholodets (not on the menu), which are traditional “jellied chopped pieces of pork or veal meat with some spices” or shashlyk (featured on the large plates menu), which is a form of Shish kebab (marinated meat grilled on a skewer). We did try one of the most traditional Russian dishes: pelmini. Ruscusine.com has some interesting facts and a recipe:

Most people associate pelmeni with Siberia, and many recipes and references to the dish call it “Siberian dumplings.” Pelmeni probably did originate in Siberia, where hundreds or even thousands could be made, and then frozen and stored outside during the long winters. However, the dumplings became very popular all over Russia. They are closely kin to “pot stickers,” “pierogies,” and other similar dumplings found in many cultures.

The Russian variety traditionally is made of flour, milk, one egg, and salt. The dough is rolled out fairly thin, and cut in circles approximately two inches in diameter. The filling is usually a mixture of minced pork, onions, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Wikipedia notes that one theory about the history of pelmini is that they were brought to Russia by the Mongols from China. Pelmini literally “ear bread” in the native Finno-Ugric Komi and Mansi languages. The ones we tried more resembled and tasted like tortellini than the pelmini we saw in photos online.  Pelmini often are put in soups. Wikipedia also describes the difference between the pelmini and the pierogi:

The most important difference between pelmeni and vareniki and pierogi, is the thickness of the dough shell — in pelmeni this is as thin as possible, and the proportion of filling to dough is usually higher. Also, the feature of pelmeni is that they do not have a sweet filling, thus differing from Ukrainian vareniki and Polish pierogi, which do sometimes have sweet filling. Another distinctive feature is that the filling of pelmeni is usually raw or uncooked, while the filling of vareniki and pirogie is pre-cooked.

We also read that store-bought and machine prepared pelmini resembles tortellini, which may account for why the pelmini at The Russia House resembles tortellini rather than the pelmini we saw online. Although, these are a lot larger than traditional tortellini and the ones we ate were standard size.

We also thought the pierogi we were served were interesting, since they came in a puff pastry shell rather than the pasta-like shell of the Polish pierogi. We couldn’t find much information on the Russian pierogi, so we think that although they were listed on the menu as pierogi, they really meant this food item:

Pirozhki (singular: pirozhok; diminutive of “pirog” (pie)) are small stuffed buns (pies) made of either yeast dough or short pastry. They are filled with one of many different fillings and are either baked (the ancient Slavic method) or shallow-fried (known as “priazhenie”, this method was borrowed from the Tatars in the 16th century). One feature of pirozhki that sets them apart from, for example, English pies is that the fillings used are almost invariably fully cooked. The use of chopped hard-boiled eggs in fillings is another interesting feature. Six typical fillings for traditional pirozhki are:

1. Fish sautéed with onions and mixed with hard-boiled chopped eggs.
2. Chopped boiled meat mixed with sautéed onions and eggs.
3. Rice and boiled eggs with dill
4. Mashed potatoes mixed with dill and green onion.
5. Sautéed cabbage.

Online they appear to be more bunlike, but the ones we were served were in flaky pastry crust. In addition to these, the blini is also traditional (which we did not try as it was only available with caviar):

Blini are thin pancakes (very similar to French crêpes) which are often served in connection with a religious rite or festival in several cultures. The word “blin” (singular of blini) comes from Old Slavic “mlin”, which means “to mill”. Blins had a somewhat ritual significance for early Slavic peoples in pre-Christian times since they were a symbol of the sun, due to their round form. They were traditionally prepared at the end of the winter to honor the rebirth of the new sun during Maslenitsa (Масленица, Butter Week; also known as Pancake Week). This tradition was adopted by the Orthodox Church and is carried on to the present day, as the last week of dairy and egg products before Lent. Bliny are still often served at wakes, to commemorate the recently deceased. Blini can be made from wheat, buckwheat, or other grains, although wheat blini are most popular in Russia. They may be topped with butter, smetana (sour cream), fruit preserves or caviar.

Other traditional dishes include kotlety (a type of meatball similar to Salisbury steak), syrniki (fried curd fritters, garnished with sour cream, jam, honey, and/or apple sauce), and vatrushka (a kind of cake with a ring of dough and tvorog [cottage cheese] in the middle, often with raisins or bits of fruit, from about five inches to two and a half feet in diameter).

Fish is especially popular in Russia because Orthodox fast days prohibit the consumption of meat. Herring is also popular in Russia, especially pickled, salted, and smoked. Ruscuisine.com notes that “Russian brined herring is cured without any sugar or wine vinegar. The best herring is the one brined whole, with the head on and its innards intact. Cleaning it is actually easier than it looks. Unfiltered sunflower oil is available at Russian supermarkets. It should be dark yellow and slightly cloudy.” Our Pickled Herring Croquettes were large balls of pickled herring covered in fried breading. They still tasted strongly of pickled herring.

The Russia House also boasts a selection of caviar, including beluga, osetra, sevruga, and American sturgeon. We couldn’t afford any of this caviar, however, we did learn that Russians typically consume caviar on special occasions, despite its price. Although only fish eggs from sturgeon can be considered true “caviar,” Russians also eat black and red salmon roe. The Russia House serves all caviar with “blini, chopped Eff, minced red onion and Crème Fraiche.” We also read it is traditional to eat caviar with toast and butter.

Wikipedia has some interseting information about teh types of caviar:

This elegant and expensive appetizer is simply sieved and lightly salted fish roe (eggs). Sturgeon roe is premium and considered the “true” caviar. The four main types of caviar are beluga, sterlet, osetra, and sevruga. The rarest and costliest is from the beluga sturgeon that swim in the Caspian Sea, which is bordered by Iran, Russia and other ex-Soviet republics. Wild caviar production has now survived only in Iran as Russia maintains a self-imposed ban on caviar trade from wild sturgeon. Beluga caviar is prized for its soft, extremely large (pea-size) eggs. It can range in color from pale silver-gray to black. It is followed by the small golden sterlet caviar which is rare and was once reserved for Russian czars, Iranian shahs and Austrian emperors. Next in quality is the medium-sized, gray to brownish oestra, and the last in the quality ranking is smaller, gray sevruga caviar.

Russians doe consume some meats, primarily fowl, offal, and veal. We ordered the wild game sausage sampler, which included rabbit, boar, and venison. We found a reference to sausage in Russia as an upper-class dish. We also ordered the pan-seared duck as a large plate, which was tender and elegant. Although we did not try it, we decided to read up on the infamous Chicken Kiev (chicken stuffed with seasoned butter and then breaded and fried). All we could find about this is from Wikipedia, which notes that “This famous method of preparing chicken is probably not of Ukrainian origin as the name Kiev, the national capital, would imply. The Russian food historian William Pokhlebkin claimed that Chicken Kiev was invented in the Moscow Merchants’ Club in the early 20th century and was renamed Chicken Kiev (kotleta po-kievski) in one of the Soviet restaurants in later years.”

The Russia House has an emormous drink menu, as well. We did not try any of the many vodkas they serve, but we did try some beer, although it has only been open from 1990. One of the featured brands on their menu is Baltika Brewery, which is the largest brewery in Russia and the second-largest in Europe. Baltika is based in St. Petersburg and they also sell beer under the Arsenalnoe, Zhiguljovskoje, and Leningradskoebrand names. They also serve a variety of vodkas from a variety of countries. Other traditional beverages we read about where medovukha, mors, kvass, and sbiten. Medovukha is an ancient drink similar to mead and mors is a type of berry juice. Kvass is an extremely common Eastern European drink that dates back to 989 made from fermented rye bread. Originially it was served during the summer, but today it is commercially packaged, served year-round, and part of a multimillion dollar industry. Commerical kvass production is akin to the manufacturing of soda pop. There is a lot of variation in home brews. Sbiten is another traditional drink served hot, which sounds similar to a cross between mead wine and mulled wine. These traditional drinks were not served at The Russia House and not being inclined to drink straight vodka, we ended up sampling their mixology cocktails or drinking beer. We found their cocktails to be fancy and delicious.

NOTE/WARNING: We do not recommend going here as a large group, as we had a bad exprrience. Although they claim they will split checks, they won’t actually do this in the restaurant. They also won’t charge more than four credit cards per party. Because of the chaotic nature of the service, they may make mistakes on your bill. For us they insisted they were right and were openly rude when we disputed the fact that we were charged for drinks we did not order. Finally, they advertised drink specials on their website that were unavailable to actually order.

TOTAL: ~$500 (for 16 people) or $31 per person

For most of the year the Poles had to get by with only domestic winter fruit and vegetables: apples, onions, potatoes, cabbage, root vegetables.This situation led in turn to gradual replacement of traditional Polish cuisine with food prepared from anything available at the moment. Among the popular dishes introduced by the public restaurants was an egg cutlet, a sort of a hamburger made of minced or instant egg and flour. The traditional recipes were mostly preserved during the Wigilia feast (Christmas Eve), for which most families tried to prepare 12 traditional courses.

The appetizers we ordered included Fried pickled herring, Twarog (farmer’s cheese) smorrebrod, and Placki ziemniaczane with gravlax. The Fried pickled herring turns out to be a Swedish specialty, also known as Stekt strömming. The fried pickled herring was served at room temperature and topped with gravlax and vegetables. It was tart, savory, and tasty for those who like pickled herring. The Twarog (farmer’s cheese) smorrebrod was like a cucumber sandwich, Polish style. Twarog is a fresh white cheese common in Eastern Europe, best likened to a ricotta in flavor, but drier and more solid (the Polish variety is apparently even drier and more solid than other Eastern European Twarog). Placki ziemniaczane with gravlax are potato pancakes served with smoked salmon. Placki is the Polish term for potato pancakes and there is a lot of regional variation in the preparation of pancakes (in Silesia and Beskydy they may be oven-baked rather than fried). Ziemniaczane is Polish for potato, and gravlax is the Polish term for smoked salmon (lox) is gravlax. The predominance of gravlax might be an indication of the Scandinavian bent of some of the food at Domku Bar & Cafe. These were thinner than we predicted, crispy, and savory.

The entrees we ordered were Bigos Warszawski, Swedish meatballs & mashed potatoes with lingonberry preserves, and Stuffed nalesniki (cheese). According to Wikipedia Bigos is:

A savory stew of cabbage and meat, there is no standard recipe, as recipes vary considerably from region to region and from family to family. Typical ingredients include fresh and fermented white cabbage (sauerkraut, kapusta kiszona in Polish), various cuts of meat and sausages, often whole or puréed tomatoes, honey and mushrooms. The meats may include pork (often smoked), ham, bacon, beef, veal, sausage, and, as bigos is considered a hunters’ stew, venison or other game; leftover cuts find their way into the pot as well. It may be seasoned with pepper, caraway, juniper berries, bay leaf, marjoram, pimento, dried or smoked plums and other ingredients.

The Bigos Warszawski at Domku Bar & Cafe was very thick and contained carrots and sausage. In the Polish epic poem Pan Tadeusz the members of szlachta are described eating Bigos returning from hunting:

In the pots warmed the bigos; mere words cannot tell

Of its wondrous taste, colour and marvellous smell.

One can hear the words buzz, and the rhymes ebb and flow,

But its content no city digestion can know.

To appreciate the Lithuanian folksong and folk food,

You need health, live on land, and be back from the wood.

Without these, still a dish of no mediocre worth

Is bigos, made from legumes, best grown in the earth;

Pickled cabbage comes foremost, and properly chopped,

Which itself, is the saying, will in ones mouth hop;

In the boiler enclosed, with its moist bosom shields

Choicest morsels of meat raised on greenest of fields;

Then it simmers, till fire has extracted each drop

Of live juice, and the liquid boils over the top,

            And the heady aroma wafts gently afar.

The Swedish meatballs & mashed potatoes with lingonberry preserves were rich, hearty, and delicious despite the fact that they were not Polish. However, the Stuffed nalesniki we also ordered is a traditional Polish food. Nalesniki translates to pancake in Polish, and is similar to a crepe and can be served either sweet or savory. These were served savory and filled with cheese, kasza, vegetables, and cream. They were incredibly rich. Apparently nalesniki have also been adopted in Russia and the Ukraine.

We also sampled the wide array of drinks and had dessert (bread pudding and beet cake). The bread pudding was not Polish. The beet cake was an interesting usage of an ingredient common in Polish food, to be reserved for those who genuinely love the taste of beets. The drinks offered at Domku are impressive and they have a large bar featuring Polish beers, aquavits (Scandinavian), unique cocktails, and seasonal beverages (we tried to get the mulled beer, but they were out). They have a huge amount of options, including elderflower cordial, Becherovka herbal liquor, lemongrass ginger aquavit, etc.

We also learned that pierog is singular and pierogi is plural, so saying “pierogis” is double pluralizing.

Note: Call ahead if you are set on a certain item, like pierogi, as they were out of several items when we arrived.

TOTAL: $130, excluding taxes and tip (three appetizers, three entrees, four cocktails, three desserts)