More from Kalinka Malinka

Keeping in mind the great experience here last time, we initially thought that we already knew exactly what we were going to order without even looking at the menu: the great dumplings and the beef stroganoff. Fortunately, we did open the menu, and we tried a couple other dishes. Well, OK, we still grabbed the dumplings (they are too good to pass up), and this time there was a huge chunk of melted butter on the side; great for the taste buds, but not so great for the arteries. We also tried some of the pickles to start, such as the ogurchik cucumbers and the gribochek mushrooms. Admittedly these weren't anything special, but they weren't bad either. One is apparently supposed to eat them with vodka.

Moving on to the golubtsy, or cabbage rolls filled with pork and tomato sauce, as well as the Chicken a la Kiev. The golubtsy pretty much tasted like they looked, but were decently hearty with a solid glob of meat wrapped in cabbage in a mildly sweet Thousand Island-like sauce). The Chicken Kiev was surprisingly crispy, and of course it had the quintessential burst of butter. Thumbs up! And all this time, I'd always thought the Chicken Kiev was some lame product of the greedy mass-produced American frozen food industry, not an actual Ukranian dish. (I guess Beef Stroganoff fits a similar description too.) My only gripe with this place is that they use the same sides across their main courses; a little more variety would be nice.

Well, one of these days, I'll have to get out to Russia. I'll just have to get my stomach ready for lots of hearty and meaty food...to be washed down with vodka, of course.