Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City
One of the few cuisines to not fully hit the mainstream in the New York dining scene is Russian. We have hip chef-driven Laotian, Filipino, Austrian, Ethiopian, and more. But I can’t really think of a cool Russian place. Veselka is the closest we get but they’ve been around well before the foodie moment began.
There are a handful of fancy old-school Russian restaurants in Manhattan and plenty out in the communities of Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay, There is Georgian and Albanian food somewhat represented, but not in the hip world that Tzarevna has been serving.
As I walked through the lower level restaurant and past the narrow kitchen into the brightly colored and festive dining room, I realized I had been here once before. This was the original space of the very first Mission Chinese in New York. That restaurant has since moved and expanded to Brooklyn, but I remember coming through this space back in 2012.
It’s been pretty much transformed and although I was here earlier in the evening, I could tell it has potential for an exciting night.
The menu is also a bit surprising for this kind of cuisine. Tzarevna is owned by a husband and wife team – he has worked in the restaurant industry since he was a teenager and she is Russian and serves as front of the house manager. It’s a very similar story but not always with such exciting culinary results.
Lots of traditional Russian ingredients and dishes are incorporated into cold tapas, hot tapas, and the gutbomby bread known as khatchapurri. I could tell this menu is created for sharing and larger groups.
But I was flying solo (as I often am) and not looking for anything too intensely rich. So while the stroganoff, schnitzel, and veal dumplings sounded promising, I kept things a bit lighter.
Beet and apple salad was very nice and refreshing with lots of crisp cold bites from the main ingredients along with celery. Crunchiness came in the form of a walnut parmesan crumble and peach mousse provided a bold sweetness.
But the hot dish I tried transported me to an earthy forest somewhere in Siberia. The roasted maitake mushrooms were perfectly salted – meaty and crisp with a wift of smoke. An unexpected addition of Italian stracciatella cheese provided a luxurious richness. And then it was balanced with a red pepper puree and a few bright cippolini onions. It was a dish fit for a Tzar or his daughter (a Tsarevna).
We needed a restaurant like Tsarevna. It tells a similar story that we love (husband and wife team introducing the masses to a lesser-known cuisine) and serves up excellent food. It does not look like they are open for delivery during this crisis, but here’s hoping they make it back smoothly and more eaters discover the exciting possibilities with Russian cuisine. I know it’s high on my list for a return visit. Price: $14
| TZAREVNA |
| 154 Orchard Street (between Stanton and Rivington Street), Lower East Side (917) 388-2814 |
| taverna.nyc |
