We gathered at 7 for another round in culinary adventures. With the temperatures down to where they should be for New York in January, it seemed a prime opportunity to take in some fare worthy of the coldest temperatures in Siberia. We found our way to Uncle Vanya on West 54th street to try some Russian cuisine. We welcomed some new faces to the group: Jon, JP, Rachel and Britton. The restaurant is very small, and save for the police lights coming and going out of the station across the street, it's a charming place.

 

We started, as we usually do discussing the drinking options. Uncle Vanya actually infuses their own vodkas, which half of us promptly tried. After hearing the options, which included horseradish, garlic and pepper, a few people got cranberry and one person went for the lemon. A few other people ordered Russian beer, which for $5 came in a giant size bottle. Almost Koko's favorite 40 style, but a little smaller. The cranberry vodka was exceptional, and hopefully other people can comment on their beverages as well. The restaurant also offers Geogian wine, but no one tried it out this time.  

 

Our drinks were brought, and we were ready to order. Starter included borsht, cucumber soup, chicken noodle soup with pelmeni, beet salad, blini and vareniki. I had the borsht and it was tasty, but I missed the sausage and other meaty products that I had in previous versions I'd eaten in Estonia and Poland. Ray said that the chicken noodle soup was very good and Mike said the cucumber soup would be better as a summer dish since it's served cold - but said it was good. Liz gave a positive review of the beet salad, to which hopefully she will write more. Matt and Britton shared blini (Russian style crepes), which were served with smoked salmon and sour cream. Both said they were great. There were a few orders of vareniki, which is similar to a pierogi. Basically a ravioli like noodle filled with potatoes and onion, and sometimes mushrooms. While Jen joked about the high carb content of such a dish, most people around the table seemed pleased.

 

On to the main courses….

 

Quite a few people had Chicken Kiev. While most seemed to like this chicken dish, which is stuffed with butter, then breaded and fried, one person commented "it tastes like a giant chicken tender and isn't anything special".  The potatoes that it was served with got universal applause. As they should - they tasted like they'd been stewed in butter for hours.

 

Another large contingent of the table ordered the Beef stroganoff, which sautéed beef with mushrooms in a sour cream sauce. There was a choice to have it served over potatoes or over Russian black kashi (buckwheat). One person got the buckwheat and wasn't too fond of it altogether. People who opted for potatoes seemed a little more satisfied.

 

Matt ordered the roasted duck with he said was exceptional, except that it was difficult to eat and didn't come with a lot of meat. The duck was stuffed with apples and herbs and served with the buttery potatoes. Liz ordered the Kulibiaka, which was a baked salmon inside pastry dough. It looked very interesting, like a whole fish with a pot pie crust, but Liz mentioned it wasn't as great as she had hoped.

 

JP ordered "Grandma's Chicken Patties", which was ground chicken with spices formed into a Patty and fried. He cleared his plate and said they were tasty. I had the Golubtsy, which are basically meatball, wrapped in cabbage, with a tomato sauce and sour cream poured on top. Not a good as my grandmother made, but pretty good nonetheless, and I would certainly order them again.

 

First and foremost, Uncle Vanya is a very charming restaurant with tasty, hearty food. While there were some hits (vareniki, beef stroganoff, Golubtsy and duck), there were also some misses (mixed reviews on the chicken kiev, the salmon pastry, beef stroganoff with kashi). One thing worth noting is that we waited a ridiculously long amount of time to order, and -more importantly- to get our food. We were there for over 2 1/2 hours, and decided to forgo dessert because we just couldn't bear sitting there to wait for it. To their credit there were 2 large parties in the 10 by 20 space, and there were only 2 servers. Still once our appetizers were finished were sitting around a good 30 minutes until our main courses arrived.

 

I would recommend this restaurant for small groups of 2 to 4 people. I think any more than that and the staff is just overwhelmed.  It isn't a very expensive place, with most entrees falling in the $12 to $15 range. Appetizers are mostly $6 and a small carafe of infused vodka (good for 6-7 shot size glasses) is $20.  

 

I tried to give an overview of what I saw and hears, but I hope that those of you there will share your thoughts and comments as well.

 

                                            -- Tania

 

Many thanks to Tania for this review as I was unfortunately unable to attend. Please post your comments as I would very much like to vicariously live through all of your experiences!

 

                                           -- Pilar