Ollayos, and
zakuski, or snacks, prepared by ECC's Chef Douglas Yeomans, who will talk about Russian cuisine and food sustainability.
The work of designer Anastasia Panibratova, the dining room features a riot of color, from ruby stars pinned to gold ceilings and crimson ribbons against snow-white walls and statues, but the menu brings to mind Valentin Serov's famous painting Girl with Peaches, the fruits replaced with a mountain of
zakuski, Russian hors d'oeuvres.
In Georgia, beetroot is pounded with nuts, garlic, coriander, a little cayenne and red wine vinegar to produce a rough mixture that can be eaten as part of a
zakuski spread, similar to meze.
Sunset food editor Margo True's rave recommendation led us to Kachka ($$$; kachka pdx.com), whose bowls of Siberian dumplings and hot and cold
zakuski pair perfectly with chilled shot glasses of Horseradish vodka.
The filthy business having been disposed of, someone ordered vodka and
zakuski. (81) Lyons, who had arrived in the USSR in 1928 as a pilgrim to the shrine of Communism, left under a cloud, disillusioned, in 1934.
According to Elizabeth Schneider, the author of Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables, not so long ago were the days you could hardly find a Russian tabletop without a snacky spread of
zakuski ("little bites").
Next is her autobiographical "The Gastronomical Me," followed by "An Alphabet for Gourmets," which takes readers from A for dining alone to Z for
zakuski (another word for hors d'oeuvres).
Another Russian culinary tradition can also be attributed mainly to the climate, namely the
zakuski table which became popular during the 19th century.
In The Netherlands, it's called rijstaffel; in Sweden, it's smorgasbord; Spain has tapas; Russia has
zakuski; Denmark offers smorrebrod.
On Graf Ignatiev boulevard, tempting smells waft from stalls selling
zakuski - filo pastries and dough-based snacks stuffed with cheese or sweet fillings - which Bulgarians devour in the morning.
According to Siemering, "You can [also] find cichetti (the small snacks served in Venetian wine bars), cuchifritos (fried bar snacks of ten referred to as Puerto Rican soul food), kushi (Japanese tidbits grilled shish kebab style), meze (Middle Eastern tapas spelled with one of two z's, depending on what country of what tavern you're in), scuie scuie (Italy's answer to tapas) and
zakuski (the Russian counterpart.)"
