This was my first taste of Russian food and with nightmare visions of hamburger helper beef stroganoff influencing me, I was nervous about about what I might taste. However, I was more than pleasantly surprised by Tverskaya. I was thrilled. 24 hours later, I am still thrilled. In fact, I'm in love and can't wait to go back.
For appetizers, we had Beef Blinchiki, which are perfect crepes filled with flavorful beef and drizzled with sour cream. We also had the Vereniki, magic dumplings filled with magic potatoes and magic onions that made the world seem like a much nicer place.
My husband had the Chicken Kiev, and it was delicious and buttery with a hint of dill. The "home style" potatoes and onions were crispy, salty, sweet, and tangy all at the same time. I had the Mushroom Blinchiki as an entree, and the chef gave me a side of buckwheat. The mushrooms were amazing and the buckwheat surprised me because it was so fragrant and almost floral. It tasted almost like a slightly hoppy beer. I also sampled the beef stroganoff, which was at least one million times better than any American style stroganoff I've ever had.
Dessert was decadent. We had Praga cake, which was a dense and moist chocolate layer cake with a rich ganache. The Napoleon, a flaky and nutty pastry, was also very good and a bit like a non-sticky baklava. The dessert crepes were highly addictive and each one had a different mix of fillings - apples, berries, raspberries, pears, peaches, nutella. Oh, and on the side of the crepes, a dollop of pretty pink homemade cherry ice cream.
Our service was great. The waiter was attentive and funny. We were also able to bring our own beer without any corkage fee. The level of food we had did not match the low cost. The chef paid attention to every detail and each dish felt like a present. The food has seemingly simple ingredients, but the flavors are complex, and layered, and all-around awesome. It was so much fun to eat here. I will definitely be back, probably before the month is out.