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An authentic Eastern European menu.
At Babushka's Kitchen, stuffed cabbage served with green beans and bacon, and cabbage and noodles.
hoto by Michael A. Foley/Rycus Assoc.
Babushka’s Kitchen, a new restaurant on North High Street in the Clintonville/Beechwold area, serves Polish and other Eastern European dishes. Eastern Europe’s climate, terrain and culture are (in a word) hearty, and so is the food. Take pierogies, for example—massive potato and cheese-filled noodle dumplings. Because the food is rich and the portions large, you may want to visit the gym before and after a meal here. Particularly if you try the cream cheese and butter cookies called kolachke.
Babushka’s is located in the space that once housed the departed but not mourned Scottie MacBean coffee shop. Not a whole lot has been done with the place; it’s still like a nice cafeteria, with simple wooden chairs and Formica or wood tables. A reasonably priced all-you-can-eat buffet is offered on Sunday.
Let’s start with those pierogies. The outside noodle was thick and the filling thicker; the inside of mashed potato or potato and cheese along with the wrapper added up to starch overload. Now, these big guys needed a bit of salt and pepper, but the sautéed onions and sour cream made for a tasty dish. The kielbasa paired well with the sauerkraut and some of the good stone-ground mustard. I liked the full pork taste of the unsmoked kielbasa, but the smoked variety was good, too. The meatloaf with a tomato sauce coating was OK; it was a little gristly on one sampling, tender another. The roast pork loin, with the restaurant’s good mashed potatoes, was better.
Of the main dishes, I liked stuffed cabbage the best. This is a standard version, with rice and ground meat in a sweet tomato sauce. For only $10.49, two big stuffed cabbages came with a choice of two side dishes—quite a bargain. Aside from the previously mentioned mashed potatoes, my favorite sides were a chunky cinnamon applesauce and a sour cucumber salad. The potato pancakes were only OK; they needed pepper, onion, something.
Sadly, because it can be a wonderful dish, the chicken paprikash also suffered from blandness. Short on paprika, it had little flavor other than salt and sour cream. And the use of chunks of boneless breast made it seem like some kind of chunky baby food.
I tried two sandwiches: open face roast pork with potatoes and gravy, and kielbasa with onions and mustard. Both were good.
As for service, you order at the counter and wait for the meal to be delivered. You get your drinks at the soda fountain or from a selection of bottled drinks, juices etc. No alcohol was served. Prices were beyond reasonable—you can get a filling meal here downright cheap.
Babushka's Kitchen
4675 N. High St.
447-9120
Atmosphere: Family friendly cafeteria.
Recommended dishes: Stuffed cabbage, pierogies, roast pork sandwich, kielbasa, kolachke.
Price range: Main dishes (with sides) $8.49-$10.49; sandwiches $7.49-$8.59; desserts 70 cents-$4.99.
Hours: Tuesday through Thursday 11 am to 9 pm, Friday and Saturday till 10 pm and Sunday (buffet only) till 4 pm; closed Monday.
Service: Order at counter.
Reservations: Not accepted.
Rating: **1/2
-John Marshall
