Michael's oldest sister took me out for a belated 50th birthday lunch yesterday. We went to a restaurant in downtown Chicago called Russian Tea Time. The room was decorated with samovars and lots of Russian posters. (I took only a few photographs because I didn't want to make a fool of myself.)
I ate borscht (shown below) and pumpernickel as appetizers.
For the main course, I had Uzbek vegetarian "layer" stew, or Domlama. This is the description from the menu:
A vegetarian must: a delightful and succulent stew of potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, tomatoes, garlic, red peppers and cabbage and a touch of cumin. The secret to this great dish is that we put all the vegetables in layers, and while they simmer for quite some time, each of the ingredients fully absorbs flavors of all the other.
It was delicious. Very garlicky though. The portion was so large that I could eat only half of it, so I have the rest for lunch tomorrow.
Finally, we drank a ton of tea in these Russian tea glasses. It was a delicious, strong current-flavored tea, and they kept refilling the glasses as soon as you'd drink about an inch. I have no idea how much I consumed. Good thing it wasn't vodka!
Oh, and Rita made me eat dessert. I had Klara’s Homemade Apricot and Plum Strudel: Strudel with Fruit Jam, walnuts, lemon and our homemade crust; served with berry sauce. It was really good--not too sweet.
It was a wonderful treat, and except for the strudel, I was able to make pretty healthy choices. If you're ever in Chicago, you might want to check it out.
22 comments:
Hi....have been under the heavy workload with cautious developers now....nickle and diming their projects...a lot busier than I was before when times were good. Certainly more stressful as I try to find ways for projects to continue.
Anyway...enough about me. Wonderful that you could go to such a great restaurant. Looks delish! With my ancestors 'passing through' Russia for several generations...we certainly picked up on the food from there as our heritage. But currant flavoured tea? That is a pleasure I have not had. Take care my southern belle!
Good Lord, that sounds amazing.
Ooh, sounds exotic and different.
I'd love to experience it, but I don't think it would suit my very American palate on a regular basis.
Glad you enjoyed!
What a fun lunch. Those tea glasses are really pretty.
What fun! - I've always had an affinity for all things russian. Jay's Sis, BIL & kids have been living in Moscow for the past few years - a GREAT thing for the youngins - Hope your well!
That sounds simply amazing. So yummy and so interesting to be in such a place.
Glad you enjoyed and thanks for sharing.
Can I have some of your leftovers???
Please?
Well you certainly made the menu selection seem very appetizing. I thought there was a Russian Tea room in NYC? I wonder if they are owned by the same people. Glad you had such a lovely day Ruth, you certainly deserve it!
Happy birthday Ruth. You are inspiring to me as you freely admit your age. I still have trouble believing I am Ffff....you know that f-word! Diane
Belated Happy Birthday :)
That sounds YUMMY. I actually love borscht. Hardly ever get a chance to eat it though.
What a nice treat! I'd probably skip the borscht, but the rest sounds wonderful. Glad you enjoyed your meal.
Happy weekend!
That sounds really fun. I love trying new foods. Happy Belated Birthday!
It sounds wonderful. Love the tea glasses. I've never tried anything russian....wait, does baclava count? LOL
That looks like such a fun place with such delicious food! Fun times!
Thank you for your sweet comments about my son's wedding! We had such a great time!
Hugs, Sharon
happy belated birthday..wow..you must've waddled out of there!! That's a lot of (good and interesting) food and lots of liquid ..phoo.. thank goodness for the person who invented 'doggy bags'. When we visited my half sister in Canada in the early 70s (my dad's oldest child, I was the product of the second marriage and only one and hence the youngest of the lot) and we found out about 'doggy bags'. When we got back to Holland where I'm originally from (my sister had emigrated in the 60s with her then, Dutch husband), we were at one of those Dutch pancake houses. Those pancakes are huge , even for me as an adult (am not a big eater to begin with) and my dad seeing that I could not finish my pancake, asked for a 'doggie bag', even using the english expression. After some frowns and original refusals, my dad talked to the manager, explained the concept and the next morning, I had a nice big cold raisin pancake for breakfast, ha!
At any rate, not to take away from your b'day meal. Seriously, it sounded quite good. and you know, I had heard of the russian tea room in NYC but never actually thought of 'russian tea' being a 'real thing'. (ding dong)
Thanks for going out of your way to take some pics, I know sometimes one feels a bit self conscious and later on, you kick yourself for not having taken the pics so..do it again next time!![s]
Ingrid
Happy Birthday! It sounds like it was really fun.
I don't think I've ever had Russian food. I'll have to keep an eye out as our Russian population is growing and I'm sure there is a place around here and somewhere.
How fun to still be celebrating your birthday!
Ruth, so glad you had such fun! Thanks for the picture tour, too. Happy Belated Birthday!
Everything you had sounds yummy! I love anything with beets!! And I was raised on Pumpernickel! Ok Ruth, now I'm hungry and it's almost 11pm!!! LOL
XOXOXOX
Your meal sounds wonderful and the borscht looks like the warm version. The stew sounds delightful and since it had a name I think I'll look it up and see if I can find a recipe. There's nothing like fine peasant food from Eastern Europe. The tea looks like dark beer.
Happy birthday. when was it? I turned 55 in 9/30.
Happy belated birthday! We went to that restaurant on our one trip to Chicago--goodness, that was more than ten years ago. They must be doing something right to still be in business. I remember the service was poor but once the food came it was quite good. Glad you enjoyed it.
Oooh, that looks fun! Happy belated birthday!
I've never had bortsch. I've always thought I might like it. Does it have a very strong beetrooty taste?
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