Russian Tea Time restaurant

When you are in downtown Chicago, near Grant Park and the Art Institute, be sure to have a meal at the Russian Tea Time restaurant. My understanding is that historically there has not been a tradition of eating out in restaurants in Russia, neither under the Czars nor when the U.S.S.R. was our nemesis. As a result, Russian cuisine is not familiar to most of us in America. This was only the second time I’ve eaten Russian food, and I love it! The décor looks like Dostoyevsky should be writing at a nearby table, the service is excellent, and even at 2:00 in the afternoon the place was crowed. We shared appetizers among the four of us, starting with Pumpkin Vareniky, which are a type of dumpling filled with pumpkin, farmer’s cheese, garlic and onion with cinnamon butter. We were too chicken to try the Vodka Flights served Russian style—we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to walk back to the hotel! Check out the full menu at http://www.russianteatime.com/