What are you feeling today? The subtle hint of sweet beets or the mellow tang of sorrel? Your meal at Casa Ucraniana may leave you with more questions than answers, but rest assured, all of them will be delicious.

Chicken Kyiv Reinvented: “Albondiga al Estilo de Kyiv”

So many unique and tasty items on this gracious restaurant’s menu (and we will get to the borscht conundrum shortly, I promise), but I would like to start by mentioning the rather deceptively-named “Albondiga al Estilo de Kyiv”.

This is not your abuela’s albondiga. It looks like a large croqueta (also a humdrum description, sorry). It contains an herb-filled sauce wrapped in tender layers of chicken, coated in a super-crispy coating, and fried, so that when you slice it open, out rushes a pool of gravy.

On the plate, it looks ho-hum before you slice it open. Then the delight of the revelation after cutting into the “albondiga” allows one to revel in the chef’s ingenuity. One that deconstructs and reconstructs a routine “Chicken Kyiv” into an unforgettable experience in eating. It is served alongside smooth mashed potatoes and a spicy carrot slaw.

Back to the borscht. This is one of the soups I grew up on, though never homemade, always from a jar. And we ate it cold on hot summer days. Other kids were slamming cold Cokes or ravaging ice cream cones, but our refreshment was cold borscht. Not one of my fondest memories.

However, all of those sad afternoon memories are erased by the hearty (and warming) soups at Casa Ucraniana. Red is thick with beets, cabbage, potatoes, and meat, and served with sour cream and garlic rolls. The broth is robust enough to get you through a cold Ukrainian (or Valencian!) winter, but is also light enough to slurp during the warmer months. The sour cream adds a luxurious dimension to the bowl. Dump it right in. (Never thought I’d use the word “luxurious” to describe borscht, but there it is!) 

The green borscht gets its bright color from sorrel, a seldom-used leafy green that has a distinctive, lemony taste. The soup is also loaded with spinach, potatoes, beef, and egg. Adding sour cream makes it even more silky (silky AND luxurious, who knew?). Both of Casa Ucraniana’s borschts stand tall next to the best renditions I’ve had, even at the daddy-of-them-all, the seventy-plus-year-old Veselka in New York City’s East Village.

Classic potato pancakes are crispy and light, served either topped with a creamy mushroom gravy or with sour cream on the side. This is hearty peasant cooking. The chefs at Casa Ucraniana are masters at dishes that stay true to their humble roots, while also being elevated by careful and creative cooking. 

If you want to try classically prepared pickled herring, you can opt for one of two dishes, either topped with a “fur coat” of potatoes, beets, carrots, and mayo, or simply marinated and served with potatoes, pickled onions, and olives. The meat dishes are also stars here, starting with bigos, hunks of stewed beef, served alongside cabbage, carrots, and prunes. The meat is tender and a perfect foil for the vegetables. Calling this “hearty” would be an understatement. The same goes for the simply named “Homestyle Potato with Pork”, which is served in an elegant crock, suffusing the table with aromatic aromas.

And don’t sleep on the classic Ukrainian dumplings! Several versions are offered, from the dainty pelmeni in a light bechamel sauce to the verenyky stuffed with potatoes, chicken, or mushrooms. All are homemade, and, again, the chefs here are adept at turning out genuine versions of Ukrainian comfort food. In fact, everything coming out of the kitchen feels handmade, and the servers seem to enjoy describing all of the dishes to newcomers.

Potato pancakes with mushroom sauce, pelmini meat dumplings, and hibiscus and mint tea. (Photos by Danny Brody)

End your meal with a lovely tea service (hibiscus and mint in my case), and perhaps with a slice of “Prague” cake, an iced chocolate layer cake. It will leave you dreaming of a better future, full of hope, peace, and borscht. And if you’re in a hurry or prefer to feast at home, there’s a small branch of the restaurant with a few seats that does a brisk takeaway business at Plaza España.

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