The war in Ukraine has focused the attention of a local chef, who is drawing inspiration from his grandmother’s recipes to create a new restaurant.
The food is inspired by childhood memories, and it’s a far cry from the traditional restaurants located in Ukrainian Village. The restaurants near the Ukrainian churches on Chicago Avenue offer Old World cooking: straightforward dumplings, stews and hearty cold weather fare. But this latest addition to Avondale is part two for a married couple – now allowing the husband to dive deep into his heritage.
For the last 10 years, Parachute has indulged Beverly Kim’s love of her Korean culture. She and her husband, Johnny Clark, recently closed their other restaurant down the block, and transformed it into Anelya, named for Clark’s Ukrainian grandmother.
“I wanted to do something that was related to myself, that could showcase my own story,” he said.
Clark begins with a zakusky tray, laden with small bites, like marinated mushrooms or head cheese with pickles.
“Zakusky is hors d’oeuvres or snacks eaten with the first drink. Herring, some fried olives…” he said.
There are thin and crispy potato pancakes, served with sheep’s milk cheese and sea buckthorn jam, but also pasta dishes.
“Varenyky is a huge platter and everyone passes it around and shares it, I wanted to treat it more of like a composed pasta, filled with potatoes and comté cheese. Glazed in a saffron chicken stock,” said Clark. “Halushki is kind of like a gnocchi or something; poach them off and top them off with braised short ribs that have huckleberries.
There’s borscht, of course, but Clark’s is a bit different from what you’d see around town.
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“Pultava style borscht is usually made with game birds,” Clark said.
In this case, duck and smoked pears, finished with cultured cream. Kovbasa is similar to the Polish kielbasa, set over a nest of homemade sauerkraut embedded with dried fruit. And then there is holubtsi, typically meat-based, but not here.
“This holubtsi is filled with rice, millet and mushrooms, braised in a garlic cream sauce made with coconut milk,” he said.
Desserts are a must, only because they’re so creative.
Kyiv cake is a classic.
“Layers of sponge cake, apricot jam, hazelnut and chocolate buttercream topped with more crunchy bits of baked meringue,” said Clark. “I would say these are not what grandma would cook. What we do here is just something a little bit different. What I remember from Ukrainian food growing up, but also making that a Ukrainian American experience.”
The bread is dark and the cocktails are inspired – using slivovitz, brandy and kvass – but also homemade infusions.
“As Clark said, he’s not trying to replicate exact recipes from the Old Country, what he is doing is cooking a love letter of sorts to his grandmother, influenced by all of his experience as a professional chef. In Avondale, Steve Dolinsky, NBC 5 News.”
Here's where you can go:
3472 N. Elston Ave.
773-692-2192
