34536 Tue Feb 22 04:13:54 -0800 2005 2 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 156030 The Piroski Crawl Rankings Renata’s Bakery & Café Large oval shaped flat piroski. Buttery slightly lumpy (in a good way) potato with dill filling. For $1.35 it is a filling lunch. There is a beef version which must be good because it is always sold out. Both piroski’s sell out early on the weekend. Russian Cafe Big potato shaped piroski. There was very little flavor in either the exterior or the fillings. The ground beef was generous. The cabbage … Boiled cabbage inside a roll … No, I don’t think so. Russian Bisto Smaller piroski than the Russian Café. The exterior was stale but it had a nice buttery potato filling. I don’t even like piroskis. However, they looked good at the Russian Bistro. Unfortunately they were the worst due to staleness. I continued the crawl because the owner of Renata’s kept telling me how his were the best, how much every one loved them and he was starting to sulk each time I decided not to buy one. He was right. He does make the best piroski with the best exterior and tasty fillings. One of these days I hope to try the beef. Microwaving piroskis will remove a stale taste, but they increase the greasiness 1000% … yes, one thousand percent. The Russian Bistro is a modern looking, clean restaurant. I only had the piroski and some Russian tea (tastes like Lipton). The tea house is a little bit of a stretch. They only have the one bagged Russian tea. There was a glass bakery case which was pretty much sold out by time I stopped by late in the afternoon. They make there own poppyseed roll. There were some hard cookies that looked like Portuguese biscotos, but they were Russian. . Large plastic bags were filled with pumpkin seeds. There was a small deli with some large wheels of cheese. In the back was a dairy section which had a cheese called ‘sweet kiss’. There were some different and good looking glass jars of fruits like black currents and strawberries. Fat jars of of some sort of eggplant spread looked appealing. They had wines and beers, but the wine was only sold by the bottle. There were plastic bags of six inch whole fish next to the register. They had a lot of local Eastern European breads, a few from Los Angeles bakeries and a cinnamon raisin bread from Latvia. I might stop by in the future to try some soup, blintes and stuffed cabbage. The requisite tv was tuned into Russian cable. The news was on and they were discussing Condoleezza Rice. Here’s a link to the website with the menu. The hot Pastrami and the Veal Roulette sandwiches might be worth checking out. Russian Bistro 2080 S. Bascom Ave. Campbell, California 95008 408.879.8077 telephone 408.879.8078 fax Link: http://www.russianbistro.com/ Tue Feb 22 04:13:54 -0800 2005 0 Krys 1 156082 so, after reading Kry's detailed report of Renata's bakery, we stopped in today for lunch. the two of us tried Klarcho (lamb in a tomato broth soup), Piroski with potato filling, dolma, and a sugar pastry featuring layers of sweet cream and covered with powdered brown sugar. my friend thought the Klarcho was very good and perfect for the current weather. We both tried the piroski and, while she liked it, the filling was a little bland for me - perhaps I will try the beef version next time. I was hoping the dolma would be good enough to bring to my Armenian boyfriend. unfortunately this one is too dry and the grapeleaves are nowhere near the mouthwatering tenderness they should be. I'll continue to hunt for a dolma that is as good as Deli-Up's in the Mission. the powdered pastry was the favorite - the owner recommended this over the other pastries and we both liked it very much. it is light and airy, crumbly and laced with layers of sweet cream. my friend ended up taking a piece of this home with her. The service was very pleasant and the cafe is tucked into a nice little oasis off the general emptiness by Lawrence Expy. I'm looking forward to trying the borscht next time. I also want to try the various kinds of Armenian soda they have. thank you Krys for the great tips/fabulous reports from your piroski crawl :) Tue Feb 22 19:46:56 -0800 2005 156030 0 Trill 2 156089 Well, thanks for the tip about Deli-Up's dolmas. I don't really like dolmas, but it would be interesting to see if I like a good versiom. Unless you have problems with ham, I would recommend the Stalyanka over the beet soup. The pickles sound disgusting, but there are only tiny little pieces and they just lend a slight sourness and don't call attention to themselves. Thanks for satisfying my craving for those desserts ... at least virtually. I'm thinking I'm going to try the walnut stuffed eggplant or the Russian pot stickers next time I'm in the area. Have you tried Clover Bakery down the street? Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/34284#154584 Tue Feb 22 21:23:58 -0800 2005 156082 0 Krys