I drove by this place every day without really noticing it. Until they put up a huge red and black sign that said “Russian goods” (in Russian). I stopped by the store to check it out. It is interesting how a variety of Mexican, Russian, and European foods come together to form a broad selection of foods that can be found in no other store. This market has all the essentials I usually buy - dairy, produce, sweets, meats, and the rest. The only thing I did not find was batonchiki - Russian soy candy.
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Not too long ago I was notified of a new internet Russian food store russianfooddirect.com
It has a great selection of all the necessities and more. The prices are reasonable, shipping is almost free or very discounted across the US. The categorization is great, it even features kosher and diet selections.
Couple of people mentioned Slavic Shop to me and I finally got to posting it here. Slavic Shop is a convenient neighborhood Russian store that has a neat deli section along with your traditional Russian grocery products. The cheese selection is pretty good. Also, I found a few mentiones of the chopped chicken liver and borscht being exceptional. Slavic Shop is conveniently located on Saratoga Ave in San Jose.
1080 Saratoga Ave
San Jose, CA 95129
(408) 615-8533 Directions
Samovar is located at 1077 Independence Ave in Mountain View. It is a cozy deli cafe that usually has fresh bakery along with salads, traditional Russian foods such as buckwheat, bird’s milk candy, and pelmeni. The selection has greatly improved over the past year and definitely has great value. There is also the Russian Club bookstore/movie rental place in the same space. I find it very convenient - get some pirozhnye Kartoshka then rent a Russian movie that recently came out and maybe get a nice book to read.
Not that long ago Samovar started a catering service as well as “cooking on demand” - they will make fresh dishes upon request. There is also a new banquet room that is available on the weekends.
A new restaurant called Sadko recently opened up in San Francisco Richmond district. It is a very cozy place with great home-style cooked meals. Very affordable too. Something to definitely try at Sadko are filled blintzes.
Sadko is located on Clement street between 23rd and 24th. Give it a try if you are in the area.
Sadko Restaurant
2229 Clement St
San Francisco, CA, 94122
415-666-3420
A reader has informed me of a newly Russian food store in San Jose on Almaden Expwy called Kalinka. It is a very new store and I couldn’t find any information about it online. I will definitely check it out myself as soon as I come back to bay area from vacation. Meanwhile, if you already visited Kalinka, please let me know how is it.
Kalinka
5025 Almaden Expwy
San Jose, CA 95118
408-723-1861
My mom and my sister went to San Francisco last weekend. While walking around the downtown, they stumbled upon Samovar Tea Lounge located just across from Yerba Buena Gardens. Mom said that their she had the best Russian tea she ever tried. And my mom knows tea. Especially Russian teas. She grew up in Russia.
They also told me that Samovar Tea Lounge has a nice selection of deserts and appetizers including blinchiki. Surprisingly, there is a plenty of Asian dishes in the menu as well. Samovar Tea Lounge has 2 locations - 1 in Castro and one in Mission district. I am definitely going there next time I am in the city…
A friend of mine recommended me EuroMix as a place that has friendly staff and a great selection of not just Russian food, but other European delicassies as well. Located in the heart of Oakland, this store is something worth visiting while in the area.
Although Milk Pail market is not an entirely Russian food store, it has gained popularity among Russian people of bay area because it sells a lot of Russian products. Russians call it “Korovka” which translates as ’a small cow’ from Russian. This store is most famous for its dairy section - the selection of cheeses is just humongous plus it carries things like kefir, liquid yogurt, kolomenskiy, and tvorog. The prices are way below supermarkets’ prices, hence another reason I prefer Korovka. Their produce is always fresh, bread has a crispy crust, and you can always find some sort of an Eastern European delight for tea time.
… or Plov Uzbekskij. I found this great listing on Russian Yellow Pages about an Uzbek cook who makes and delivers real plov around Encino area in California. There are a few types of food he makes including Samarkand, Fergan, and Holiday plov, mashkichiri, samsa, and salad. He has reasonable prices per pound and free delivery. Unfortunately, he doesn’t deliver in my area but if anyone checks it out, please let me know how the experience was.
“I drive 50 miles from San Jose just to buy bread there” were the words of the person who recommended Moscow & Tbilisi Bakery Store to me. After hearing something like this I will most definitely go and check it out when I have a chance… For now, I have found a few most positive reviews of the place. Pictures look very promising as well. I heard poppy seed cookies and pies are the best. Moscow & Tbilisi Bakery Store is located in the heart of the Russian community of San Francisco on Geary St.
Tbilisi Bakery Store
5540 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 668-6959
“Welcome to The St Petersburger. A place where you will find a vast collection of Russian gifts such as matryoshkas, watches with the Soviet and Russian symbols, porcelain, linen, fascinating stone decor, Faberge eggs, Khokhloma, Gzhel - and the best of Russian souvenirs and handicrafts.” - This is an excerpt from the home page of The St Petersburger - Russian memorabilia, food, and souvenirs store. Although this is not a specialized groceries online store there is still a wide selection of various Russian delicacies. What I found to be the most interesting detail about The St Petersburger is that among food and souvenirs they offer Faberge eggs.
The website description says “Russian Food Online, Affordable Prices, Huge Selection”. It reflects the content pretty well, I must say. I like the design of this store - everything has a Russian spirit in it: the fonts, the images, even the layout. This store would be more convenient for people on the East coast, because shipping to the West coast states is extra $10.
This internet store of Russian foods features a great selection of authentic Russian dishes and drinks. This website is very well organized into sections and categories that allows for easy browsing and finding what the consumer is looking for. My personal favorite is the Cosmetics section. It features the Dead Sea line of cosmetics that makes me nostalgic and brings back memories of my hometown stores.
Here is another online Russian food shop. It is specialized in canned and other long-term storage food items such as dills, candy, canned fish, etc. They even have borsch soup for sale. This store has a flat rate for shipping to anywhere in the world. The website adress looks a bit suspicious I thought, but I double checked - it is http://www.eroticuniverse.co.uk/
Why limit my site to physical stores and restaurants? There is a great deal of Russian food portals online, which are not worse, and even better sometimes that the walk-in-able ones. Here is a great example: http://www.russianfoods.com/ . It has all the necessities like groceries, pharmacy, Georgian wine, flowers and souvenirs, books, videos, and other very useful Russian things. The only inconvenience about this type of store is you’d have to pay for shipping and wait for your food for a couple of days.
One of my earlier posts is about Europa Express restaurant in San Francisco. I also mentioned there was one to be opened in Mountain View. It finally did. I was craving for some vareniki so I decided to stop by and check it out. Not just I found vareniki but also quite a few other great necesseties. I was pleasantly surprized by the variety of foods and beverages the store has. Just the meat section itself is worth coming for. The prices are lower than average, there is a deli section for a quick bite, a wide books and videos selection, along with quality foods. This store is definitely worth checking out.
Europa Express
(650)968-1686
2554 W. Middlefield Rd.
Mountain View, CA 94043
This great Russian seafood restaurant is located at one of the Ferry buildings in San Francisco. If you are ever in the mood for some Russian seafood, Tsar Nicoulai cafe can offer a large selection of caviars and other delicassies to try. It is open every day except Monday.
Tsar Nicolai Cafe
(415) 288-8630
1 Ferry Bldg
San Francisco, CA 94111 Directions
Russian Family Bakery, Deli and Bistro serves the real Russian food according to various sources. If you are ever in the mood for some kasha with beef stroganof
(8 votes, average: 3.5 out of 5)
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