“What even is Russian food?” is what many of my friends ask me whenever I tell them that I love my native cuisine. It saddens me that so many people have not experienced the beauty that is vareniki, piroshki, borsch, and so many other foods that have frequently appeared on my dinner table at home. While I will confess that some Russian food frightens even me, a seasoned Slavic cuisine consumer, most of it is deliciously satisfying and, admittedly, quite fattening. And so, this article isn’t simply about me venturing to San Francisco to test the authenticity of their Russian cuisine, but also about showing the student population of Berkeley that this food isn’t terrifying at all! I will admit though, the eating part was pretty great.

After three hours of overspending at Union Square, my friends and I took the bus to Inner Richmond, an area of San Francisco that is home to many Russians. I found a café with the rather charming and entirely not Slavic name (“Cinderella Bakery”) on Yelp and after perusing the menu deemed it authentic enough. I felt like I was at my grandmother’s house when I stepped inside; the smells emanating from the kitchen definitely brought about some nostalgia.

One look at the sweets they offered in the glass cases told me that I had found a gem. They had cookies, Napoleon cake, honey cake, poppy seed buns, and many other Russian pastries. The woman behind the counter and all the cooks, were Russian, and most of the other customers, like me, spoke Russian to them; this cemented the idea that this place was authentic before I even ate the food.

Now, about the food. We ordered several dishes and then split them, to our great enjoyment. We ordered borsch (a traditional vegetable soup with beets, potatoes, and a million other things, served with sour cream and rye bread),

olivie (the Russian version of a potato salad with chopped turkey, egg, pickles, peas, and many other vegetables),

potato vareniki (dumplings filled with potato and fried onion, served also with sour cream),

a fried piroshok with beef and cheddar (essentially a bun with filling),

and a baked piroshok with potato and mushrooms (also a bun with a differently prepared dough).

We also ordered three desserts: cherry vareniki (dumplings filled with sour cherry and served with sour cream – you’re noticing a trend here right?),

Napoleon cake (a French dessert called mille-feuille that the Russians adapted – it’s puff pastry dough layered with custard and topped with powdered sugar and possibly crack, judging from it’s highly addictive qualities),

and a box of assorted cookies including cinnamon walnut, poppy seed, and jam-filled.

We had to catch a bus back so we couldn’t sit down and eat at the café, unfortunately. We ate on the bus instead. We didn’t care that we probably looked insane, passing plastic containers of food back and forth and exclaiming “Oh my god that’s so good” throughout the journey. The food was delicious, and reminded me so much of my mother’s and grandmother’s cooking that I desperately wanted to go home and demand that they make me more. It was definitely worth a bus ride, and I highly recommend that you all stop being afraid of Russian food and visit Cinderella Bakery and Café.

Cinderella Bakery is located on Balboa St. and 6^th Ave. The easiest way to get there is to take the BART to Powell St. (I also recommend stopping in at Powell Center, which is essentially the most enormous mall I have ever seen in my life), and then take the 31 bus toward Ocean Beach to Balboa St. and 6^th Ave.

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