For someone who often eats a lot of the same foods on campus, Taste of Europe is more a journey than a meal. A “Choose Your Own Adventure” novel, if you will. This premiere choice for your Restaurant Week excursion is located at 440 Court St. Upon pulling into the parking lot, the outside is a bit unassuming, but when you enter, it’s like being transported to somebody’s cozy, yet somewhat lavish living room. A friendly staff will greet you and seat you in the adjoining room. The atmosphere is homey and warm — somewhere between a larger dining room and a hometown diner.
The first course on their Restaurant Week menu is a soup or salad; I ventured for the path of soup. There I was given three options: borscht, lentil and, for those willing to take a chance, toscana. The toscana soup was something entirely new to me, but was a great starter to my meal. It was hearty meat soup containing sausage, bacon, potato and onion.
If this meal is an adventure, then your menu is a map, and you’ll want to explore it for a while before you decide on an order. You might find that you’ll need some translations, so here is a little handy guide to some of Taste of Europe’s dishes. One of the first things you’ll see on the menu is something called holupki, or stuffed cabbage filled with rice, pork and carrots. Bonoosh is a dish of cornmeal, mushrooms, onions, bacon and feta cheese. For those looking for something closest to meatballs, try the kotletu, or fried chicken and pork patties. Tefteli is another option, consisting of chicken, pork and beef in a mushroom gravy. Lastly on our list of Eastern European delicacies is plov, or seasoned rice and baby carrots.
Wanting to gain as much of a sense of the menu as I could, I ordered what seemed to be one of the more diverse options. Two holupki, two kotletu and six pierogi. Side note: I’ve grown up eating pierogi. The kind that comes frozen from a box. This experience was entirely different. The waitress presented me with my next choice. What kind of pierogi did I want? Potato, cheese, cabbage, blueberry, cherry or apple? “Potato,” I said. Not my most adventurous choice, but fate had other plans. She told me that I could mix and match my choices, and frankly, I was taken aback with delight. So many of the numerous dinner options here come with pierogi, and if you don’t take advantage of this special dish, you really are missing out.
But back to the holupki — I always just assumed I never liked stuffed cabbage, but I’ve never had holupki before. It was delicious, and I walked away with a new appreciation for a vegetable I once ignored. The kotletu tasted good, while a bit dry for my taste. Still the meal altogether was warm, nourishing and filling. If you manage to still have room for desert, try the sweet ptashine moloko cake.
So you’ve reached the end of your journey, and you’re a better person for it. Traveling to Eastern Europe might be out of reach, but eating at Taste of Europe during Restaurant Week isn’t. If all of this hasn’t convinced you yet, just know that they have garlic knots doused with sauce for the beginning of your meal, and if that doesn’t entice you, I don’t know what will.