Our annual pilgrimage to Coney Island. You’d think I am drawn there by things I miss. Nope. On the contrary, things I don’t miss pull me here. Sort of an affirmation that it was the right decision.
The words “Coney Island” do not revoke any nostalgia at all besides that of watching good bootlegged movies with images fuzzy from multiple copying, scratchy voiceovers but unforgettable stories and acting. Of all things, what immediately comes to mind here are the first images of “Sophie’s Choice.”
We have some favorite places to go for a snack and occasionally try the new ones.
Cafe Kashkar is a little family run restaurant right at the start of the Brighton boardwalk. It’s not fancy or fussy, it’s simple clean, the service is even keeled, prices are more than reasonable, and the food is excellent. All kinds of languages can be heard here the least of all English. For curious about food, this place is definitely worth the trip.
They serve probably my most favorite food in the world — Uighur food.
Kashgar area of China borders India, Mongolia, Russia, and almost all the former Soviet -stans. This food is a mix of Asian and Turkic traditions — lamb, hand-pulled noodles, cumin, bone broth.
Korean Carrot salad. This is the salad no one in Korea knows about. It was created by Soviet Koreans forcefully resettled by Stalin in the -stans republics bordering China. I can make a pretty good one myself — as long as there’s unrefined sunflower oil — but it’s so nice to have someone make it for you. This carrot salad was fresh crunchy and properly spiced.
Kashkar steamed manti, Uzbek dumplings, were generously stuffed will legitimate lamb meat — not gristle and shards of bone how it frequently was back home.
Fried lagman noodles with lamb were smoky, spicy, with a nice crunch. No complaints but…
I personally prefer the boiled lagman version where lamb flavors shine bright and clear.
At this point of our dinner, Tom was giving up but I managed to squeeze one lamb kabob skewer. Sorry, not sorry — it was spiced and grilled to perfection.
Our go to on Brighton was Tatiana restaurant. Perfectly situated on a boardwalk to watch the ocean and people, it is vast and there’s always a table. It used to be a place for my Pozharsky kotlets fix. Not any more. Their service not too hot to begin with went even more down and the Pozhrsky kotlets degraded to a six-kopeks version from the Soviet food store. Once or twice a waiter tried to stick it to me that the dish has been modernized and that’s me who is outdated. Not buying it.
But the ocean view is still good. And look at these mugs! One — and done.
Although picking up this mug I couldn’t hold it and told Tom the story of Vasily Alibabaevich Alibaba from Gentlemen of Fortune and how he ended up in jail.
As luck would have it, it rained. And I mean luck. My favorite weather is cloudy with a little drizzle. Or even not so little.
When thirty years ago I came to the US, my NYU professor told me that it’s Russian in me that wants a stormy weather and that it would change. So far, it hasn’t and, at home when it rains, I turn off all the sounds and open all the windows to hear it better.
Coney Island classic. The weather doesn’t stop the action here.
These scene so remind me of The Gorky Park next to my Moscow apartment and all the 10-kopek rides I’ve been on. A couple of times I made Tom go with me on some of them.
In the Gorky Park, these were called American Hills. They were and still are for daredevils. I am more Ferris Wheel, or Observation Wheel as it was called in Moscow, or Twister kind of girl.
Good night and until the next year, my little Moscow on Hudson. I miss you and I miss you not.