bonnie: a pelmenitsa is a round piece of kitchen equipment with 37 hexagons all in a honeycomb pattern, and you use it to make pelmeni. it's really efficient because before then, you'd have to shape them each my hand. my parents immigrated with their pelmenitsa, so they clearly thought it was important enough to, like, add to their cargo, which was limited. pelmeni originated in siberia. you would form them by hand, and you would throw them out the window into the snow, and they would freeze. as refrigeration

and freezers became commonplace, they became this mass-produced frozen food. growing up, i never even really thought about how pelmeni were something you could make. so at kachka, that's where we started is, how can we take this commodity food and still do it justice, like, make it true to what it is, but just do it better? and i just really wanted to take and make this, like, perfect bite that was just like my childhood memories, but just more intense. ter having thousands of them at this point, that every single time i put that in my mouth, i'm instantly 8 years old.

seymour: hi, bonnochka. bonnie: hi. can i give you a kiss? seymour: you know, there's an invoice from verizon. the invoice from tomani is separate-- bonnie: yeah. seymour: --as you know, and this 35 charge for the-- bonnie: delivery? seymour: for delivery. bonnie: that's good this time. seymour: and this is the global. bonnie: yeah. seymour: ok? bonnie: yeah. seymour: today was horrible traffic. that's why a little maybe later than usual. bonnie: we'll take it anyway. seymour: it's a pretty good load today. bonnie: oh, yeah. seymour: she was asking me to take some other drinks if the [indistinct] not available. bonnie: was the [indistinct] available? seymour: no. and i didn't take

because we have so much sodas from tomani. bonnie: yeah. seymour: there's six boxes. bonnie: mm-hmm. ok. i remember. this is enough to take in. maybe i can get one more. seymour: you can. ok. well... bonnie: i'm going to roll this over and then grab more, yeah? there's plenty to take. bonnie: i only really started thinking about the food that i grew up eating once i was, like, through culinary school. and the way that i looked at it was, the food i grew up eating was broken and maybe i could fix it with some of the techniques that i learned. i was like, "oh, i can do something russian because that's my heritage, but it's just going to be really, like, cleaned up." bonnie: i met my husband israel working together. i brought him home to meet

the family. i gave him the same spiel that i gave any friend or boyfriend which was, the food might be weird. so there was the whole spread, you know, like, a big zakuski table, lots of vodka. we got in the car afterwards. he turned to me, was like, "bonnie, that was the most amazing thing i have ever had." i was shocked. having that validation kind of let me take a step back and reconsider how i thought about this food and made me realize at some point that maybe i had it all wrong. my father's mother, rakhil, she was in a ghetto during world war ii. she escaped in the night. the following day, everyone was executed. she just started traveling east towards russia. she at one point got stopped by a starosta working with the nazis, and he says to her...

[speaks russian] it means "come with me." and so she's trying to tell him that she's ukrainian. and he was like, "oh, yeah, if you're actually ukrainian, how do you say ootka," which is the russian word for duck, "in ukrainian"? she has no idea, but she says "kachka," and that happens to be it, and he let her go. when i hear that word kachka, that's what i remember. i remember that you have to keep fighting, you have to keep pushing and moving. when we were thinking about what the restaurant was for and trying to think of, like, "well, how do you say that in just one word," it just felt really natural that it was kachka. [indistinct chatter] man: there's a big boy there.

bonnie: porcini. karl: sometimes it's not even worth stopping to pick if it doesn't have this dense cap. like, you won't get this like... bonnie: yeah, beautiful. karl: mm-hmm. yeah. bonnie: mmm. seymour: so heavy, uh-huh? ha! bonnie: yeah. israel: this makes such an amazing, like, complex infusion. karl: well, and it's really important that we're hitting it at this time of the season, too. these are, like, the sappiest, the freshest. it's kind of like that new, that new growth, so... bonnie: yeah. karl: just, like, so evergreen and, like, so tender, too. even over the dessert, a little bit of these kind of over the strawberries and stuff. israel: right. so beautiful. seymour: growing up in belarus,

don't forget that that's soon after world war ii. so the country's just fully destroyed, nothing in the stores, and foraging is sometimes the only source of things what you want to use. very big category of foraging back in belarus was mushrooms. you can dry them. you can pickle, marinade. mushroom is a very good zakuska. it's a very good pairing with a shot of vodka. karl: a beautiful porcini rex-veris. seymour: i probably never had, like, a beauty like this with all my belarussian life. karl: what everyone's chasing that can never be found. four years for me picking the same, same little hillside. seymour: we didn't have morels in belarus, i think. at least, i didn't know

abt them. karl: you know, i follow a lot of foragers over in russia, but i don't see a ton of morels over there. bonnie: the freedom you have to cook beautiful food here because of the high quality of ingredients, i can't overstate that. some of the foraged ingredients of portland are the best in the world. when people hear "russian," the assumption is boiled cabbage, beets, gray vegetables. russian food is far more vast and varied. there's berries and mushrooms, and pine cones turn into jam. there's freshly tapped birch juice and incredible preparations of charcuterie. that's the most exciting thing that i can share with people, is to show that it's not just boiled cabbage. there's so much more.

very appropriate to give a toast to earth, to the forest, and all the amazing bounty that it provides for us. karl: cheers to taking care of mother nature. darra goldstein: since 1970, something like 2 million soviet jews have immigrated to the united states. in the portland area, the russian community comprises about 50,000 people. russian is the third most spoken language in oregon. the russians experienced tremendous hardship in the 20th century, that there was no food in the stores. people had to go around and stand in lines for hours and hours and try and find that food. one of the saddest aspects of

soviet life to me was the loss of the kitchen. the bolsheviks thought of food as fuel, as something utilitarian. the women were supposed to be liberated from the kitchen, but instead of cooking for one's own family, they were forced to go into the factory kitchens and cook for hundreds and sometimes thousands. so the idea of food as pleasure was seen as a bad thing. bonnie: when i say russian food, that is a loaded term. my parents emigrated in 1979 from the soviet union. physical, geographically, they were in belarus. but the entire time that they lived in this place, it was never called belarus. it was the soviet union. russia is a country that embodies all of these cultures, now all of these cuisines that have left an imprint because of what happened during

soviet times. darra: the soviet union at the height of its power was comprised of 15 different republics, and it was 1/6 of the world's land mass. a slogan of the soviet era was that the soviet union was a brotherhood of nations. and there were so many different countries, so many different languages, so many different ethnicities, and the idea was to bring them together. the way that played out in cuisine is that many of the specialties of the different republics found their way into russian cuisine writ large. because russia and the united states have had such a fraught relationship for so many years, a lot of people closed their minds to russian food. "that's enemy food." "that's also not good food." there are all these soviet stereotypes, and i really think that what bonnie's doing at kachka is so important because

as soon as you can sit down with people and share food, you can begin to open their minds to thinking about other places that aren't familiar, and to help them discover the deliciousness of these foods. man: how are you guys? bonnie: hey! israel: hey, what's up? how you doing? man 2: how are you? man 1: all right. come on in. man 2: let's drink some vodka. israel: great. good. bonnie: so is this what we're taking it to? and it's getting-- man: yeah, so what we want to do is chop this part up, and then we can get a little finer and get closer into it. if we try to do that with

the peeler, we're just going to lose too much product. bonnie: i think just over the year we've figured out what the right size was for, like, getting a good amount of flavor over a certain period of time. the thing that you guys really nailed is getting it, you know, to have a little bit more stability with, like, a really good filtration process that doesn't strip away any of the flavor. ryan: without removing--yeah, exactly. bonnie: so... woman: has the horse radish always been your most popular? israel: always. and, like, surprisingly so because-- bonnie: we didn't expect it to be. woman: oh, really? ha ha! bonnie: yup. israel: i mean, it is easily, like, it's easily one of the most traditional infusions just anyway all across russia. and so it was a no-brainer to have, but we thought it would just be this kind of timepiece on the menu that no one really ordered, and it flew. darra: vodka is synonymous with russia, for better or for worse.

vodka originally wasn't even called vodka. it was originally, until the late 19th century, called vino, wine, but then it came to be known as vodka, which is a diminutive of voda, which is water. there's this connection with one of the elements for life. erik: ahh. ryan: it's never, never overly sweet with that honey. that's the thing i like about it. it's just the right balance with horseradish and spice. erik: it's the perfect balance between the horseradish and the honey. israel: and that spice comes on, like, right at the front, and then it just tapers right off, and the honey comes right in. bonnie: it's got a little bit more of a kick to it this time. ryan: but that honey just kind of tones it down right away, too, doesn't it? it's... bonnie: no, i think is where it needs to be. traditionally, though, you know, this is just something you have with a whole bunch of food and just, like, bites and shots. so, like, pickles, cured fish.

ryan: you guys should have really brought us some pickles and sausage and fish. israel: probably, yes. ha ha! ryan: where did we go wrong? bonnie: next batch, next pallet. israel: infusions at kachka and throughout russia and eastern europe are an integral part of the daily life, nastoiki, or something that every household makes. we're making horseradish vodka, for instance, which is heads and shoulders our 1 bestseller, but it's also the most traditional that we have. we also draw from local ingredients and things that are specific to the pacific northwest, when cedar tips are really coming in or doug fir tips or these beautiful little hood strawberries. we use the same techniques that you might do traditionally in russian infusions. and we just use those pacific northwest ingredients to do that.

[sea gulls calling] bonnie: sonny is a fisherman that we've been working with since kachka's opened. he's part of the quinault tribe in washington. what's unique about sonny is that he really understands the product in a way that a lot of other fish purveyors don't. it's really wonderful when you find those sorts of relationships. sonny: so this is the quinault river here, and that's the mouth of the river down there. we have on the reservation 28 miles of coastline. the reservation itself is about 210,000 acres. and right now, we're fishing for coho and kings. that cycle, that pattern of harvesting in the fall time, is really ingrained in us. and it's like, you know, everybody gets excited when fishing starts, and it's really a special time.

on the reservation, we manage our own river, our own system. we've been doing it for thousands of years. we know what we're doing, and we do the best we can. bonnie: i think that's what's really special in our relationship is that you know what we're looking for and really appreciate that product, too. sonny: right. sonny: it's a nice color. bonnie: yeah. sonny: great size. bonnie: the eggs are just

bursting out there, out of the membrane. they're ready to go. sonny: vibrant. bonnie: this is so delicious, fresh. i mean, obviously, there's no salt here. so it's a little bit muted, but just pure fresh salmon flavor. it's just, like, creamy and rich. and just, i mean, there's no--when people think of, like, fishiness when they think of... sonny: clean. bonnie: yeah, but there's none of that. it's so clean and pure, and it just tastes like the essence of salmon. bonnie: caar and roe has a long history in russia. as a result, it is an essential part of the table. it is very common at, like,

a family dinner party to see children running around with white bread and butter and just, like, cut, like, a pavé of caviar. my younger son inhales it. when he was, like, one year old or something, i remember, like, giving him a little bit and his, like, eyes lighting up. one of the best things about being in the pacific northwest is that king salmon and steelhead and other varieties produce really beautiful roe. once you have freshly cured salmon roe, it's really hard to go back to the stuff you can get in jars. darra: a lot of people who go to russia for the first time are presented with a meal, and there's a huge, abundant spread. and only then do you find out that this was not the dinner. this was the zakuska course.

these zakuski, or smalbites, are the appetizers. if you taste no other russian food or have no other russian experience, you should have a bite of zakuski because it really contains the elements that are so important to russians. bonnie: the idea in a russian home is that when your guests come, your table should be entirely covered with foods. that's how you show hospitality. darra: the russians have two words for hospitality. one simply means the reception of guests, but the other comes from the words for bread and salt: khleb i sol': khlebosol'stvo.

so you're giving people that which is most of the earth's most elemental, abundance, and the sense that you were regaling others goes to the core of who the russians are d to russian hospitality. israel: the first time i met bonnie's parents, i showed up thinking that it was going to be maybe a couple other people, and it was, like, 20 people, all extended family, all speaking russian. i do remember there was a lot of noise and a lot of, like, commotion, but when i sat down, all of a sudden, like, that's when things hushed. everyone filled their glasses, and someone would stand up and give a toast all in russian. and i would just, like, hold my glass, hold my glass until everyone stopped and then clinked their glasses and drank. this dance, this cadence, this pattern would continue, and i was enamored. bonnie: eating and drinking are two sides of the same coin

in russia. you can't have dnk without food, and you can't have either without a toast. seymour: russian drinking. i would say the main rule is never drink alone unless you have a mirror in front of you. ha ha! and always have food for every time you drink, and never drink without a toast. instead of saying "cheers," we say something cheerful, like, to everything what unites us, to our roots, to our families. always gives you some idea of what you're drinking for. i remember those glorious days when thehree of us came to this country. it was luba, simon, and me. that's it. and i would like to make a toast to the wonderful land of america, to america and to our family in it. [guests speaking russian] woman: motherland... [laughter] [conversations in russian]

darra: i've eaten at many restaurants throughout the world, and i've eaten a lot of russian food, and there's something about your food, bonnie, that just captures not just the essential flavors of russia, which, to me, are so beautiful in their balance of sour or sometimes a little bit of sweet added in. the sense of abundance, the sense of joyousness that you bring to it, the welcome that people feel when they enter kachka, it's really an extraordinary experience. bonnie: it's really about our parents, these guys. the lens through which i see the world and the way that you see the world is really because of them. and, you know, the way i think about food, you know, might be unique to me, but it's in no small part and mostly because of them, the culture and hospitality that

they instilled in us and now that we get to instill in our children and, hopefully, that they will take on. child: what? [laughter] bonnie: couldn't have planned that better. thank you. but, you know, like... [indistinct]. you know, this is to you guys, really, at the end of the day. seymour: hey, russian party is not complete without a russian song. [laughter] [guests singing in russian] [guests clapping rhythmically]

[laughter and applause] bonnie: it's such a travesty that this food that is so amazing doesn't have a place in this country. and for the longest time, i think there was just a total lack of self-respect for many people that lived through the soviet union. if you actually lived there in that time, you're too close to it. it's too raw, and it takes a generation. it takes people like me who have respect for what happened, have respect for the culture, that are revisiting dishes of their childhood. our driving force has been, how do we get more people to understand and respect the cuisine? i ultimately want people to have this food in their rolodex.

i love when i overhear a table giving a toast and cheersing. it makes me feel like i helped pass on that culture just a little bit. [glasses clinking] [indistinct chatter] íñíññ■?áaa)aaaa

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