After seeing this article about Stolovaya, a Russian restaurant in Gravesend, I knew I had to visit. It wasn’t just the cheap vareniki, or dumplings, it was the pickle plate. If you’ve read my post on Kebeer you know I love a good pickle plate, and Stolovaya has a doozy. Sure, there are a few pickled cucumbers and some pickled cabbage, and a pickled red tomato. But there are also slices of pickled apple (which a regular viewer on my Flickr stream tells me she remembers from her childhood in Romania), a few pieces of pickled watermelon, and a cluster of pickled grapes. The grapes were my favorite — a light vinegar flavor that disappears when you bit into the grape, releasing the sweet juice inside. The watermelon was also excellent, like the grapes a fantastic mix of sweet and sour. In fact, the pickled cucumbers were my least favorite thing on the plate. I could go on for longer about how much I loved this pickle plate, but I think you get the idea.
Oh, and the potato-mushroom vareniki are pretty great too.
Stolovaya — 813 Avenue U
brooklyn vegetarian 
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