Photograph by George Sakkestad
Taste of Russia owner Yelena Khasin holds a dish of pasta.
By CRISTY SHAUCK
Near the corner of Bollinger Road and De Anza Boulevard, in a strip mall tucked behind Fast Frame, Taste of Russia serves up solyanka, the soup of the czars, alongside borscht, the mainstay of the peasants.
Just inside the door a case of cheeses and European cold cuts--including three different kinds of bologna and more than a dozen other meats, salads and condiments--allows customers to see what they are ordering.
Old-fashioned candy store jars of sweets, cans of smoked fish, caviar, teas, pickled vegetables and other imported delicacies line the wall opposite the deli case.
Fed up with their government system in St. Petersburg, owners Mark Khasim and his wife, Yelena, immigrated to New York with visas sent by Mark's sister in 1979.
A year later, the family moved to San Jose, where Mark could put his electrical engineering degree to use here in the valley while Yelena raised their two sons, Alex, now 21, and Leon, 14.
Yelena dreamed of owning a restaurant, and in August 1995, the couple bought the Ultimate Slice Deli, adding a dining area and a kitchen.
Although the restaurant opened for business in September 1995, "it took a year to do the kitchen," Khasim said.
In that new kitchen, the chef, who hails from the Republic of Georgia in the southern region of what used to be the Soviet Union, makes soups, piroshki, blintzes, pelmeny ("Russian ravioli"), chicken Kiev and Mediterranean dishes like shish kebab.
In addition to the usual thirst quenchers, customers can try kefir, a yogurt-based drink, which sits alongside chocolate cottage cheese in the dairy case. Fresh cakes from the Kiev Bakery in Brighton, N.Y., are also available.
The richly colored, hand-painted wooden tiles depicting figures in traditional garb which line the dining area were a gift from friends, said Yelena.
The catering side of the business offers the usual sandwiches, fruit, cheese-and-cold-cut platters; hot dishes like beef stroganoff, stuffed cabbage rolls and lasagna; and pricier trays of smoked sturgeon, salmon, and caviar.
How does Yelena feel now that her dream has become reality? "Good. Satisfied. But in the dream I wasn't so tired," she said, laughing.
Located at 7335 Bollinger Road in Cupertino, Taste of Russia serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sat., 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sun. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 22, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.