Kachinka for Portland Dining Month 2019

In my previous post, I shared my top list based on the menu and $ value what I think are the best picks for Portland Dining Month, Aka the whole month of March, when more then 100 restaurants offer a deal of 3 courses for $33 all month long. On my list was Kachinka for Portland Dining Month 2019. I have already visited, and here’s what I recommend. And to help encourage you, I AM DOING A GIVEAWAY FOR A DINNER FOR TWO!

Ok, first, I should establish that Kachinka is in the old Kachka space – aka located at 720 SE Grand Ave, while the Kachka restaurant with its larger dinner menu has moved to a new location at 960 SE 11th Ave. Kachinka is a bit more like a bar with more small plates, including the all important dumplings. Kachinka opens at 4pm. With the opening of Kachka, it is now much easier to walk into Kachinka too since both restaurants can serve guests.

The Portland Dining Month 2019 offerings they have for Portland Dining Month are really a food special that is not usually on the menu – that is one of the reasons it made my list. They are offering (including photos of each dish from my visit on March 1)

• First course: Smoked beets salad with potatoes, pickled carrots and sauerkraut, hard fried onion and sunflower dressing

  

• Second course: Belarusian pork belly machanka. pan gravy, blini and sea buckthorn berries

  

• Third course: Hazelnut and chocolate wafer torte

  

The pork belly machnka is very good – and very unusual and unique to find in Portland or even in any other city that may even offer a Russian restaurant, if they even do. Think of it like a Eastern European take on biscuits and gravy, but swap out the carbs of the biscuits for the savory pork belly with Russian mustard that is contrasted with the bright little bursts of the sea buckthorn berries. Thin blini help you wipe up every last bit of the gravy as you go. The pork belly has crispy edges and melt your mouth centers.

The fact I love Kachinka and Kachka is another reason it made my list. And, so my recommendation is if you are a party of two, one person gets the Portland Dining Month menu. The second person then orders additional dishes to fill your table and to try – not least of is at for the love of all things, order the dumplings. All the dumplings are good – your pick.

The Kachinka dumplings are all boiled and dressed with butter and vinegar, topped with smetana. Get them pan fried for $1 more or add broth. The dumplings can be the vegetarian tvorag vareniki with farmer’s cheese and chive filled, scallion; or the omnivore siberian pelmeni with beef, pork and veal; or the sour cherry vareniki with basil and mint.

I also highly recommend the Spreads served with Borodinksky Bread and Lavash Crisps. You can choose from (or try them all) house smetana butter, hungarian paprika whipped salo, beet and walnut ‘caviar’, pepper and eggplant ajvar, or brindza cheese pashtet.

If you still want another snack, consider the Vladimir Poutine, hand cut fries smothered in mushroom gravy with walnut adjika and smoked sulguni cheese. It’s a little easier to share then the also good but messier Red October meatball sub.

Add on to the Hazelnut and chocolate wafer torte with an order of the Kachinka Plombir sandwich, aka Russian style ice cream.

The infused vodkas here are always an excellent choice, but for winter Kachinka is also offering a special drink, the Baba Sima’s Tonic which is a version of the hot toddy that includes a bit of tableside show of ingredients. The drink is sweetened with a caramelized cube of sugar lit on fire, a spoonful of jam that you can add to the tea or take small nibbles of as you drink the beverage. The drink is inspired from Chef Owner Bonnie Morales’ grandmother’s invention, though her version used 50% vodka. The fire is more dramatic when it is darker, but here’s a look in the light of earlier so you can get a hint of what you get.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Travel Portland website for the other participating restaurants for Portland Dining Month 2019.

So as I mentioned at the beginning, thanks to Travel Portland, I am giving away a gift certificate worth $70 – aka a Portland Dining Month dinner for two. To enter, you can:

• Comment on this blog post one time.
• Comment and tag a friend in the post on my Instagram @pechluck. Limit to 10 comments each with a different tag
• Comment and tag a friend in the post on my Pechluck’s Food Adventure Facebook post referring to this blog post. Limit to 10 comments each with different tags.

Good luck – I will announce the winner at noon on Tuesday March 12.

Which of these dishes intrigues you?