{"id":13681,"date":"2020-02-23T18:15:29","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T02:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/?p=13681"},"modified":"2020-04-15T17:48:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T00:48:08","slug":"easy-pace-russia-dinner-odessa-mama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/easy-pace-russia-dinner-odessa-mama\/","title":{"rendered":"Easy Pace Russia: Dinner Filed Under Odessa (Dispatch #15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Russian<\/p>\n

From St. Petersburg<\/a> in the west to Vladivostok in the east, the Russian Federation is one very, very large country. Stretching 20,000+km (12,000+ mi), it shares its borders with no less than 16 other sovereign states, and has a maritime boundary with the United States. Remember Sarah Palin? She boasted she could see Mother Russia clear across the Bering Strait from her front porch in Alaska.<\/p>\n

\"wetlands<\/p>\n

With more than one-eighth of the earth\u2019s inhabitable land area, there\u2019s plenty of room to accommodate a population of 144m from 160 different ethnic groups. Diverse and multi-cultural, you\u2019d think this variety would translate well in the kitchen, right? Well, it certainly does.<\/p>\n

\"Insight<\/p>\n

Enjoying a break in the official itinerary after today\u2019s walk around Red Square<\/strong><\/a> and a glimpse inside the Kremlin<\/strong><\/a>, I \u2014 a guest photojournalist invited by Insight Vacations to experience its Easy Pace Russia<\/em> journey \u2014 am looking for a restaurant recommendation, on my own ruble, and I don\u2019t have to look very far. Gennady, our GQ-worthy tour director-concierge-storyteller, tells me straight away, \u201cGo to Odessa-Mama, it\u2019s one of my favorite Ukrainian kitchens here in Moscow and it\u2019s where Muscovites dine. You\u2019ll love it.\u201d Well, I\u2019m out the door quicker than you can say, \u201cDoctor Zhivago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"the<\/p>\n

Just a ten-minute stroll through a park from my hotel \u2014 the Radisson Royal, one of Stalin\u2019s \u201cSeven Sisters\u201d skyscrapers that\u2019s been converted into a five-star luxury hotel overlooking the Moscow River \u2014 I arrive at no. 7 Ukrainskiy Blvd., home to the 37th ranked out of 11,000+ Moscow restaurants by Trip Advisor<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Odessa<\/p>\n

\u201cForget about diets, calories and revolutionary gastronomical breakthroughs,\u201d comments Egor Osipov, the founder of the restaurant. \u201cJust sit down and relax as if you were back at your family home and indulge in the tasty, elegant and hospitable food straight from the heart of Odessa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"young<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty lively tonight as the restaurant is packed, but the hostess says she can clear a table in about ten minutes. So I stay out of the way of the busy wait staff, enjoy a glass of the house white \u2014 a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc \u2014 and listen to a young musician playing traditional tunes on his squeeze box over in the bar.<\/p>\n

\"Odessa-Mama<\/p>\n

Like Mother Russia, Odessa-Mama is as diverse as it is tempting, with ethnic dishes reflective of the multi-cultural city overlooking the Black Sea for which it is named: Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish, Armenian, Greek and Romanian. I scan the special menu selected from recipes created by celebrated Chef Oksana Perkina, a true Odessian who really knows her way around the kitchen, and decide on a starter and a main.<\/p>\n

\"Jewish<\/p>\n

The Jewish salad leads off. It\u2019s a healthy (read, large) portion of fresh baby spinach, roasted eggplant and slices of crunchy cucumber drizzled with a tahini sauce and topped with crushed hazelnuts. Delightful.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

And, I savor one of Chef Perkina\u2019s favorites, an oven-roasted poussin<\/em> chicken. This young farmyard bird, stuffed with dried apricots in a honey-cream-rosemary-melted butter sauce and surrounded by cubed red beets and a knot of fresh scallions, is, to say the very least, TO DIE FOR.<\/p>\n

If it weren\u2019t for the fact that I only have one more day in Moscow, I\u2019d be back in a heartbeat to savor more Odessian ethnic fare at Odessa-Mama. You were right, Gennady. I absolutely loved it!<\/p>\n

\"Insight<\/p>\n

Go here for detailed information on Insight\u2019s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted itineraries around Europe<\/a>, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.<\/p>\n

\"Trinity<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no sleeping in tomorrow as the normal \u201crelaxed start\u201d is thrown out the window so we can board the motor coach early to cruise about 70km (42 mi) outside Moscow to OD. Say what? OverDOME, not overdose, at Saint Sergius Lavra, the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n

Spokoynoy nochi!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quicker than you can say \u201cDoctor Zhivago,\u201d The Palladian Traveler satisfies his craving for some Odessian fare as he tucks in and files his 15th dispatch from a table at one of Moscow\u2019s most popular restaurants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[2712,3595,540,174],"class_list":["post-13681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-travel","tag-moscow","tag-odessa-mama","tag-restaurant","tag-russia"],"yoast_head":"\nEasy Pace Russia: Dinner at the Odessa-Mama - Traveling Boy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Palladian Traveler satisfies his craving for Odessian files his 15th dispatch from a table at the Odessa-Mama, one of Moscow\u2019s most popular restaurants.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/easy-pace-russia-dinner-odessa-mama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Easy Pace Russia: Dinner at the Odessa-Mama - 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