LENT!

Lent ends tomorrow and I'm devastated.

I know, you're probably thinking: What's a nice, Jewish girl worrying about Lent for? Well, I'll tell you. According to Russian Orthodox tradition, Lent means giving up all animal products and basically adopting vegan diet for almost two months out of the year. So what does that have to do with me? Well, since many Ukrainians keep Lent, and many restaurants don't want to exclude much of their customer base during these strict fasts, a good number of these restaurants offer "Lent menus" in the weeks leading up to Easter. These special menus offer 100% vegan food! That means no asking servers if dishes are cooked with butter, no walking out of restaurants after realizing that the only vegan option they have is french fries, and best of all, no special ordering meals, a practice that is sometimes frowned upon in this part of the world.

Though some restaurants offer a pretty limited Lent menu, with a few dishes and maybe a soup or salad, most restaurants really step up and get creative with their vegan dishes. Since lent ends this weekend, I thought I'd make a post all about the best Lent dishes that I've ordered over the past month and a half.

I'll start of with one of the fanciest dinners I ate during the Lent season. A few weeks ago, Melissa, our friend Dave and I went out for dinner at this restaurant called Three Bulgarians on Ekatarinskaya. They offer a mix of Italian, Greek, and Ukrainian cuisines. Their lent menu was pretty extensive and included soup, salad, full entree, and dessert options.

I ordered a Greek salad with tofu "feta cheese" and fresh vegetables...

and the most amazing lasagna layered with spinach and tofu, topped with homemade tomato sauce.


Another one of my favorite places to eat, Kompot on Daribosovskaya, also offered a great variety of vegan options on their lent menu. This soviet-kitsch themed restaurant offers home-style Russian/Ukrainian dishes just like babushka used to make.

Doesn't it look just like a Russian grandmother's kitchen? Notice the large jars sitting on the table? The one on the far right is full of sour cream. Oh well, not everyone keeps Lent! Luckily when I order off the lent menu, servers know to "hold the sour cream."

Here's a vinaigrette, my favorite salad at Kompot. A vinaigrette includes diced beets, carrots, potatoes, pickles and onions. Delish!

Here are some potato pancakes stuffed with grilled mushrooms and a side of boiled cabbage. It doesn't look like much, but it sure is tasty.

Kompot is named after the signature Central and Eastern European drink, kompot, which is most often made of dried or fresh fruit (cherries, strawberries, apricots, etc.) boiled in water with sugar and left to cool and infuse

The best part about kompot is that you can eat the marinated fruit afterward.


So what was my favorite lent food that I've come across? Vegan strudel. Although I do enjoy baking cookies, I've never been much of a dessert person. This dish changed my mind. In Gorsad, or City Park, there's a cozy little cafe with great coffee and a warm atmosphere. Though their Lent menu wasn't too impressive, offering some potato dishes and vereniki, or ravioli-style stuffed pasta pockets, they boasted some amazing dessert options.
Pictured here are their warm strudels, apple and cherry, topped with a raspberry glaze and powdered sugar. Seriously.

Look at these happy faces!


Warm apple strudel and cafe americano? I can deal with that.


Unfortunately, not every restaurant in Odessa embraces the Lenten season. Here's a statue of a cow painted like cuts of meat in front of Steakhaus, one of Odessa's most well known steak restaurants...
And, yes, that is a picture of a flower with meat-petals. Sick!
Apparently March is meat month for Steakhaus.


On a less disturbing note, the one Lent offering that I will probably miss the most is not a fancy lasagna, nor is it a warm dessert or even a fresh spring salad.

Its a roll.

Offered in a local supermarket just down the street, these vegan rolls are stuffed with either cabbage and onion or mashed potatoes. At about 30 cents a piece, these rolls have been great, fast options for breakfast and midday snacks.


Little Lenten rolls, you will be missed.


SaM.