Cheap Eats 2009

By Matthew Korfhage

Forget namby-pamby tea rooms-—Java Man is exactly what Russian restaurants in the U.S. are supposed to be: incongruous, slightly forbidding and sudden in its comforts. From behind the counter of a chain coffee-shop franchise downtown, cabbage rolls ($6.75), borscht ($5.25) and pierogi ($1.85) are laconically served up by a man who looks like he's broken people in half. But man, oh man, is the food good. I just hope the owner doesn't have a daughter in town—he'd probably kill me.

WWeek 2015

Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage has lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Munich and Bordeaux, but comes from Portland, where he makes guides to the city and writes about food, booze and books. He likes the Oxford comma but can't use it in the newspaper.

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