Russian Horse: Food Cart Review

RUSSIAN JUNK FOOD: Ponchiki and chicken wings Kiev.
By Matthew Korfhage

A Russian horse must be no-nonsense and a hard worker, built for terrible winters. But at Russian Horse food cart, stick with snacks and desserts—food for dawdlers and wastrels.

The Sellwood cart began as a no-nonsense pierogi slinger. Its dumplings (three for $5) are serviceable if unexciting, with traditional innards of farmer's cheese and potatoes, and options on kielbasa, heavy garlic or add-ons such as asparagus. The pierogi are fried a bit tough, and the rubbery dough must either be drenched in broth ($1.50 extra) or livened with juices from the accompanying caramelized onions. 

Go for the junk food instead, on a menu that's been slowly expanding into capitalist decadence since the cart opened in March. The chicken wings Kiev (four for $7.50) are a clever casual-food update on the old Russian chicken-breast dish. The wings are deep-fried in heavy breading, doused in herbed garlic butter and tanged up by lemon. It's artery-tightening bar food for old-country hockey fans, and it's great. The potato pancakes ($6.50), meanwhile, are slathered in housemade applesauce—alongside onions and sour cream—for a beautifully sweet-savory, crisp treat.

Get the desserts, however, and you're golden. The pierogi are best ordered with a magma flow of dark chocolate inside (three for $5), and lately the cart has been serving a rotating array of little tarts filled with ganache and peppermint, pumpkin or pecan. The syrniki (three for $2.50) are basically tiny Dutch pancakes, powdered with sugar and touched with lemon zest. But perhaps my favorite are the most humble: Ponchiki (three for $3.50) are yeasty tennis balls of fried dough made with farmer's cheese—cakier, creamier versions of a sour-cream doughnut. They're terrific.

So forget Russian horse. Get lazy. Russian show pony.

  1. Order this: Chicken wings Kiev, potato pancakes, ponchiki.
  2. I’ll pass: Savory pierogi. 

EAT: Russian Horse, Southeast 13th and Lexington streets, 971-599-1346, russianhorse.com. Noon-8 pm Wednesday-Saturday, noon-3 pm Sunday.  

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