Russian Horse: Food Cart Review

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

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.  

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.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office.

Support WW

Support