NYCReview
photo credit: Carina Finn
Varenichnaya
Included In
Eating Russian dumplings in Brighton Beach ranks high on the list of dining experiences all New Yorkers should try at least once—and there’s no dumpling spot closer to the actual sand than Varenichnaya. This small cash-only restaurant is filled with painted stacking dolls, hanging bunches of plastic grapes, and taxidermied fowl. Geese and dolls aside, Varenichnaya serves exceptional boiled dumplings like slippery beef-and-pork pelmeni and vareniki stuffed with mashed potatoes.
photo credit: Carina Finn
Even though the restaurant proudly flaunts its Russian heritage (there’s a Russian menu on the back of the English one), a lot of the dumplings here might remind you of food associated with other Eastern European and Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan and Poland. You’ll also see soups and kebabs on the menu, but those dishes feel secondary to the dumplings. If you look around the restaurant, most people here will be eating nothing but $6 plates of delicious stuffed dough balls.
The next time you have a beach day, stop by for lunch. (When it’s warm enough outside, they let people sit right on the sidewalk.) And if you can’t possibly wait to eat these savory, meat-filled purses in between visits to the restaurant, know that Varenichnaya also sells packs of 50 frozen pelmeni and vareniki. How long those last is between you and your freezer.
photo credit: Carina Finn
Food Rundown
photo credit: Carina Finn
Siberian Meat Pelmeni
Vareniki
photo credit: Carina Finn