How did the kitchen in the Ukrainian church become a popular restaurant in New York?

Karel Edlin and Irene Sibler are retirees and foodies. Karel is a former food critic, and her friend Irene also knows about food. At the Stricha restaurant at the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. George in Manhattan, they order dumplings with potatoes and cheese, sprinkled with fried onions, he says Voice of America.

“Exquisite taste, texture more delicate than other Ukrainian restaurants in the area. The onions are amazing, as is the sour cream,” says Irene. “We really like it here.”

Carol echoes her: “I came here from Minneapolis, where the Ukrainian diaspora is very strong. I ate dumplings probably once a week. What I especially like about these dumplings is the tender and light dough and the fried onions. It adds such an interesting depth to the flavor. Quality like that is not easy to find.”

Women pay attention to prices. A serving of dumplings here costs 5 dollars. Compared to average New York prices, it’s cheap, friends say.

The recipe for a successful restaurant business is, in principle, known - an impressive menu with a variety of dishes prepared by professional chefs, an exquisite atmosphere. At this Ukrainian restaurant in Manhattan, it's the other way around. There are no more than six dishes, they are prepared by volunteers, and the atmosphere is very atypical for New York. Embroidered Ukrainian towels on the walls, Ukrainian channels on TV, ancient devices for rolling out dough and two whole portraits of Taras Shevchenko.

Visitors to the kitchen at the Church of St. George - mostly Ukrainians - feel as if they are visiting relatives or friends.

“This is small Ukraine. After finishing classes in two Ukrainian schools, children come here with their parents,” says visitor Bogdan Grebennik.

The Stricha restaurant, open five days a week, employs two shifts of volunteers. The head cook of one of them, Dmitry Kovalenko, was a financial director and had his own business before moving to the USA.

“When I moved here, I definitely knew that I wanted to work in the kitchen,” says Dmitry. “I think this is a calling, I love it.” When I first arrived, I immediately went to work in an American restaurant, gain experience, and study.”

The student Anastasia Gorbatyuk works with him. Volunteer work, she says, gives experience, a sense of service to the community and clients for the work that the girl wants to do in the future: pastry skills, making desserts and pastries.

In addition to desserts, the restaurant menu has 4-5 more dishes, all traditionally Ukrainian. The main thing is dumplings. Their volunteers, mostly pensioners, sculpt on Fridays to last the whole week.

“From seven in the morning we all start sculpting together, we communicate, our grandmothers pass on to us the life experience that they have already gained here in America,” says Anastasia.

In addition to weekends, when the Ukrainian community gathers here, many visitors also stop by the establishment during lunch breaks. Workers and students who work and study nearby come here for cheap and nutritious lunches. All proceeds from Stritch go to the maintenance of St. George's Church.

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