'Tasty and smells like homeland': a descendant of immigrants opened a Ukrainian restaurant-museum in Chicago

While there are many unemployed in the country, service business owners are struggling to fill vacancies. Traditionally, salaries in this area are small, so for many it is now more profitable to live on help from the state than to work. The owner of the Ukrainian restaurant "Trident" in Chicago (Illinois) also faced the same problem. The edition told in more detail Voice of America.

Myron Levitsky created a restaurant-museum in the city, where he not only offers visitors modern Ukrainian cuisine, but also an excursion into the history of the homeland of his ancestors.

Miron is a successful ophthalmologist, but more than 5 years ago, an American of Ukrainian descent decided to fulfill his old dream.

“I had an idea to create a restaurant that would positively and well represent Ukrainian culture to Americans,” says Miron.

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On the Central Street of the Ukrainian Village, he opened a Ukrainian restaurant "Trident".

“He created many expositions of Ukrainian history, exhibitions of antiques to show that the Ukrainian nation has existed for more than a thousand years,” he notes.

At the entrance to the restaurant, there are several exhibitions that tell about the history of Ukraine.

“There are some objects, axes, ornaments, which are almost a thousand years old,” said Miron.

The exhibition continues in the corridors of the restaurant. In addition to exhibits demonstrating Ukrainian culture, such as Petrykivka painting, here you can find information about key events in the modern and recent history of Ukraine.

Tridents occupy a special place in the interior. Levitsky made many of them with his own hand.

“There is a four-story trident outside the house. It is perhaps the largest in the world, ”suggested the owner of the restaurant.

The owner is no less responsible for the Ukrainian dishes presented in the restaurant's menu. He says that he collected the most popular recipes and modernized them.

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“All Ukrainians know dumplings and love them. But our dumplings come in five colors. For each color, the dough is saturated with natural juice or spices. And each color of dumplings has a special filling, - explains Miron. “The menu also includes banush - a traditional Hutsul dish, but we also changed it a little: we make balls from banush and bake them, and serve with porcini mushroom mousse”.

Experimenting in "Trident" and with cocktails.

“We have more than 15 types of our own tincture. In addition, we make our own unique cocktails based on these infusions, ”the owner shares the advantages of his establishment.

Levitsky is generally pleased with how the project is developing, even despite the difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The entrepreneur still feels its consequences, and they are associated not so much with profit as with the lack of labor. Due to the pandemic, many employees returned to Ukraine, and the locals receive compensation from the state, so they are in no hurry to return to work.

“Due to the fact that we have few employees, I sometimes help in the kitchen,” explains the restaurateur.

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Helping Miron and his wife Natasha. She is a candidate of economic sciences, like her husband, before the opening of the restaurant she had no experience in catering.

“At first I helped with the accounting department, then I gradually moved on to work with the staff, and now I also create new dishes in the kitchen, and I really like it all,” says Natalya.

Nadezhda Grintus is one of the regulars of the establishment. She says that she often cooks dumplings at home, but at Tryzub they differ from home ones - “they are very tasty and smell like Ukraine.”

Dumplings are the favorite dish of her grandson, who was already born in the United States.

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