Little Moscow by the sea

So I'm coming to the conclusion that there is nothing better than having fast and cheap public transportation that will take you from your door to countless destinations including many beaches within an hour. After a rather disappointing trip to rock, rock, rock-a-away beach I decided to see what other seaside destinations the silver bullet could take me.

Just past Coney Island lies Brighton Beach with clean sand, and a tight knit Russian community with many cheap eats possibilities.


M&I International Food at 249 Brighton Beach Ave in Brooklyn is one of the largest eastern European markets this side of the Kremlin. Hosting endless displays of smoked fish & meat, pickled goods, breads, cakes, lots of great fresh produce and a nasty selection of Kvass.

Some Russian tough guy started speaking to me IN Russian as I was holding a big ol bottle of Kvass. I have to assume the rough translation to English went something like this:

"That bottle will grow hair on your chest, do you think you can handle that little man?" Followed by an awkward wink.

Upstairs at M&I is where to go, there is a small cafe with a hot food bar, everything is $5.99 a pound. I got a plate full for under $5.00. My favorite was the golumpkie, it reminded me of my grandmothers Polish golumpkies she use to make for my grandfather and I. There were some mystery meat filled "tortellini" dumplings, potato pierogies and also a strange ground chicken pattie which was saltier than the dead sea.

There is a lot to choose from at M&I, most of it was pretty good and very reasonably priced. After soaking in some rays head over to Brighton Beach Ave to fill up.

Learn some Russian phrases before you go to better enjoy your trip to little Moscow by the sea.

pocket change.

Let's just say you go to see a show, it's late, you're hungry, you've got some coins flopping around in your pockets, you stop.

I don't want to know what rogue ingredients were in this $0.63 biscuit and gravy combo.

The biscuit did taste surprisingly like a home made bisquick biscuit. The dipping gravy, oh the gravy, I couldn't quite place it as chicken or beef but it did taste somewhat like chicken a la king sauce.

1 Biscuit

Calories: 240
Fat: 13
Sodium mg: 490

I don't think we need to research the gravy...


Let's not stop there again.

Creative Spaces

A garden grows in Brooklyn...

Totally Tropical Pork Mojo

With summers heat and humidity creeping in the desire to eat or even cook inside seems to fade.

Start with a pork tenderloin, you may have to trim the excess fat and pull off the "silverskin" before this is ready to marinate in the MOJO baby.

The Mojo sauce or marinate is a very common in Cuban cuisine. It's simple as pie to make and is lip smacking good.

Tropical Mojo

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 8 garlic cloves thinly sliced

• Juice of 2 limes & half an orange (traditionally a sour orange is used in place of the orange and lime)

• A bunch of fresh oregano & cilantro chopped

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Splash of vinegar
• 1/2 cup of water

Heat the oil over medium high heat; throw in the sliced cloves till lightly browned. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a quick boil.

After the Mojo has cooled allow tenderloin to marinate in this for at least 24 hours.

This totally tropical pork mojo was served with the following!

• Grilled onions
• Grilled asparagus
• Grilled plantains mmm
• Black beans with cilantro, cheese and grilled onion

Nicely washed down with a DOUBLE IPA homebrew from two good friends. Very malty, sweet and high in booze. Tasted like a cross between a Sam Adams and a Dogfish 90 min..

Damn fine.