Portland’s Wildly Popular Russian Restaurant Now Has a Matching Deli

Portland’s wildly popular Russian restaurant and drinking den, Kachka, has just expanded with a cozy Russian deli. Kachka Lavka is located just upstairs from the main restaurant, featuring counter service, and a menu that’s made for a quick bite, or to take home. 

Like all good delis, there’s also a selection of pantry items lining the shelves. Pickles, smoked fish, oils, and spices are available for avid Russian home cooks, as well as bottles of Eastern European wine, candy, and cookies. And unlike most delis, there’ll eventually be a vodka tasting room, showcasing Kachka’s own horseradish vodka. 

Owners Bonnie and Israel Morales opened the emporium to provide customers with opportunity to purchase some of the many house-made items that are used in the dishes at Kachka and Kachinka, the couple’s other Portland restaurant. Now diners can or grab a buterbrodi, an open-face sandwich with toppings like with farmers cheese and marinated peppers, or salmon roe and butter, a fresh bowl of borsch, or a hard-boiled egg and scallion piroshki. 

Lavka’s glass cases are filled with cured fish like beet-cured salmon, salt-cured herring, charcuterie like smoked beef tongue and bologna, fresh rye bread, challah, and prepared menu items like the restaurant’s famous Herring Under a Fur Coat (a layered salad of herring, potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, mayo, and eggs).  Caviar and frozen dumplings (pelmeni, sour cherry vareniki, and Tvorog Vareniki)  are the icing on the cake for shoppers planning their own vodka-drenched party at home.

Check out the full menu below for inspiration:

BUTERBRODI 

Kolkhoz – Fresh Tvorog (farmer’s cheese). Sunflower oil. Marinated peppers. Borodinsky bread

The Noychik Special – Moscovskaya salami. Litovsky cheese. Russian mustard. Light rye. Pickle spear.

Beriozka – Salat Olivier – basically the world’s best chicken salad – on challah bread.

Isaac’s SBR – Some kids like pbj’s. Isaac likes smetana butter & roe. Be like Isaac. House cured king salmon roe and smetana butter on challah bread.

ASSEMBLY REQUIRED 

Everything Is Illuminated – Sunflower tahini. Crudite veggies. Ajvar spread. Rye crisps.

Soviet ‘Lunchable’ – Doktorskaya bologna. Druzhba cheese. Marinated peppers. Borodinsky bread.

Baltic Picnic – Latvian sprats. Parsley mayo. Hard boiled egg. Pickled onion. Pumpernickel toasts.

Selyodka Na Privaly – House cured herring & onions. Light rye. Herring roe spread. Cucumbers.

SOUP

Borsch – Kachka’s short rib borsch (seasonal)

PIROSHKI, ETC.

Hard Boiled Egg & Scallion (perennial)

Cheese Vatrushka with Raspberries (seasonal)

Kachka Lavka is open for shopping and eating from 11:30am-6pm daily. For Kachka diners waiting for a table downstairs, the Lavka becomes a cocktail bar onThursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.