My Polish friend recently posted a picture on social media of herself with a can of Polish beer Żywiec. The caption read: when I miss Poland, this is what I need. I couldn’t agree more.
The restaurant Mama Papa Lithuania in nearby Alameda does not serve Polish food, but the cuisine is similar, so it reminded me of home. We stumbled upon it by accident. While walking along the main drag in Downtown Alameda, a non-US style garden with hazel barrels caught my attention. It turned out that it lead to a Lithuanian bakery and adjacent Lithuanian restaurant.
Mama Papa Lithuania, as the name suggests, is a family business. It was founded by a son and his mother, a cook and baker with thirty years of experience. Although only open for three years, it has already received a recommendation for a Michelin star.
One of the chefs is from the Lithuanian coastal city Klaipeda. He seemed to manage in a small kitchen, and he was pleased with his work. He does not have any trouble getting the Eastern European ingredients that he needs to prepare Lithuanian dishes. He admitted that in the Euro 2016 competition, he was rooting for Russia, but courteously added that he also kept his fingers crossed for Poland. From the waitress I found out that most restaurant customers are Americans; only ten percent come from Eastern Europe.
We ordered borscht, mushroom soup, stuffed cabbage rolls. I absolutely had to try the dumplings – koldunai, which are served with four different fillings. From the outside they looked like Ukrainian pelmeni. Dean seemed to like these ones more than those which I forced on him in the center of Kiev during our first evening walks. Rose did not want to try anything, she just wanted to prance around the restaurant and explore.
For dessert, we splurged on dumplings with cherries. It was worth it! The prices are not the lowest, but once in a while we will definitely visit this nice place. Keeping up with American traditions we packed the leftovers.
After lunch we visited the cafe/bakery, where customers enjoy traditional herbal tea and Lithuanian biscuits and cakes.
Did I feel like I was in Poland? Not really, but it was close enough! Fortunately, we will be able to eat homemade dumplings and soups made by my mother in Krakow soon. Time to start packing…
Welcome to Mama Papa Lithuania
Pierogi and Euro 2016 in the USA
How very different. The ambiance is very much like in Eastern Europe. In which American restaurant, one could see…
such ceiling and chandelier?
Chef in a small kitchen doing his best
I think potato pancakes were frying here
Grubu sriuba and summer borscht
Flour dumplings, or lithuanian pielmieni.
Virtinakai su vysniomis. Delicious.
Dumplings are one thing. But for Rose the best part was running around the labyrinth of chairs and tables.
Peek- a boo continues
After lunch you have to taste Lithuanian pastry
And then drink some herbal tee
Lithuanian pastry and coffe, but served in a paper cup à l’américaine.
We will be back Mama Papa Lithuania!
thank you