Russian Restaurant Owners in the US Cope With Emotional and Business Tolls of Russia's War on Ukraine | Bon Appétit

"Opened in 2014 and long regarded as one of the country’s premier destinations for Russian-influenced cuisine, this Portland restaurant is helmed by Bonnie Morales, whose family background in the Soviet-era Belarus region complicates the simple “Russian” label. Troubled by the stigma that has resurfaced since the war, the team reassessed menu language and sourcing — renaming a signature martini to remove an explicit Russia reference and swapping a Russian spirit for an Icelandic vodka — while resisting the idea that the cuisine should be ostracized for geopolitical reasons. The owner has publicly expressed emotional fatigue and a diminished joy in sharing this culinary heritage even as she frames the restaurant’s perseverance as an extension of her family’s resilience." - ByAdam Reiner