"Settle down into your grandma’s floral-print living room and prepare to get trashed, Soviet-style. This lovely Wallingford parlor features Slavic snacks — pelmeni, borscht, housemade pickles, and many-layered honey cake — as well as stiff drinks served in beautiful glassware. See, they don’t really have a cocktail culture in Russia, where folks mostly take their vodka straight, so Korochka co-owners Kendall Murphy and Lisa Malinovskaya set out to create Russian-themed cocktails, then named their bar after Malinovskaya’s childhood nickname. (Korochka means “heel of the bread,” a loving Russian epithet for stubborn people). Cottagecore vibes are strong here, with lots of earthy-foresty flavors on the cocktail list like beets, mushrooms, walnuts and birch syrup. A Korochka classic, the Bonfire, brings together mezcal, green walnut liqueur, pine liqueur, Benedictine, and Ango bitters, for example. Or you can just keep it legit and clean out your sinuses with a shot of horseradish-infused vodka. —Meg van Huygen" - Mark DeJoy
