Kachinka’s Take on Bar Food Is Drop-Dead Gorgeous | Eater Portland

"A playful extension of Kachka’s popular happy hour, Kachinka opened this Friday and showcases Bonnie Morales’s even more playful take on drinking snacks; I found the menu full of cheekily named items like adjika-dotted Vladimir Poutine and the Red October meatball sub, served alongside Moscow mule slushies and her famous horseradish vodka. The food is fun but meticulous, served in the small, homey birthplace of the family’s flagship restaurant, and many dishes carry family context — for example, the Flaming Hunter’s Sausage riffs on a memory of Morales’s grandfather lighting sausages with rubbing alcohol (her version rubs salami with drinking alcohol and brings it to the table on a bed of vegetables). The Red October braises cabbage and meatballs in a sweet-and-sour tomato sauce as a take on lenivye golubtsy, yet you can happily enjoy it simply as a meatball sub; there are also approachable offerings like a hot dog in a scratch pumpernickel bun, a cup of $5 pickle soup, bowls of dumplings (pelmeni), and zakuski. Overall, I see Kachinka as deliberately accessible and fun — a no-reservation, casual spot (reservations only for parties over 10) that’s perfect for a weeknight meal." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden