As most school districts around the globe, our elementary school had rotating dishes on our monthly breakfast and lunch calendar. I ate breakfast at school most days because my mom worked 12-hour shifts at the local hospital. Tuesdays mornings we had bagels drenched in margarine and for lunch we had sloppy joes. But Fridays were the best because we had golden foil wrapped peanut butter and jelly graham cracker sandwiches for breakfast and piroshkis for lunch.
I loved those damn piroshkis. Fuck the chocolate milk, the fruit cup and whatever else was on my tray; I’d trade it all in for another piroshki. My mother would have been terrified to see her child clammering and begging down the aisle of cafegymatorium tables for piroshkis. Soft pillow yeasty pockets stuffed with ground beef and cheese. Although these had a sort of grainy exterior, the inside was rich and moist. I’ve eaten Anda Piroshki, which is completely off the mark, and I’ve eaten Piroshky Piroshky, which was getting closer. I’ve been searching for that type of piroshki, but never found it until last Tuesday: Moscow & Tbilisi Russian Bakery in the Inner Richmond.
Moscow & Tbilisi is a small bakery, with a large kitchen, on Geary Blvd. The delights behind the counter are impressive: apricot roll, black sesame pastries, cinnamon and walnut danish, napoleons, cakes and lots of choices of piroshki and meringues. The meringues made up in aesthetics when it came to my purchasing choices, the piroshki is admittedly not an aesthetic delight to the eyes.
One $2.25 beef and cheese piroshki and two $2 meringues later, I sat near the counter and set to demolish this long sphere of fried dough and meat. It was exactly as I remembered it in elementary school. The dough was chewy and tender and filled with webs of gluten development. These cheese was possibly a type of quark: ultra tangy, white, fresh and not unlike cottage cheese. The ground beef was rich and meaty. I just wish there was more of the filling.
It was still satisfying. Enough to put a smile on my face, something missing from my repertoire that week. And I’m going back for more tomorrow.
Moscow & Tbilisi Russian Bakery
5540 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, Ca 94121
[The Inner Richmond]