SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

This is the photo a subway artist drew of me. I’m jacked.

One time I was riding on the R-line when I noticed a young college-aged artist intensely looking at me while scribbling away on a notepad. At first I was a bit startled by the potentially crazy behavior but I remembered that a lot of college artists are assigned to draw people on the train. Right before I got off at my stop, he handed me the portrait of myself. He wasn’t expecting any money but I handed him five bucks anyway. The drawing was really good and I ended up framing it. Artists like the young guy who drew me on the train didn’t just make me a drawing, but created for me a happy memory.

Yuriy Modlikskiy was just like the guy I described above, except for him being a bit older, at 65 years old. Modlikskiy, a Sheepshead Bay resident, is a Ukrainian immigrant who has made a habit out of drawing people he sees on his long 45-minute commute from Sheepshead Bay to Manhattan. Like the young artist I encountered, he doesn’t expect money for his effort, rather, simply the joy of people receiving a nice piece of art.

Modlikskiy was a former Russian book illustrator who created illustrations for more than 200 books. When his hearing started to fade, he had trouble getting work as an illustrator. Now he spends his time restoring art and antique furniture in Manhattan, but on the way uptown, he can’t help but draw the people he sees.

“What else do I [do] with the time? I never saw a lot of faces like this — all different — in Russia,” Modlikskiy told the Post.

Not all of Modlikskiy’s drawings are happy portraits of subway riders. He also captures pictures of homelessness, people sleeping and other imagery that catches his eye on his daily commute. He adds these pictures to the voluminous sketchbooks he keeps at home.

It has been three years since I bumped into that artist that drew a portrait of me, and I think it’s time for an update. I’ll be looking out for Modlikskiy in hopes of getting some free art.

Photo by Ned Berke

THE BITE: Some form of dumplings are available in just about every eastern culture, and dumplings have even made their way into central European cuisine.

It’s widely held in the food community that the “dumpling” is an invention of  the Chinese and has spread throughout Asia and Eastern Europe as each culture passed this tempting morsel further and further west. The Italians, on the other hand, stole them flat out, with that rascal Marco Polo poaching just about every Chinese pasta dish for reinvention in his home land, with dumplings emerging as ravioli and lasagna.

Living here in Sheepshead Bay, we get to experience almost every form of dumpling available on the planet. From the Italian ravioli to the Russian pelmeni to the Polish pierogi, it’s all here.

Vareniki are the Ukrainian adaptation of the Chinese “Shui Jiao,” or steamed dumplings.  These small crescent shaped packets of heaven of unleavened dough are usually stuffed with savory ingredients such as mashed potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, cheese and/or meat, but are also prepared using a fruit filling. The Mennonites have a tradition of stuffing vareniki with hard boiled eggs.

I was introduced to the “dumpling” by my wife’s Polish aunt one holiday when she produced a steaming platter of home-made pierogi; one side overflowed with pierogi stuffed with cabbage and potato, the other pierogi stuffed with a sour cherry. I never experienced anything like it. As that was not only my introduction to the dumpling, but also my introduction to the family, I needed to exercise some restraint. Left to my druthers, I would have consumed the entire platter. I knew I had to find this again.

Luckily, with Varenichnaya (6 Brighton 2nd Street) at my beck and call, no such restraint is necessary.

While there are subtle differences between the Polish pierogi, the Ukrainian vareniki is more than an adequate substitute. Both are made from an unleavened, slightly sweet dough. Both were stuffed with a sweet-and-sour tasting filling of the whole, pitted, sour cherry, along with its juice. Both were served alongside a version sour cream.

Both are simply delicious.

However, I think the vareniki at Varenichnaya has the advantage. The dough is lighter, yet fuller, which may be due to the Ukrainian addition of sour cream, or its Russian equivalent, smetana, in the dough. The sweet-and-sour punch of the cherries also seemed much more balanced, with neither the sweet or sour flavor overpowering the flavor of either the dough or the cherry fillings.

Verenichnaya offers up a steaming plate of vareniki with cherry for only $6.95. It makes me wonder why I eat anything else.

And here’s some useless information that might just help you clinch Jeopardy; the world’s biggest dumpling (varenik) was 123 cm long, 81 cm wide and weighed 67.3 kilos. It was created for the Ukrainian Varenikis Festival in 2002.

Varenichnaya, 3086 Brighton 2nd Street, (between Brighton Beach Avenue & Brightwater Court), (718) 332-9797.

The Bite is Sheepshead Bites’ weekly column where we explore the foodstuffs of Sheepshead Bay. Each week we check out a different offering from one of the many restaurants, delis, food carts, bakeries, butchers, fish mongers, or grocers in our neighborhood. If it’s edible, we’ll take a bite.

Correction (1:50 p.m.): The original version of this article misspelled the establishment’s name. It has since been corrected. We regret any confusion this may have caused.

Source: NYTimes.com

Well, lookey here. The New York Times has discovered Gravesend. Yeah, you know, “Gravesend, Brooklyn, near Bensonhurst.”

And wonders of wonders, Gravesend has “a family-run cafe” called the Cafe Kiev (1739 West 7th Street). “It’s a refreshing contrast to the borough’s many banquet facilities and dingy holes-in-the-wall serving cuisines of the former Soviet Union.” Nice to hear, but I hate to break this to the staff of the old grey lady, but there’s a lot of family-run cafes in our neck of the woods and many of them are “prettied up with pastel walls, framed prints and chandeliers, and buoyed by gentle lounge music.”

I’ve never been to Cafe Kiev. It sounds great and I can’t wait to try it out, but c’mon New York Times. Have you ever been to the restaurants of Southern Brooklyn? With comments like these I have to wonder.

The floor staff, managed by a young married couple, Artem Surjko Iurasov and Alina Allakhveranova, speaks fine English.

Prices that prompt a double-take. No item exceeds $7.

Check out The Times take on Cafe Kiev.

Vareniki comes smothered with crispy fried onions.

Welcome back to The Bite, Sheepshead Bites’ weekly column where we explore the foodstuffs of Sheepshead Bay. Each week we’ll check out a different offering from one of the many restaurants, delis, food carts, bakeries, butchers, fish mongers, or grocers in our neighborhood. If it’s edible, we’ll take a bite.

This week, we take a bite out of two Eastern Eurpean food standards: pelmeni and vareniki. Both are usually served hot; both are available in just about every “Russian” restaurant in the neighborhood; one is from Russia and the other from the Ukraine. Both are delicious.

“But what are pelmeni and vareniki? A Russian high wire act?” I hear you say. Find out more about the dish, and what we thought of Cafe Glechik.

The Sheepshead Bay outpost of hit Ukrainian eatery Cafe Glechik looks like it’s almost ready to open its doors. Decor is up on the walls and the dining area looks complete. When we stopped by last week the owner was there, who confirmed they were preparing to throw a grand opening celebration, but couldn’t say when.

The 1655 Sheepshead Bay Road storefront is the second location for Cafe Glechik. The original Brighton Beach establishment at 3159 Coney Island Avenue was featured on Anthony Bourdain’s Travel Channel show.

According to Grub Street, the owner flew to the Ukraine to cull decor. From what can be seen from the street, the two-level cafe looks tasteful, clean, and cozy. We’re looking forward to ordering a bowl of pelmeni when opening day rolls around.

At the end of the month, Cafe Glechik of Sheepshead Bay will be opening its doors to the public. The 1655 Sheepshead Bay Road location is the first expansion to the Brighton Beach Ukrainian restaurant, and is going to be much larger, spiffier, and boozier, according to a Grub Street writeup:

After a little more than a decade in Brighton Beach, Café Glechik will bring Ukrainian dumplings and some of New York’s favorite soup to Sheepshead Bay at the end of the month. The second location will serve the same menu, but will feature two floors of seating to better accommodate large groups and a liquor license to keep them entertained. The owner made special trips to the Ukraine for the décor, so expect a display of Eastern European kitsch that outdoes the diminutive original.

The current Cafe Glechik (3159 Coney Island Avenue) was visited by Anthony Bourdain’s Travel Channel show, which you can watch at the cafe’s website.