LTH North Lunch Group - Cafe Dacha - 7/23 - 12:30

Cafe Dacha opened earlier this year in downtown Highland Park. It's in one of those spots that might be classified as a Location of the Damned. The menu looks intriguing. Let's check out this Eastern European spot while it's still around.

Please join us on the 23rd. As always, bring a friend. Note - this place is at the northeast corner of Central & Green Bay Rd. Rather than driving around in circles looking for street parking (I'm looking at you EddieK), there's free underground parking at the Renaissance Place Garage on Green Bay Road just north of Central.

Cafe Dacha
675 Central Ave.
Highland Park, Illinois 60035
847-926-7024
https://www.cafedacha.com/

Dave148 - Esteemed Coordinator - LTH North Lunch Group
WillG - directionally challenged
Cathy2 - historian
jnm123 - squatter
diversedancer
EddieK

Should work for me. I walked by it a couple of days ago and it looks interesting but it was before noon so I couldn't go inside. I had a brain fart and at first thought it said it was a middle eastern restaurant rather than an eastern european one.

-Will

Hi,

I plan to attend.

This location was once a fire station. When I moved to Highland Park in 1970, it was a thrift store.

Regards,
Cathy2

I'll attend under one condition--that the EC, poobah, fearless leader, etc. does the 'kazatsky' in honor of the venue.

We'll bring the paddles & the winch.

J

Talk about locations of the damned! I can't remember all the things that were there (T shirt shop and music store are a couple that come to mind) when I lived in HP, and who knows how many more things since then. As you say, EC, let's check it out while it lasts.

I'm not much of a fan of Eastern European cuisine, with a couple of exceptions*, but I do like beef stroganoff, which I saw on the menu for Cafe Dacha. That's enough to make me want to eat there, but don't me expect me to share. Unless you're ordering stroganoff too.

* In addition to stroganoff, I refer to my mad love for the not necessarily authentically Eastern European Stouffer's noodles Romanoff, the demise of which I have bemoaned on these pages before. Thank God for copycat recipes and the LTHers who have pointed me to them.

I have a wierd sort of sentimentality about that intersection, Central and Green Bay. One day when I was in high school I was crossing the street there and got hit by a car. I went flying, my shoes went flying, I later developed a bruise on the whole left side of my body, but I was otherwise miraculously uninjured physically (I did have some hesitation psychologically crossing streets with cars approaching on my left for at least two decades afterward). Things were simpler in those days: no cell phones, no lawsuit, no cops, no ambulance; I said I was okay and walked away. The woman driving the car that hit me happened to be a coworker of my dad's, and she of course felt terrible about it and endeavored to contact him to say how terrible she felt about it, which did not sit well with my mom because my dad was in the hospital at the time and she had not warned him in advance that I'd been hit by a car. Come to think of it now, I don't remember either of my parents being terribly concerned that I'd been hit by a car. But they had other worries at the time.

Katie wrote:Talk about locations of the damned! I can't remember all the things that were there (T shirt shop and music store are a couple that come to mind) when I lived in HP, and who knows how many more things since then. As you say, EC, let's check it out while it lasts.

Is the T-shirt store named Hot Tops? It is still going at the building next door.

The boy on the swing statue has been taken down. I really liked it very much.

My sister ordered their stroganoff, it was not what she expected. In the menu it indicates tomatoes are in the stroganoff. From my sister's description, it sounds more like a goulash. You may want to ask a few questions before ordering.

Regards,
CAthy2

Seems interesting. I plan to come.

I'll try to make it, though teleconference schedules have been brutal lately

Cathy2 wrote:My sister ordered their stroganoff, it was not what she expected. In the menu it indicates tomatoes are in the stroganoff. From my sister's description, it sounds more like a goulash. You may want to ask a few questions before ordering.

That is discouraging. I'm changing my vote to noncommital.

I am not a beef stroganoff expert, but I dont think of it as normally having tomatoes. Basically, I think of it as a thicker, richer version of goulash made with better meat.

-Will

HI,

For Stroganoff, it is mushrooms and onions cooked together and removed, quickly seared strips of beef filet, then all brought together in a sour cream sauce. It's been years since I made it, though it does sound very appealing right now.

What Laura described was not what she expected. It probably still tasted fine, but goulash instead of Stroganoff can be disappointing.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy, your description is exactly what I think of as beef stroganoff, one of my all-time favorite dishes. The sauce should be beefy and creamy, with the tang of sour cream, and a little white wine or, better yet, sherry, which enhances all cream sauces, in my opinion. Hmmm, now I might have to go buy some ingredients and make some stroganoff.

I was chatting with friends on Facebook about that intersection, and a high school friend mentioned working at, I think she said, HP Tops? Which I think was a different T shirt business, not the one that's there now, but I could be wrong.

Cathy2 wrote:For Stroganoff, it is mushrooms and onions cooked together and removed, quickly seared strips of beef filet, then all brought together in a sour cream sauce.

That's one way to make it. This Wikipedia entry (granted, not the last word on the subject) provides some interesting background on the dish.

Elena Molokhovets's classic Russian cookbook A Gift to Young Housewives gives the first known recipe for Govjadina po-strogonovski, s gorchitseju, "Beef à la Stroganov, with mustard", in its 1871 edition. The recipe involves lightly floured beef cubes (not strips) sautéed, sauced with prepared mustard and broth, and finished with a small amount of sour cream: no onions, no mushrooms and no alcohol. [...]

In the version often prepared in the United States today in restaurants and hotels, it consists of strips of beef filet with a mushroom, onion, and sour cream sauce, and is served over rice or noodles.

Certainly, the dish wasn't "invented" by Elena Molokhovets, but it seems she was the first to attach that name to it. Her recipe – chunks of beef heavily seasoned with allspice in beef gravy thickened with roux, enlivened with a hit of strong mustard, and enriched with a touch of sour cream – sounds great. So does the version with mushrooms and onions.

Katie wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:My sister ordered their stroganoff, it was not what she expected. In the menu it indicates tomatoes are in the stroganoff. From my sister's description, it sounds more like a goulash. You may want to ask a few questions before ordering.

That is discouraging. I'm changing my vote to noncommital.

Tomato isn't an uncommon ingredient, even in a number of older recipes. It's not surprising some people are reminded of goulash, but certain of those recipes might be truer to the original (whatever that might be) than is the mid-twentieth-century American chafing dish classic.

We have a reservation for Tuesday. There's still room at the table.

I am out, by the way. Sorry if that wasn't clear from "noncommital." Anyway, now I have some sick relatives I need to cook for today this weekend and visit on Monday.

Looks like I can make this one, unless some meetings suddenly appear.

Beef Stroganoff is one of my favorite dishes. This version with tomatoes will be new to me. I'll be there to try it.

EddieK wrote:Beef Stroganoff is one of my favorite dishes. This version with tomatoes will be new to me. I'll be there to try it.

The owner indicated this version of Stroganoff is what is served in the Ukraine.

See you tomorrow!

Regards,
Cathy2

JoelF wrote:Looks like I can make this one, unless some meetings suddenly appear.

They got me. Sorry, won't be able to make it.

Interesting lunch at Cafe Dacha, which started out by ever-the-historian Cathy2 stating that the building was the first incarnation of the Highland Park Fire Station. So there.

There was a not-pictured 'viniagrette' diced beet salad with potatoes, pickles, peas, onion, and more that was quite nice for the summery day. And in the 'stick-to-the-ribs' category, we sampled a Ukrainian pork sausage and fairly plain-looking beef stroganoff.

But looks are deceiving--unless you're Brad Pitt in the Coen Bros. flick 'Burn After Reading' that states 'looks are deceptive...'---because both dishes were perfect comfort foods, with the stroganoff gravy and the very mushroomy-tasting mushrooms complementing the pot roast/brisket-like beef slices. An excellent rendition.

Cafe Dacha was a fine change of pace indeed for this somewhat-motley but always-stimulating Cromie Circle of LTH.

HI,

To round out my life as an amateur historian, I bumped into the world's expert on Jesse Lowe Smith sitting on a bench outside. She agreed to do a talk for September for the Highland Park Historical Society.

Smith was a Highland Park educator and naturalist who documented Highland Park's ravines by photography. He also photographed Lincoln homesteads and other historical locations for teaching materials.

Here is a picture of Dacha restaurant in an earlier phase:

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

To round out my life as an amateur historian, I bumped into the world's expert on Jesse Lowe Smith sitting on a bench outside. She agreed to do a talk for September for the Highland Park Historical Society.

Smith was a Highland Park educator and naturalist who documented Highland Park's ravines by photography. He also photographed Lincoln homesteads and other historical locations for teaching materials.

Here is a picture of Dacha restaurant in an earlier phase:

Not only were the food and company enjoyable, it was educational!

OK, I guess until I can remember to put all such events in my phone, with alarms, I won't RSVP till the last minute.... My apologies. I'm not checking my spreadsheet calendar often enough any more. And this was after the group I led had two no-shows on Sunday...

Dave148 wrote:Not only were the food and company enjoyable, it was educational!

How about edutainment!