Banitza, sopska salata and a vegetable side dish with a name I can't spell or pronounce are served with every dinner. The green beans and sliced carrots in the vegetable dish have been stewed until they are soft, just the thing if you're weary of today's crisp vegetables. Forgettable bread, baked from a frozen dough, and served warm, arrives in a pretty ethnic napkin. They're here, but under a different name. Old Europe serves a Ukraine version called vareniki as an appetizer.
Borscht is a nice first course, too.
It's the traditional vegetable soup made with beets, served hot with a dollop of sour cream in the center. Also from Ukraine, it's surprisingly sweet. Lozovi sarmi, or stuffed grape leaves from Bulgaria, are loosely packed with ground veal, pork and rice, not a bit vinegary, and arrive in a yogurt sauce. Jumbo shrimp are arranged, standing on end, around a mound of rice covered with an excellent paprika cognac sauce. Baba never made anything like this.