3 minute read
Home, Family, and Hospitality is ALYONKA RUSSIAN CUISINE
from FLAVOR Fall 2024
The signature savory chicken kebab complimented by tart carrot salad and dill rice. PHOTO BY KAREN DAY
By Aurora Stone Mehlman
During frigid winters in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Elena DeYoung, the owner and namesake of Alyonka Russian Cuisine, kneaded dough with her family to make pelmeni. They froze the Russianstyle dumplings outside because freezers were small in the Sovietera city. When guests came knocking, DeYoung would retrieve the pelmeni, help her grandmother boil them, and serve the seasoned beef-filled dough balls with a dollop of sour cream. That was the way that home, family, and hospitality worked in DeYoung’s first home country, and the way it still works today at Alyonka.
In 2004, DeYoung arrived in Boise and was thrilled to find that the city was home to a small Russian Orthodox Church. She helped found what became the Russian Food Festival in 2005, which she would go on to direct for 17 years, by first offering her home kitchen to members of her church. Much like her childhood kitchen, friends gathered and cooked dumplings and borscht, a tangy and rich traditional garden vegetable and beet soup. That first year, they were a huge success. In subsequent years, they cooked for months to prepare for the opening day customers, who inevitably lined up around the block. Many of those who gathered at the festival became Alyonka regulars when DeYoung opened her restaurant in 2019.
Outside, Alyonka has a shaded, light-lined patio; inside, the décor is crisp and white. One can view the spotlessly clean kitchen behind a counter stuffed with icing-layered Honey and Royal Poppy Seed Chocolate Ganache cakes. On the walls hang honors garnered over the years, including Best of Boise Ethnic Restaurant Award 2023, Idaho’s Best European Restaurant 2023, and a picture of DeYoung and Guy Fieri, who featured the restaurant on his popular Food Network show “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.”
When asked about the culinary choices on the Alyonka menu, DeYoung cites her grandmother’s passion for cooking, the multicultural heritage of her hometown, and her love of food and stories. She never inherited a recipe from her grandma, but instead “remembered flavors.” These memories come to life on the plates and everything in the restaurant is, “made from scratch, no cans.”
Fan favorites on the dinner menu include Beef Stroganoff, a creamy, buttery sauce ladled over your choice of egg noodles, buckwheat, or rice; Golubtsy, which are cabbage rolls stuffed with seasoned ground beef; and Lamb Plof. For appetizers, the blini are fluffy crepes with a choice of caviar, ground beef and mushroom, or garlicky vegetables. Of special note are Shuba, a gorgeously layered smoked salmon, beet, and potato dish; Smoked Gouda Spread, a delectably complex dip; and Pickled
Vegetables, a delicious assortment reminiscent of the popular foods from the cold winter months of DeYoung’s childhood. Through food, DeYoung has created a home in Boise. “My door is always open here for everyone,” she said. “I put my heart into every dish.” Her heart is filled with stories she shares to help guide diners through the menu, and to give context to how food has been a constant joy in her life. Thanks to DeYoung, that joy shines through in every dish at Alyonka
