The Wake

Stepping out of your apartment numbs your whole body. You haven’t been grocery shopping in weeks, and the only food your roommate has would adequately feed a rabbit, not a human being—and you’re hungry. Of course, finals are coming up this month, and your studying schedule simply doesn’t allow you to get away for some of Mom’s beef roast and baked potatoes. Fortunately, there are some excellent options for proverbial comfort food in the area that will sooth your frozen insides, expose you to different cultures, and still allow you to afford textbooks next semester.

Kramarczuk’s Deli has been a vital institution in the community for decades. Apparently, the management is more concerned with quality of food than ambiance, signified by cafeteria trays and the reliance on do-it-yourself dining (bussing your table, pouring your own drinks, helping yourself to bread). But the counter staff is fast and friendly, and when speaking of the food on nearly all accounts, they present a high quality product.

With so many choices of Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Latvian cuisines, the Combination Plate ($9.59) offers a little bit of everything. It includes three varenyky, also known as pierogies, which are moon-shaped pasta stuffed with potato and cheese, meat or sauerkraut. There are also mammoth holubets, or cabbage rolls, filled with a tasty meat and rice mixture and smothered with a creamy tomato puree—incredible! The dish also includes a choice of a mild, medium or spicy Polish sausage, made fresh on the premises and a liberal helping of sauerkraut. All of these foods are also available for order separately, but the Combination Plate will keep you from going hungry at a fair price.

Kramarczuk’s number of other ethnic dishes from throughout Eastern Europe widely utilizes the sauerkraut-sausage-noodle theme. Additionally, for those less daring and more health conscious, there are pre-made deli sandwiches and side salads. The pasta salad ($3.50) included significant portions of crisp vegetables with rotini pasta, fresh olives and a slightly oily vinagrette. There were also potato salads, fresh vegetable salads, and marinated specialty salads. Not the place to go when you’re on the Atkin’s diet, Kramarczuk’s offers different foods that will give you the illusion that, maybe only for a moment, you are invincible to the cold of Minnesota winters.

If you are a little weary of trying something new and don’t want to stray too far from campus, China Express can satisfy a starving student and often send them home with leftovers. The lunch special ($4.55), served 10:30 am-3:00 pm, includes a heaping portion of pork fried rice and the choice of two fairly popular Chinese-American dishes, such as meat and mock seafood with vegetables, chicken lo mein, sweet and sour chicken, and pepper steak and vegetables. All the dishes were very fresh and none were lacking in the “good stuff”: there was plenty of meat in all the dishes and the vegetables existed in equal parts. The China Express chefs were not trying to skimp on anything.

Some of the sauces were a little overwhelming. If you are not a spice fan, don’t order anything with “hot,” “spicy” or “pepper” in its name. My dining companion had an insight on the sweet and sour chicken: “I really like the flavor, but you know how you can’t drink wine coolers all night because they are too sweet? Well, I think I am going to save the rest of this for later.” Maybe with a few adjustments, China Express would be an upscale dining establishment. But the staff seemed perfectly content loading mounds of food into Styrofoam containers and helping those busy on their lunch break, looking for a meal to keep them going the rest of the day at an excellent price. China Express also offers a full menu of Chinese-American cuisine, like their lunch special, at better-than-most prices.

Kramarczuk’s Deli, 215 E. Hennepin Ave., (612) 379-3018, is open Mon., 8:00 am-4:00 pm and Tues.- Sat., 8:00 am-8:00 pm. China Express, 409-14th Ave. S.E., (612) 379-6378, is open Mon.-Thurs., 10:30 am-10:30 pm, Fri.-Sat., 10:30 am- 11:00 pm, and Sun., noon-10:30 pm.