— Skalka —
$16.75 / July 2024
When Americans use the term “expats,” we’re usually talking about those among us who live abroad. But the term is equally apt for people from other countries living in the United States. In the food world, these folks will most often come from warm-weather countries. You’re probably not going to find a lot of, say, Laplanders cooking in U.S. restaurant kitchens.
Occasionally, however, you do run into cooks and restaurateurs from Russia and the countries that once made up the Soviet Union. In 2019, two Russians living in Seattle serendipitously encountered a job-seeking Georgian (Adjara, not Atlanta) bearing a desire to make, or, better put, bake khachapuri, the “bread boat” of her native land.
And this is how Skalka (Russian for rolling pin) was born. The khachapuri at Skalka (pronounced “cash-uh-poor-eh”) come in five varieties and, with a couple of liquid refreshments, constitute the entire current menu.
Skalka’s khachapuri are large to look at and heavy to hold (so don’t hold them; more on this below). Even for an American with typical American eating habits, it’s a hefty breakfast, lunch or dinner. And with its ingredients gushing about, you’re not going to eat half and take the rest back to your hotel.
The basic version, the “Adjaruli,” is also a simple one. You could probably make it at home, if you could create a giant cratered bread with the soft, crisp and yet slightly stretchy consistency found in the circumferential crust of a top-flight pizza; obtain the freshest eggs and butter; find something akin to a farmer’s cheese; and have an oven hot enough to meld those ingredients into a tangy, slightly salty cheese-grits-like slurry that, for novices, will overflow the bread’s elevated borders.
At Skalka, in the Pike Place Market area, the staff is Ukrainian, and communication can be labored, though with a smile. (The owners ask for kindness and patience in bridging any language barrier.) Absent clear direction, it takes some thought and even experimentation to figure out how to eat the khachapuri; a fork and knife look like the obvious solution, but if you wanted to use a knife at Skalka, you’d literally have to bring your own. This is a point of pride for Skalka’s owners. The food is going to be authentic and how you eat it is going to be, too. As eventually becomes clear, if you tear off pieces from the outside of the bread, you can use them to scoop up the rest of the ingredients. It’s pretty messy, but when you’re done assimilating the khachapuri, well worth it.