Rip's Cafe

Rip's Cafe is more of a bar than restaurant, but if you're ever in the need of a fix of Eastern European comfort food, come here to get fed and drunk for $20. The featured meal at Rip's is the Hunky Platter. Hunky is a generic term for anyone of Eastern European descent-Poles, Slovaks, Croatians, Slovenians, etc. The Hunky Platter goes for around $5 and features holubki, pirohy, and halushki. Holubki is simply boiled cabbage leaves rolled and stuffed with a beef and rice mixture and marinated in a tomato sauce. Pirohy, also known in other parts as Pierogies, is the East European answer to ravioli-pasta dough usually stuffed with a combination of mashed potatoes and cheese (although other ingredients include sauerkraut, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and many more). Halushki is an Eastern European dish which consists of potato dumplings mixed with cheese. The traditional dish uses farmers cheese, although variations use brick cheese among o ... more

Rip's Cafe is more of a bar than restaurant, but if you're ever in the need of a fix of Eastern European comfort food, come here to get fed and drunk for $20. The featured meal at Rip's is the Hunky Platter. Hunky is a generic term for anyone of Eastern European descent-Poles, Slovaks, Croatians, Slovenians, etc. The Hunky Platter goes for around $5 and features holubki, pirohy, and halushki. Holubki is simply boiled cabbage leaves rolled and stuffed with a beef and rice mixture and marinated in a tomato sauce. Pirohy, also known in other parts as Pierogies, is the East European answer to ravioli-pasta dough usually stuffed with a combination of mashed potatoes and cheese (although other ingredients include sauerkraut, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and many more). Halushki is an Eastern European dish which consists of potato dumplings mixed with cheese. The traditional dish uses farmers cheese, although variations use brick cheese among other varieties if you can't get an authentic East European cheese. Think of this as a kind of ethnic version of macaroni and cheese, or Italian gnocchi smothered in cheese. This type of food is not going to make your taste buds explode with flavor. But if you're unfamiliar with this kind of food, or if you're familiar with it and want to have a meal reminiscent of what Grandma or Mom used to make, Rip's is definitely worth a try. less