There's that bold, hot borscht ($5 cup, $8 bowl) with a dollop of sour cream and a mountain of beets, meat and potatoes rising out of its lively broth.
But there is good reason to take to the bar, or a table in the back room, even if you don't want to get sloshed, as the kitchen is turning out carefully cooked, generously portioned classics: hot borscht, smoked-trout salad, gravlax with potato pancakes.
RECOMMENDED DISHES -- Duck pistachio spring roll, potato-crusted crab cake, hot Russian borscht, Tuscan osso buco, New Zealand venison tenderloin, pan-roasted Canadian duck breast, roasted Chilean sea bass, pear tarte Tatin, gingerbread pudding, apple caramel crisp, sorbets.
Our choices were top-notch, from a hot Russian borscht soup (with a dot of caviar on an islet of sour cream in the center of the thickly puréed red beet sea) to Thai peanut noodles (with twigs of chicken breast and a soy-based sauce).
Blini Hut's specialties, served on carved wooden trays imported from Russia, include crisp yet moist chicken Kiev ($5.96), chopped salmon or chicken Pojarski cutlet sandwiches ($3.28, $3.79), beef or vegetarian stuffed cabbage ($3.97), hot or cold borscht ($1.99), pirogi ($3.97) and, of course, blini (two for $1.57 with sour cream, $1.85 with a choice of toppings).
The husky hot or cold borscht, with slabs of boiled potatoes and a generous side of sour cream to stir into the beet soup, is another Jewish golden oldie worth sampling, as is a bountiful chicken soup ($4.50) with a clump of chicken, noodles aplenty and a huge, fluffy almost buoyant matzoh ball at its middle.
You could find comfort, though: the borscht was hot, the vareniki pillowy, and the atmosphere tranquil.
Where to Eat Pod Aniolami, Grodzka Street 35, serves perfectly executed traditional Polish dishes -- borscht, various grilled meats served with baked apples and horseradish, hot spiced mead -- in a darkly romantic vaulted cellar.
Mr. Wain and Mr. Showalter (who plays two roles -- a sweet, gawky, lovesick counselor named Coop and a fossilized borscht belt comedian) cut their teeth on "The State, MTVV's scattershot mid-90's sketch-comedy show, and "Wet Hot American Summer" has a similarly loose, improvisational air.
For those not familiar with borscht it is reddish-purple in color with beetroot as its main ingredient and is usually consumed as a hot or cold beverage or soup.
