Russian Festival

I was really impressed with everything.
There was a lot going on this weekend, and this was the option my friends picked. I like food and booze and history, so I was game. We ended up taking the 38 further on Geary then I had ever taken it, but Sutter and Divis actually isn’t that out of the way.
We arrived with a line outside the entrance of the Russian Center and were blown away by the size: the bottom floor had a full basketball court with second floor bleachers. This had been converted into the food court and shopping. Starting clockwise was all the food options, and I apologize for the lack of official names: they had piroshki, dumplings which were delicious, borscht which I wasn’t in the mood for, chicken cutlets over a side. The prices weren’t bad either. They had a dessert section which all looked good but we were already stuffed. The vendors sold Jewelry and authentic goods, and their was a performer. Finally the vodka tasting bar. For $ 7 you got a shot glass and a shot. Not too bad.
Upstairs is the auditorium where we saw amazing performances from children. I wish I knew the history of some of the dances; I also wish I had knees that could do half of what these kids did. Everyone should be impressed.
Also upstairs is a museum full of items from Imperial and Soviet Russia. The family tree of Nikolai II was fascinating, but they have medals, papers, and a history of Russians in San Francisco.
Top floor was another bar, a pancake feast, and the library. Ran into another Quakes fan which was fun to talk about Amerikwa and the upcoming season.
So for a bit of money we got food, beer, 3 shots, live entertainment, history, and I learned the name of that tea pot that has been in my parent’s dining room is a samovar!

SO MUCH FUN!!!
This place was PACKED on the very last day (Sunday) and most the food sold out even before lunch. Still, the line wrapped around the basement… CRAZY!
Believe it or not, I think the reason why everyone found out about this was because of the advertisements on the buses.
That’s how I found out about it.
Russian dumplings and fried pirozhki (meat filled bread) weremy favorite.
Everyone else was raving about the borsht (beet soup) but I didn’t have the stomach to eat anymore nor the time to wait in line again.
Seeing the Russian dances was a lot of fun. I didn’t know there was such
Definitely coming back next year!

There’s zakuski we’re making!
We’re saving our own blini!
It’s true we’ll make a Russian day!
Just bbl ‘n’ mehr!
Wee aaaaaaaaaarrre the woorrrrrrrrlllld!
Weee aaaaaarrrre the chilllllllldreeennn!
Notice that some of the men’s traditional Russian shirts aren’t all that different from shirts of other nationalities. Looking around at the kosovorotka, I saw elements of barong, Thai shirt, and even a little dashiki*.
Interesting how there were some Korean posters on the wall. The multilevel house layout was reminiscent of the Korean house near Japantown (peueh3nr
). The upstairs museum includes some Asian war artifacts as well.
Adding a 4^th star because it’s important to recognize culture and bring communities together. No black people when I went, though. Just sayin’.
*Swahili, for co6aka style.

This is the second time in 11 years that I have been there and it is just as wonderful as I remember it with the place having been spruced up; same great food, museum, and entertainment. The museum was a first this time; I intend to go back and tour it all as it has a lot of historical pictures and information on display; a few very nice volunteers gave me a bit of a tour yesterday which had to be cut short because we wanted to see some dancing. The food is wonderful from salmon on Russian rye, andraga on Russian rye, varineke (fried dumpling filled with meat,) and a pickle and tomato to fresh parish filled with tender meat nice and soft, firm yet not overdone palmeni (Russian tortellini) with a wonderful meat filling and topped with a a dollops of sour cream, tender chicken cutlets in a creamy mushroom sauce, kashka (buck wheat,) bilini (a cross between a pancake & crêpe) filled with sour cream & cherry jam, and cakes that are moist and filled with cheese & another with apricots; all delish. The first dance session was very festive with traditional dancing and the MCer spoke both English & Russian so we knew what was going on. However, the dancers from Reno, not a Russian group, but a group doing Russian dances were so lame, full of no substance and a different MCer WHO only spoke Russian, leaving us feeling left out. Its only $ 10.00 to get in and food ranges from $ 5.00 to $ 8.020; they also have Baltic Beer available in 1 being the lightest, 3 being a medium body, and 9 being the darkest and vodka shots. I will definitely go back next year. There is plenty of street parking and one of the UCSF Mount Zyan garages is open for $ 7.00 for five hours. So, for some Russian fun at reasonable prices, the Russian Festival cannot be beat. Keep up the good work guys.

This is a truly great annual San Francisco event. The food is great, the vodka in many different flavors is wonderful, the crowd is mixed and lively and the entertainment is wonderful. Don’t miss this.

I love Russian festival! Last year I found a lot of friends. And this year we’ll see you again. Come.

i went to this past russian festival in 2011 and had a blast! i went on friday to have fun and drink vodka, i went on saturday to work the event and, you guessed it, drink vodka, lol!
loved the food, the people and dances, and vodka… sooooooo many flavours to choose from. cant wait for the next one! :)

The Russian Festival has been going on for 30+ years now, but I only just recently found out about it through Unilocal.I decided to check it out, and to my surprise, I was pretty impressed. The Russian Center is a very beautiful building built by the first Russian immigrants, and is still very well maintained. A fairly cramped facility for an event with such a high turnout, but wonderful nonetheless.
The most impressive part of the festival was the performances. Non stop dancing for a good 3 hours, and all very well choreographed. Reminded me a lot of mother Russia. What was interesting is that half of the dancers weren’t even Russian, which shows how much the community has been integrated into daily American life.
The food downstairs was nothing spectacular. Typical Russian dishes such as pelmeni, chicken kiev, borscht, etc. but way overpriced. The Russian Center needs to make money somehow, right? I ordered one plate of pelmeni, which way way too salty. I would recommend skipping out on the food here and going down to any Russian restaurant/​store on Geary.
Another neat thing here that you can always visit is the Museum of Russian History. This features some of the contributions Russian Americans have made to society, such as Sikorsky’s helicopters, as well as exhibits on the history of Russians in the U.S. Definitely worth a visit.

I had a lot of fun and I would go back. Very authentic feel to it. I liked that it was indoors. I loved the Russian revue with the horse dance, the scarf dance, the folk band, etc. I HATED looking at the cabbage which looked doused in ketchup — my worst nightmare.

So I’m technically «Russian» in that my great-​grandparents (and great-​great grandparents) emigrated from the former Soviet Union like 100 years ago. But my family is pretty Americanized, and pretty much lost any vestiges of Russian culture quite some time ago (my grandparents speak some Yiddush). There were a lot of Russians at my high school, but they pretty much kept to themselves. I also had a brief flirt with vodka in college, but got over that quickly enough. Sadly, my roots have been lost.
So, when my friend proposed that we go to the Russian Festival, I figured that it couldn’t hurt. We have a bunch of Russian friends, and they wanted to go.
It was in the Russian Center, which I didn’t even know existed. Apparently it has Russian-​themed stuff the rest of the year. The building wasn’t bad, if a bit dated architecturally.
We came for dinner, so we decided to eat. The stuffed cabbage was pretty decent. The sauce tasted a bit strange for some reason. The kasha wasn’t bad, although the grains were larger than I’m used to. Overall, the food was edible, and wasn’t too expensive. We got shots of vodka — I had pineapple. They were fairly small, but only $ 3.
After dinner, we went to see the last few shows of the night. There was a guy singing Russian songs — quite the heartthrob from what I hear. I didn’t understand a word of what he was singing, but one of my Russian friends provided translation.
Next came a dance troupe. My Russian friend kept saying that the performance was really strange, and not like what you would see in Russia. I don’t know any better, so I assume that all Russians do dances with scarves, and dress up in ornate costumes. I thought it was pretty nice.
There was also an excerpt from a fairy tale. It was in Russian, so I didn’t understand a word, and was only an excerpt, so we don’t know how it ended. I guess I’ll have to learn Russian and then read the book…
Finally, there were some singers. This is apparently some sort of children’s band, and is supposedly pretty well-​known. They mostly played accordions, although the lead singer had a trombone that he would bust out every now and then. They had a song about going to the Russian Festival to perform, and then going to drink at a bar (the song was in English). It was mildly amusing, although if I had children, I’m not sure that I would want these guys around them (they seemed sort of strange). They are probably pretty harmless, though, and they seemed pretty talented.
After that, we left. It was over.
I think that this was probably worth the $ 10 admission fee. I’m not sure if you could spend all weekend here — one night was enough for me. I think that the Non-​Russians in my group were pretty much the only Non-​Russians in attendance.
In conclusion, cultural voyeurism is fun.
Russian Festival-​Themed Haiku
— — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Oh Ye Russian Fest
Foreign Words and Strange Dances
Connect to My Roots

Once again, in year 2010. The Russian Festival at the «Russian Center» has not improved. My mom decided to go there to see for herself. This place is a shameful «bordello» that promotes alcohol, sleaze, and profanity under the pretense of a «Russian Festival»
The whole idea of having a Russian Center and a Russian Festival. You may not know this, but this organization is building an image of an ethno-​centric Russian culture. Its not a bunch of performances by the people of former Soviet Republics or appreciation of Russian language in general. From what I had personally seen a lot of the attendees at the Russian Festivals are either slavophiles or Russian nationalists.
It is shameful that the bar/​Vodka tasting is still present. This is really embarrassing and crude to have this at a «Russian Festival» event. The men and women get drunk and start being rowdy and loud in front of kids and everyone.
If you’re Russian and wanted to check this out, keep what I said in mind.

I always tell people about how I went to the Russian Festival one year BY MYSELF. This is weird for 2 reasons. 1. I am not Russian nor have any affliation to Russians except for that one ex-​bf I had who lived in Russia for 2 years prior to my dating him (He also made me go to this chuch on Geary and eat borsh and pelmeni) 2. Can’t remember my other reason.
Why did I go then? I have a weird thing for Russians. I like them. Their stoicism. How anyone who knows of my affection towards them tells me to stay away from dudes because «He is Russian.» My mother always told me to not date a dude with tattoos on his face, but I did that too.
I paid $ 10 to get in. I walked around looking at about the 5 booths of goods (I was hoping there would be more). Browsed through the «Adopt a Russian Orphan» brochures. (Ok, I took a few) and then went into the library and bought a bunch of crazy Russian children books for $ 1. I watched a few kids dance, strangely stared at little russian boys who I thought one day if I ever wanted kids might look like my child…
After I was done being the strange girl who went to the Russian Festival by myself, I left. End of story.

We don’t know much about Russian culture and food so on this rainy day decided to check out the 19^th Annual Russian Festival going on Feb 9 – 11, 2007 held at the Russian Center of SF.
They charge $ 10 per person for adults. Seniors/​Students $ 6. Children 12 & under: Free.
They have lots of Russian kids performing dances, a Magic Act (I didn’t see this); Russian adults dancers & singers.
Food: we were full from an earlier lunch but still we tried some things.
We got the Borsch-​a beet & vegetable soup w/​sour cream & fresh dill, a bowl was $ 3, comes w/​rye bread & butter. It was pretty light and tasty. Hubby got a Chicken Kiev $ 3-​Rolled breast of chicken stuffed w/​savory herb butter & breaded. He liked it.
I also got a Russian black tea $ 1 they call Tchai but it’s not Indian Chai, just a regular black currant tea. Also tried a Russian Tea Cookie $.50 that was just ok.
Hubby also tried some Vodka at the Vodka tasting bar. A souvenir shot glass w/​the clear Parliament Vodka (think u can pick what flavor u want) from Russia was $ 6, plus some herring .50c a pc – for a tiny piece of herring that goes well with the vodka. He enjoyed it. He also tasted a Walnut flavored Vodka that he liked it. $ 3 for flavored vodka.
Other foods they have: Blini-​thin buckwheat pancakes; Sladkyi stol (sweets table), piroshki (baked or fried); Pelmeni-​small meat-​filled dumplings similar to Italian ravioli boiled in broth & served w/​sour cream; Golubtsi-«little Birds» stuffed cabbage rolls w/​rice & meat served in a delicious sour-​cream tomato sauce or mushroom-​cream sauce; Beef Stroganoff-​sliced beef strips in a savory cream sauce served over rice.
They have an art gallery; museum (3^rd fl), and even Russian library in there.
Overall, I’d recommend it, next time we’ll spend the day and eat and watch all the entertainment.
Parking across the street $ 7, but we took the 38 Muni bus & walked a couple blocks.
Separate men and women bathrooms on many floors.
check out my pics above.
Visited: 1

Russian girls are hot!
I like cultural festivals, and this one is major. The Russian immigrants built this hall themselves back in the post-​WW2 days. They keep their culture alive with Russian School, ballet and folkdance classes, and major events at this cultural center.
I went to the Russian Festival last year, all three days. I brought my camera and just went nuts. Everyone was in costume. Everyone knew everyone, caught up on what was happening in high school and after high school. They had a craft fair, a food fair, and in the main theater, a culture fair.
Russian folk dancing looks to me like a mix of French ballet and Scottish clogging. It’s weird, but it grows on you. It was fascinating to watch the preschool children. They would watch a number, and then between sets they would get down in the orchestra practicing the moves. They would only have to see it once, and they would get it down! High school and 20-​somethings were all drunk as skunks. Yes, Russians love to drink. It’s a tradition in northern areas where the snow keeps you in 10 months a year.
The music is crazy, too. It’s mostly about doing shots, getting drunk, and watching hot Russian girls.
The food was great. The shots were great. The costumes were great.
And Russian girls are HAWT!