Kachka is Portland’s go-to destination for Soviet-era cooking, a lively Buckman dining room at 960 SE 11th Ave where chef-owner Bonnie Frumkin Morales reinterprets her Belarusian family’s recipes through a Pacific Northwest lens. Since opening in 2014, it has drawn diners for dumplings, zakuski spreads, and one of the city’s deepest vodka programs.
The menu rewards a table that orders widely. Start with zakuski, the cold drinking snacks meant to accompany vodka: pickles, cured fish, and the layered beet-and-herring salad known as “herring under a fur coat.” Follow with hand-pinched pelmeni or vareniki, then a hearty main such as chicken Kiev. House-infused vodkas, in flavors ranging from horseradish to seasonal fruit, arrive chilled and work well as a tasting flight. The dining room plays up Soviet-kitsch nostalgia with retro furnishings and floral patterns, and the convivial, toast-heavy energy suits both date nights and group celebrations. Morales also authored the cookbook Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking.
Visitor Highlights & Practical Info
Kachka serves lunch daily from 11am to 2pm and takes dinner reservations from 4pm to 9pm Sunday through Thursday and until 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays (Kachka). Happy hour runs from 4pm to 6pm daily and offers the best value. Book ahead for weekend dinners. Walk-ins can try for limited seats at the bar and lounge. TriMet buses along SE Belmont and SE 12th Ave stop within a few blocks.
