Russian and Uzbek Authentic Cuisine in Alexandria

I love traveling around Old Town Alexandria to experience cuisines from around the globe. Last week we tried RusUz, a Russian and Uzbek restaurant that is located next to the Hoffman AMC (Ruby Tuesday's old location). This is their second location. I wanted to try it when it first opened, but I always fall back on my favorite restaurants closest to my house.

I checked out the menu beforehand and was interested in a few of the appetizers and the main course, Plov, which is the national dish of Uzbekistan. We enjoyed the starters; potato pirozhki, bilini, black caviar tart and samsa. They were all delicious with light flaky dough and a very fragrant spice mixture but the bilini was by far my favorite. If the meal was done after the appetizers and wine, I would have been very content.

For the main course, I went with the Plov and it was excellent. The lamb was tender and well seasoned. I absolutely would go back just to have this dish again. Others in the group had the salmon, chicken Kiev and dolma. The vegetarian in our party ordered Vareniki which is a potato and mushroom filled ravioli. It was mainly potato, but still delicious. Overall the main courses were tasty and the portions were generous. I think we could have enjoyed just the appetizers and still would have been very satisfied.

We were ready to leave, but the desert tray held us back. The two deserts the we tried were spot on; their Neapolitan was very good and their honey cake was excellent!

RusUz is a welcome addition to Old Town Alexandria and a great opportunity to experience some eastern Europe cuisine. Definitely a place to put on your restaurant rotation.