As I mentioned upthread, the only true Belorussian restaurant in town (
Syabri) has recently shut its doors, and it was explained that this was possibly due to a landlord dispute. I managed to get in touch with the owner, who tells me he hopes to reopen at some point; I have promised that we would happily revisit the cuisine of Belarus if he is able to do so.
Meanwhile, we moved forward with Plan B on Saturday by traveling to Brighton Beach for a take-out lunch from the aptly-named
Belarus grocery store. This had been previously recommended by
greendx (our second FTer to join us at his native country's meal) who helped us navigate the food selection and overcome the language barrier with the shop owner. The choices were extensive, but we left with a few variations of draniki, crepes, and some imported desserts. The most interesting item was a sort of marshmallow ball wrapped in peanut-filled chocolate - perhaps greendx can help me with the name of this item. These were tasty but I'm told they are much better when made fresh.