Elza Fancy Food

I tried the kuksu noodle soup because it was highly recommended by a lot of reviews. It was delicious. I used Unilocal pictures to decide what I wanted because I didn’t really understand what was in the food but Unilocal helped a lot. It’s very tiny, but the waitress is very friendly, the food is yummy. I would defiantly come back again

Once you step into Elza’s you will feel very homey. It seems to be owned and run by this petite Korean lady that is fluent in Russian. She receives a lot of take out order. There are only three tables that seat 7 people.
The English menu is not very descriptive so I relied on mostly Unilocal pictures, reviews and google! Thank you internet!
Kuksu: Cold noodle soup with strips of beef, napa cabbage, pickled cucumbers. Great and refreshing for the summer heat. A little vinegar-​y sour. There’s a numbing spiciness aftertaste that hits you at the end. Still very delicious. Big dish; can feed 2 people.
Manti: Beef filled dumplings. Comes with sour cream? Very good and filling. Comes in 5 pieces.
Hanum: Crêpe filled with shredded potatoes. Very good with the tomato onion sauce that comes with it.
Highly recommend this place. If you don’t know your Uzbek/​Russian dishes, google the menu first or bring a Russian friend

The chef (i think she is Korean) knows what to do with take-​out noodles, she separated the broth and noodles, so the texture was still so good. The broth was tasty, not like the tasteless Korean cold noodles broth packet i got from supermarket. They have dill in the kimchi, so it is like Russian style. The chef might not speak fluent English, so she showed me total bill before i paid. I liked the service. The restaurant is pretty small, otherwise, i would definitely like to stay and enjoy my food.

I recently order their cold katsu noodle soup, and it is delicious. My friend recommends adding the spicy packet that they give you to make it even better. With the weather getting increasingly hotter, I can see this venue as a place i will visit very frequently in the future. They also take visa as well which is a huge plus because I don’t always carry cash with me.

Read some Unilocal reviews before heading out to this small family owned shop. Its very small and homey as there’s just a table and a few chairs setup. The woman who is the cook/​cashier/​everything else is very limited in English. I asked which Kuksu soup taste better hot or cold. A customer in front of me recommended the cold one as he said it brings out the soup more. The cold Kuksu noodle did not disappoint, it was refreshing and so tasty. I also ordered the Manti which was a bit flavorless and bland. Will return next time for the Kuksu noodle soup again.

I haven’t eaten here yet because I can’t figure out which items have gluten in them. The Bensonhurst Be it irresistable — we used to walk past the ‘Eddie Fancy Foods’ sign and try to guess what it was all about. Good luck finding Uzbek/​Korean food outside of NYC or Uzbek itself:
If you go, and you can communicate well, please ask about Gluten-​free! I’m sure some of the food is GF, but I don’t know how to tell.

Small eatery with big flavors! Great spot to grab a bite if you’re hungry, semi-​broke, and don’t want Chinese fast food. It’s true, English is difficult here but don’t worry, they try their very best to accommodate you and your gut.

There’s not many seating on this location compare to the one in Brighton Beach, but I came here and ordered a cold kudzu noodle, my favorite noodle for the summer.

This place was brought to my attn by my bf… Traditional Uzbek/​Korean food. My first thought was «uhhhh interesting but probably weird…». After reading all the reviews I decided okay let’s try it. I am so happy that we went. This place is definitely a hole in the wall & a mom/​pop owned restaurant. When we entered we were greeted by a very cute sweet lady. She reminded me of my grandma. Strangely it felt very homey. The broth of the soup (Lagman) reminded me of grandma’s soup. No preservatives, no MSG. It warmed my whole body. Manti (their version of soup dumpling? Not sure.) but OMG I loved every single bite and was sad when it was my last. The best banchan ever; Kimchee was on point and the bean sprout was superb! The Samsa is very filling; not sure whether it’s a pastry or what but delicious. If you’re looking for a home-​cooked meal this place is a must go. We are definitely going back!

I lived in this neighborhood for years and passed by this place everyday without trying it. After moving out decided it was time, and now my one regret in life is not eating here daily when I lived a few blocks away.
This is more of a take out spot, as there are only really two tables two sit at. All the food options are in a glass fridge as soon as you walk and a menu sits on top of it in both Russian and English. The lady behind the counter was very nice and helpful and I think was also the chef of this delicious food.
On to the food,
I have eaten at Russian and Korean restaurants my whole life, but never in my dreams did I think the two could be somehow combined, today I learned they can be.
–Kuksu Soup — Enough to feed 3 people at least. Is a cold soup, served with Vermicelli, Bulgogi Beef, Egg, pickled veggies, and sesame. It was one of the best soups I have had, and was super flavorful and very refreshing.
–Manti — served with sour cream and stuffed with lamb, similar to soup dumplings, and equally delicious
–Bean Sprouts — very refreshing, hint of sesame and some spices, ate the whole container myself in one sitting.
Overall solid, fresh, home style food. Food is unique, and great mix of Korean and Russian style cooking. Very much recommended and excited to come back and try some other things here.
Also they accept credit card and cash of course.

What can I say? I’m hooked, and it was only my first time here tonight. I’m normally wary of fusion restaurants, as it tends to be a disappointing representation of both cuisines. But I like this Uzbek/​Korean fusion. I like it 5-​stars’ worth.
Fellow Unilocalers seemed to rave about the kuksu soup ($ 7.50), so choosing that was a no-​brainer. It’s a variation of the Korean cold-​noodle soup, garnished with a colorful array of pickled veggies, marinated beef chunks (possibly galbi), steamed egg ribbons, and sesame seeds. The chilled broth was a balanced combination of sweet, sour, and tangy — perfect for a hot summer night. The noodles themselves were perfect, thin, and chewy. If I could change one thing about this dish, it’d be spicy, but luckily there was a container of hot sauce on the table. I put cayenne pepper on my eggs in the morning though, so…
I loved that the woman taking my order and running the cashier was also simultaneously the sous-​chef, food runner, line cook and chef. It felt oddly like I was being hosted at an industrious auntie’s house or something. It’s that kind of place.
If you’re looking for a date spot, this is not it.

Excellent food ! Excellent service! As an asian person my bf and I have never eaten or been to Eastern Europe. Thanks to Unilocal and reviews we decided to try the place! And find out it was marvelous! The lady was so nice even though we have communication problem! Highly recommend this place !

I found this place thru
. I have never had Russian food before.
I walked in around 4pm last week. It is a very small restaurants. 2 small tables only.
I had no clue what to order. There were 2 patrons there and one of them speak English and Russian. The owner Elza is Korean but she’s from Russia. She doesn’t speak much English. Thank god I bumped into this customer. He introduced few things for me. I had kuksu soup. It’s beef noodle soup with cucumber, shredded eggs, sesame with cold soup. It’s very delicious. I got lamb dumplings and lamb chop rice for my husband and he loves it. I got stuffed peppers. It was the best stuffed peppers ever! It has rice and beef in it. Soooooo good!
We went back again today and order a fried bread with beef inside too. It was also delicious.
I will try their lagman soup and salads next time. They sell kim chi too just in case u are a Kim chi lover.

Have you ever wonder what Korean-​Russian food looks and taste like? Well look no further, this place is incredible!
Okay, that sounded a bit like an infomercial, but seriously, this place is pretty good.
The (I assume) owner/​chef has hot and cold food for take out or sit in. (No deliveries) However, if you live in the neighborhood, it is a great place to pick up fresh food, that is light and flavorful, but incorporates a lot of Russian tomato-​ey and meaty-​liciousness.
It is a true hole-​in-​wall, mom and pop’s, home cooked meal kinda place, so don’t bring your date, unless you intend to buy take out back to your date’s apartment and call it your signature dishes!

Hell to the yes. Authentic Uzbek/​Korean food?! I love the idea of blending these two cultures into something amazing.
Get the cold Kuksu soup you wont be disappointed. It’s a reallly big portion though so make sure you are hungry for noodle soup.
I wish I got the bread, it looked so fresh! And I wish I got the dumplings they looked super good. I shall be back!

When it comes to real Russian Korean home made food, there’s nothing like it.

Is there crack inside this food or what? This is amazing!
(Especially the lagman soup and the manti).
This is more of a deli style outpost of the Brighton Beach restaurant. There are two four seat tables inside. There is no delivery but if you speak Russian you can call up and place an order for pick up. The lady is sweet and wants everyone to enjoy her food. She’s usually there herself. So if you don’t speak English, just come in with pics on your phone and show her. There is really not that many things to order.
Everyone praises the cold k soup, but what I found amazing was the lagmaan soup! Wow. This is not only special but a very solid dish. Type you’d want to eat on an ongoing basis. It’s basically a tomatoish soup with beef, peppers and noodles. There are other ingredients, but you taste these this most. It’s very light on the noodles, so next time I’ll order a double portion unless I’m having it as an app. When you order, she asks if you’d like it warm or cold. I picked warm.
The broth is amazing. The broth must be from beef stock. It tastes super similar to Ukrainian style borsch (at least the way my mother makes it). It’s undeniable. But, since it has leaner beef it has a lighter taste. I recommend anyone to try this. It’s unique, interesting, and made just right — meaning all the ingredients are balanced. There is definitely a nice amount of salt in it, because you find yourself reaching for water after you’re done.
Next. Manti. Wow. I’m a steam dumplings lover as it is, and any eastern Russian place I always end up ordering some, so I almost didn’t order them here (since it’s something basic and usually very similar everywhere). Now hers. You get 5 in an order. They’re huge. Now since this is questionable 86^st, a tiny deli looking spot, and she premakes them in the morning or 5pm, you’d assume they would be stale, and the lamb inside would have typical chunks of fat and cartilage you can’t chew and thick dough that’s too fatty as well. Well shocker, nothing like this. Each huge dumpling is packed, but the lamb itself tastes so light. On top of the good quality meat and the mystery way she seasons and cooks it, I think she must be chopping this meat up finely and picks out all the visible cartridge and fat chunks. The dough holding the dumpling is very thin to balance the light taste of the lamb inside. Now since it’s huge, and the dough is thin, it becomes a problem and the dumpling falls apart while you eat it. So note that it will be a messy, but juicy deliciousness.
Now to the popular kuksu soup. I’d need to try it again and preferably eat it at the restaurant in a big wide bowl with ingredients more spread out or perhaps more broth.
The soup is cold. Has a serious amount of noodles and some beef. Also, thinly sliced pickles and some kimchi (chimcha?). The broth is salty with thin slices of cucumber and dill, a sip of it takes my mind to a sushi restaurant. After combining all the goodness you dive in and realize it tastes better than it looks. The noodles are great, a mix between the taste of macaroni and asian style noodles. Problem becomes when you’re half way through. It just gets TOO salty. Like the salt flavor overpowers everything. You feel like you need to double the broth. I’m sure this is because the broth is salty but those pickles that are added are well, pickles, so it becomes just unnecessarily overpowering.
As far as the little salads. I liked the kimchi cucumber one and the one with grilled eggplant and peppers the best. The eggplant peppers one was the spiciest ones but you could really taste the quality of the ingredients. I also tried the one with bean sprouts and it was ok, I’m a fan of bean sprouts in general but there was nothing about it that poped. Also, the kimchi was not for me either. I guess I’m too used to the Korean style and still prefer that over this type.

the noodle was great. soup base is cold but meat has great flavors. the chef is the cashier also, they don’t really speak English and the take out menu doesn’t have English on it. make sure u have photos of the food u want to order on ur phone when u go (like photo from ppl’s blog and forum) it will help with the ordering process:)

All of the salads are delicious and unique. Fantastic plov and stuffed eggplant. Not a lot of seats, but if you can, sit down and have some cold kuksu soup. Spicy chilled broth with beef and veggies. Or just buy the deli salads and take them home and be so so happy.

I love this place. It seats 4 – 6 people (unlike their Brighton location that is not in my neighborhood). Knowing Russian helps a great deal, since no one speaks English here. But Elza is an extremely pleasant lady, and the food is great. It’s Korean at its core, but not the Korean-​American — it’s the food of the Korean diaspora that has been resettled by Stalin all across the former Soviet Union. Elza’s is the Central Asian variety. I figured that this is what the North Koreans would eat if not for the Communists. She makes «morkovcha», a pickled carrots salad like no one else, and her «khe» — a very spicy type of ceviche salad — is honest. No one to my best knowledge does it better than Elza — an extremely rare, but delicious kind of food.