Precipitated by the economic troubles of the 1990s, a Russian-speaking enclave has slowly been growing in lower Fairfield County, Connecticut.
To my knowledge, however, Bukovina is still the only area grocer dedicated to the food of Russia and Ukraine. (Many of the same packaged goods can also be purchased from Polish delicatessens; in Stamford, the Polish community has been established since the 1870s.)
I saw, but did not disturb, a tray of floppy thin chebureki (which are much more attractive when prepared to order). Instead I sampled a very garlicky beet salad ($4.99 per pound), sparingly ennobled with plums and walnuts, a seaweed salad ($7.99 per pound), and apricot "stuffy sticks" (shown; 6 oz.; $6), whose stuff proved superior to the desultory sticks. These last, I noticed, were brought in from a business called the Sancho Pancho Bakery of Fort Hamilton Pkwy., Brooklyn.
Bukovina
301 Hope St. (at Colonial Rd.), Stamford, Connecticut
203-978-0408
Closed Sunday
