Irina's Restaurant and Bar, an authentic Russian restaurant in Urbandale, keeps more than 60 different varieties of vodka on its shelves. Irina's also serves its vodka shots the Russian way: with a wedge of rye bread and a pickle spear. I bellied up after work and hoped for the best.
Dmitri Iakovlev (who owns the bar with his wife, Irina Khartchenko) was running the show when we stopped in. He didn't seem phased that we were ordering vodka shots at 4:30 in the afternoon, and got to work shaking the booze over ice.
Once cold, he set the shot in the middle of a square plate, accompanied by the rye bread and pickle. This was different than the pick-it-up-and-slam-it process I'm used to.
Iakovlev explained that in Russia, people don't take shots to just get drunk like they do in the States. Drinking vodka is a social event, and Russians drink, eat, drink, and eat some more.
Following the rules he laid out for me, I raised the shot of Russian Standard (from St. Petersburg) vodka to my mouth (you can order any variety of vodka you want). I couldn't help giving it a quick sniff - yep, smells just as strong and bad as I remembered. Iakovlev told me the key is to breathe out right before you take the shot, because that will get rid of the burn in your throat. "Yeah right," I thought.
Armed with the piece of rye bread in my left hand, I took a deep breath and exhaled. Quickly, I tossed the shot back. Cold and smooth.
Immediately, I pushed the bread to my nose. The scent of the rye bread somehow erased the faint hint of vodka in my nose. Then I took a big bite of the crunchy dill pickle spear.
I can't tell you how or why it works, but this was the smoothest vodka shot I've ever had. My nose didn't burn, and all I tasted was the faint remnants of the pickle. I could definitely have more of these. Lots more.
We said our thanks and got ready to leave. As we slid off the bar stools, Irina walked in. "Oh, drinking vodka?" she said, striking up a new conversation and pouring another shot. We slid back onto our stools.
"Vodka is a conversation starter," Irina said. "We may not know each other now, but when someone brings over vodka shots, we all become friends."
