Cinderella Bakery and Cafe

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436 Balboa (at Sixth Ave.) San Francisco, CA 94118

415-751-9690

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Critics'
Pick
Best Dumplings
Award Winner 2008

Cuisine(s): Bakery, German, Polish, Russian

Hours: Sun 11am-7pm, Tue-Sat 11am-9pm

Price: $, $$

Payment Types: All Major Credit Cards
Attire: Casual.

Features: Patio/Sidewalk Dining, Takeout, Delivery, Private Party, Catering

Serving: Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch

Alcohol: Beer/Wine
Reservations: Accepted

Parking: Street

Description

This modest, wonderful neighborhood spot - in business since 1953 - offers a large menu of Russian specialties. Given that the cafe has eight seats, tops, and advertises its pickup service on the website, there's no need to change out of the comfy-pants before placing a phone order and jumping in the car. What to order? Not the entrees, necessarily, but salads and appetizers as well as anything dough-based: piroshki, Siberian pies, blintzes, blini, vareniki. Especially delicious are Cinderella's meat pelmeni, which appear pallid and embryonic, floating in chicken broth, but once the wrapping is breached, a gush of beautifully seasoned beef juices comes out.

2008 | Best Dumplings

Cinderella, open since 1953, is the go-to spot for Russian baked goods and cooked specialties. Partisans debate their favorites: Do you go there for piroshki, borscht, or stroganoff Do you tote home dark rye or light rye, rum roll or hamentaschen, cherry cake or honey cake You go to your Russian Orthodox church, and somebody else will go to theirs, but count yourself a fool if your table does not boast at least one plate of Cinderella's unrivalled dumplings, whether savory or sweet.... More »

Meet Mikado, San Francisco's Most Gigantic Wafer Cookie

By Tamara Palmer | Thu, January 19, 2012

The Mikado wafer is the most bizarre-looking cookie at Cinderella Russian Bakery & Cafe, a Richmond District staple since 1953. It stands out from the fruit hamantaschen, powdered sugar-dusted hon... More »
Who Serves This Steaming Plate of Fish?

By Tamara Palmer | Mon, April 5, 2010

Mmm, will ya just look at that beautiful, steaming plate of fish? It might take a while for it to get to the table, but when it does, it's so worth the wait. Correctly guess this exact dish and the r... More »
Red Square Meals

By Meredith Brody | Wed, June 29, 2005

I've always loved Eastern European food. My Lithuanian grandmother was a wonderful cook, with a constantly-in-use, steamy, pungent kitchen (I still judge all meat blintzes against hers, and they usually come up wanting). Starting, as a child, with... More »

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sfweeklybestof | San Francisco, CA | 74 Reviews

| Wed, May 6, 2009

Cinderella, open since 1953, is the go-to spot for Russian baked goods and cooked specialties. Partisans debate their favorites: Do you go there for piroshki, borscht, or stroganoff? Do you tote home dark rye or light rye, rum roll or hamentaschen, cherry cake or honey cake? You go to your Russian Orthodox church, and somebody else will go to theirs, but count yourself a fool if your table does not boast at least one plate of Cinderella's unrivalled dumplings, whether savory or sweet. Pelmeni (small meat dumplings) can be served piled on a plate or floating in broth; either way, they're dressed with sour cream (ask for extra fresh dill). The larger potato and onion vareniki come with sour cream, too, and are topped with frizzled onions. Cheese vareniki (with a mild, sweet farmer's-cheese filling) go well with sour cream and raspberry jam, and sour-cherry vareniki are drenched in cherry syrup and come with (you guessed it) sour cream.

Main Menu

Appetizers & Salads

$5.99

Eggplant Spread

$5.99

Eggplant Saute
with onions, tomatoes, and red sauce

$5.99

Salad "olive"
russian style potato salad with chopped turkey, peas, and eggs

$4.50

Salad "vinaigrette"
pieces of boiled potatoes, carrots, beets, and finely chopped pickles

$5.95

Greek Salad

$9.50

Smoked Salmon

$3.95

Summer Salad
green salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, in an herb oil dressing

Soups

$2.99

Borsch Soup
chopped vegetables, shredded cabbage, cubed potatoes, and beets in a tomato broth served hot with sour cream

$3.29

Barley Soup
barley with mushrooms served hot with sour cream

$3.29

Spinach Soup
served hot or cold with a slice of boiled egg and sour cream

$7.99

Pelmeni Soup
russian style durnplings served in meat broth

$5.99

Kharcho Soup
lamb and rice soup with aromatic herbs and garlic

Entrees
Served With House Baked Bread And Choice Of New Potatoes, Buckwheat Kasha, Mashed Potatoes, Rice, Or French Fries

$10.99

Beef Stroganoff
a stew of tender thin slices of beef filet mignon sauteed in a light, creamy mushrooms sauce

$9.99

Lamb Shank

$9.99

Chicken Cutlet A La Kiev
juicy chicken breast held together by a chicken bone, stuffed with butter and herbs, and lightly breaded

$7.99

Chicken Cutlet
lightly pan-fried ground chicken with spices

$7.99

Golubtsy
cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef, rice and spices, baked and topped with a house made tomato vegetables sauce

Piroshki
Deep Fried Or Baked

$2.50

Piroshki
with beef

$2.75

Piroshki
with beef and cheddar or gorgonzola

$2.25

Piroshki
with cabbage

$2.25

Piroshki
with potatoe

$2.25

Piroshki
with mushrooms

$2.25

Piroshki
with spinach and feta cheese

With Mushrooms Baked $0.90
With Beef Or Cabbage $0.90

Cocktail Piroshki
baked

Desserts
Our Wide Selection Of Handmade Cakes, Pastries, Pies, And Cookies Is Certain To Tempt You. From Turovers, Strudels, And Tarts To Traditional Russian Poppyseed Rolls And Vatrushka, Everything Is Made Fresh Daily, And Dont Forget Our Bresds: Russian Rye( Lite Or Dark) Berlin Countery Loaf, And Tasty Three Grain Rye Are Just A Few

$2.50

Rum Roll

$1.50

Eclair

$2.50

Cream Horn

$1.75

Poppyseed Roll

$1.75

Apple Roll

Looking for another city?

Cinderella Bakery and Cafe

436 Balboa (at Sixth Ave.) San Francisco, CA 94118

415-751-9690

Description

2008 | Best Dumplings

By Tamara Palmer | Thu, January 19, 2012

By Tamara Palmer | Mon, April 5, 2010

By Meredith Brody | Wed, June 29, 2005

sfweeklybestof | San Francisco, CA | 74 Reviews