With the Flying Pig Bistro, Alex Tchernikov turned the Mission's South Side Café into a sort of bar-less homage to the Cheers pub: '80s Tiffany lamp knockoffs, palmettos in pots, and a CD soundtrack you suspect is something like The Golden Age of Swing. Tchernikov's a recent émigré from Brooklyn ― actually, he says, he's still in the process of moving ― where he's owned a string of places, including the Red Crab Tavern in Bensonhurst.
At 2-week-old Flying Pig he's created a café and deli fronting a huge sandwich menu, including the BBQ Flying Pig ($6.50), a fluffy heap of thin-shaved pork loin (same meat he uses for the Cubano), drifts of bacon, and sautéed cabbage (more on that in a sec), teased up with house-tweaked commercial barbecue sauce and butter, on a sweet, eggy bun. It's fine, but consider: Tchernikov was born in Russia. So instead of his take on the American deli-wich, seek out his stuffed cabbage rolls ($3.95 each). They looked a tad forlorn yesterday under the lights of the cold case, but tasted delicious.
Since the Flying Pig doesn't have a full kitchen, Tchernikov makes them at a buddy's place in Burlingame ― the Russian place Fandorin ― then nukes to order. The cabbage wrapper ends up tender, translucent, burrito-rolled around a filling of finely ground beef and rice, which is anything but heavy, perfumed with lemon zest and herbs. They're baked in tomato sauce, but Tchernikov drains off damn nearly every trace before putting them in the case. "It just doesn't look very good," he says. A beer and wine license is maybe three months out. That could make almost anything look better.
Flying Pig Bistro: 433 S. Van Ness (at 15th St.), 934-1234. Open daily, 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Follow us on Twitter: @sfoodie. Contact me at John.Birdsall@SFWeekly.com
