Last night for the first time,  we visited one of our new favorite North Side eateries - Roxolana's Garden on Western Avenue -- just a block away from True actually.  The food was very good and the pastries were out of the world. 

We read about this restaurant earlier in the year in the Post-Gazette and had never made time to try it out.   Oh, what we've been missing all these months.  Right in our own back yard.

First, I have to say that the owner's children are two of the nicest, most well-mannered young people I have met in a long time.  In a time honored family business tradition, Ivan and Roxolana were pressed into service at the restaurant and both handled it with grace and aplomb.  Roxolana was our server and she was delightful, being very blunt when she didn't have an answer for our questions.  I liked that.  :-)  When we left, Ivan was taking a break on the front stoop, but still took the time to wish us a good evening. 

That's the kind of good customer service that brings people back to a restaurant.  There is many a grown adult server and manager in Pittsburgh that could learn a thing or two from Irene and her children.

We tried potato pancakes as an appetizer and they were delicious. I had asparagus strudel that was light and tasty, filled with mushroom and nicely cooked asparagus.  Ledcat went right for the good stuff and ordered pyrohi (piergoie) which were out of this world  - they have four flavors including cherry!

Then we sampled a few cookies for dessert.  Oh my!  The kolachi was delish and we tried some cinnamon roll cookies ... this is a great place to stop for a cup of coffee, cappucino or expresso and sample a homemade treat.  They also serve breakfast beginning at 6 AM which is a welcome addition to the North Side as breakfast in a non-smoking environment is hard to come by.  There's a nice patio.

The menu features a range of traditional (non-Ukraianian) lunch items including burgers and sandwiches.  Roxolana's has a bit of everything and is a great addition to the North Side. 

Is Roxolana's gay friendly? Ledcat and I try very hard to patronize small businesses as frequently as possible, both LGBTQ and non-gay.  A lot of our support comes from small business owners who recognize that our community is a viable market and come to know us as individual gay customers, rather than the "GAY" community.  We don't usually ask our restauranteurs about the attitudes toward homosexuality, but look for indicators of their openness and beliefs.  When we reviewed Cambod-ican Kitchen, they laminated it and posted in their restaurant as well as putting a link on their website. We go there all the time and have dragged all sorts of friends and family along with us to spend their money in this obviously LGBTQ friendly restaurant.

The North Side is teeming with middle and upper middle class homosexuals so I'd assume an astute business owner would welcome this crowd even if they don't drape their front door with rainbow flags.  I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.