Sixteenth-century concubine Roxolana was reportedly so radiant that she motivated Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to dismiss the rest of his harem. The sultan’s tale recently inspired Kiev-born chef Igor Zagorodnyy to launch a Ukrainian restaurant named in her honor.

The new Roxolana, in a former office space in Pasadena, sports an Old World look, with brushed yellow walls, coiled chandeliers, and onyx-black candleholders on each table.

The large menu features hearty starters like solianka ($8), a soup loaded with beef, bacon, sausage, ham, black olives and lemon slices. Another appetizer, the historic Olivier 1904 (pictured; $16) is a relic of 1860s Moscow that proves that salad need not be dainty. The aioli-tossed mountain is a meaty mass of chicken, beef, potato, carrot, egg, pickles, shrimp and black olives, with a sliced hard-boiled egg topper supporting bursting salmon roe.

Ukrainian main courses include golubsty ($17): stuffed cabbage rolls filled with a savory blend of beef, pork and rice and served with crunchy bell pepper, dill-topped sour cream and cayenne-spiked tomato paste. Naturally, Zagorodnyy serves chicken Kiev ($21) too, the rolled chicken breasts holding a prodigious amount of herb butter that imbues each bite with magnificent richness. - TastingTable

Roxolana
34 S. Raymond Avenue
Pasadena, California 91105
626-792-0440 | roxolanarestaurant.com