Ocean View Cafe

Despite the name, there is no ocean in view — the Atlantic is a block south, and the window looks out at the steel of the elevated Q. Ocean View Cafe is a small Ukrainian dining room at the western end of Brighton Beach Avenue, with bright aqua chairs, a mostly local crowd and sun-faded signed photographs of Nicolas Cage on the wall, left from a film shoot here. It is the kind of place where you order tea with lemon and a spoon of preserves before you have opened the menu.

The dumplings are the reason to come. Vareniki arrive soft and bouncy, filled with potato and mushroom and topped with caramelized onions; blintzes are stuffed with tangy farmer's cheese. Start with a bowl of Ukrainian borscht and some eggplant caviar with bread, and add pelmeni or a kebab if the table is large. Prices are modest, and lower still if you pay cash.