YOU NEED TO TRY THE banosh,” said Elizabeth, our Ukrainian friend. “This is something typical from the west.” The menu described the cheesy porridge as “Carpathian grits,” and I was sold, having never met a grit I didn’t like.
My wife and I met Elizabeth (anglicized from Yelyzaveta) through friends of friends in the spring of 2022, shortly after she fled Kharkiv at the start of the war and settled in Chicago. She lived briefly in our garden apartment. We kept in touch with her and could think of no one better to invite to Anelya, the new Ukrainian restaurant
