December 2012 – Ukrainian Village In Parma Ohio

About a year ago, Andro Dokhoian and his wife Nataliya opened a tiny bakery on State Road in Parma’s Ukrainian Village.

Kolos already smells like a nice bakery. It specializes in bread — white, wheat, various kinds of rye and sweet egg bread with raisins.

Dokhoian said his bread contains few ingredients. There are no shortenings, oleos or dough conditioners.

“There is nothing artificial in our bread,” Dokhoian said. “It’s baked the way my grandfather used to bake it. At that time, bakeries didn’t use any chemicals.

“If you go to a regular store and grab a loaf of bread from the shelf, read the ingredients,” Dokhoian said. “You will find there are at least 20 ingredients in the bread.”

Kolos also carries nut, poppy-seed, cinnamon, sweet-butter and plumb rolls, along with apple strudels, turnovers and 35 different types of cakes.

In addition, Kolos sells miniature pizzas. Dokhoian makes his own cheese for his cheese Danishes.

Kolos adds one or two products every month, based on customer demand, and the bakery takes special orders.

“Because we are a small bakery, we are very flexible,” Dokhoian said.

Kolos Bakery is located at 5346 State Rd in Parma’s Ukrainian Village.

International Food & Deli, opened with the slimmest of resources.

Sozanski, a violinist who once played for the philharmonic orchestra of Lviv, Ukraine, runs one of the busiest enterprises in the Ukrainian Village section of Parma. His grocery store and adjacent party center attract a multilingual crowd to offerings of Ukrainian pastas, German sausages, Polish polkas and, occasionally, rousing Cossack dances.

Regulars come in for the sausages and kielbasa draped from racks behind the counter, for the rich European-style cakes and tortes in the bakery case and for the mineral waters that spring from cherished fonts back home in eastern Europe.

Most members of the staff speak several languages, certainly Ukrainian. But English is common, too. Many of the customers are first- and second-generation Americans rediscovering the foods of their childhood.

International Food & Deli is located at 5850 State Road in Parma’s Ukrainian Village.

Read on at: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/12/risk_takers_immigrants_took_a.html