A taste of Ukraine comes to West Central Wisconsin

Rich Palzewic

Staff

July 21, 2025

ALTOONA – Seeking a better life from the war-torn country of Ukraine, Andrii and Maryna Sabazov and Tatiana Bielikova immigrated to the United States in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Little did they know at the time, but a few years later, they would be opening a Ukrainian-style restaurant – the Borsch House – in the City of Altoona’s new container park.

The container park – located in The Yard – is situated directly in front of the Union Pacific railyard in Altoona at 211 Division St.

“We are very excited to bring Altoona, Eau Claire and the surrounding communities the joys of Ukrainian food,” Andrii Sabazov said. “We will also be serving some Eastern European foods.”

Sabazov said he is the manager of the Borsch House, while his wife, Maryna, and sister-in-law, Tatiana, are co-owners.

“Going back 30-50 years in Ukraine, our grandmothers and mothers would cook the whole day,” he said. “It was a long process, and right now, we’re trying to preserve that tradition. We want to cook all our food from scratch. We will not use any preserved or frozen ingredients. Like our dough – we use flour, and then we will put meat in it, or potato, and we will make pierogi [dumplings] from scratch.”

Sabazov said one of the reasons they are opening the Borsch House is he felt the region was lacking in Ukrainian/Eastern European restaurant options.

“I think the ingredients in [Ukrainian] foods are complicated,” he said. “We use beet, cabbage, potato and a lot of vegetables and meat inside. I think our food is special because of that mix of really different flavors. This will be something new for the Eau Claire area.”

Though the trio didn’t specifically immigrate to the United States to start a restaurant, Sabazov said it’s an interesting story as to how it all unfolded.

“When we came here, we were invited by local churches,” he said. “After we came here, we wanted to express our gratitude to the local community and churches, so we started cooking for people.”

From there, Sabazov said people “really liked our food.”

“They kept telling us we should start our own restaurant and do this as a business,” he laughed.  “Tatiana was also working in elder care, and she cooked Ukrainian food for the people who lived there – those people were really excited. They had never tried something like that, and they wanted her to cook it more often. It was a sign for us that we had to start our own business and try to do that for the community.”

A ‘hard decision’

Sabazov said though the Ukrainian conflict has been going on for three-plus years, it was still a “very hard decision” to leave their homeland.

Ultimately, he said the chance to secure a better life in the United States was the reason they left.

“We wanted to start a new life from scratch,” he said. “Where Tatiana is from, right now, that territory is occupied by Russia. They occupied that territory during one of the first few days of the war – like in February or early March 2022. She stayed there for a little while, but then realized it’s not real life when you have to live under a Russian military dictatorship.”

Sabazov said he and Maryna’s situation was a little different.

“We are from a city in Northeast Ukraine, about 20 miles from the Russian border,” he said. “Since the war started, part of our city has been destroyed. Our home wasn’t completely destroyed, but we are unable to live there. We decided to move and find a better spot for us. If the war hadn’t started, we never would have thought about leaving.”

Meant to be

Roy Atkinson, Altoona’s assistant city administrator, said the Borsch House was originally not a part of the container park’s plans, which includes five vendors.

However, after the seafood restaurant set to occupy the space informed the city it was pulling out of the project, he said the city went to work finding another tenant.

“After the seafood restaurant dropped out of the park, we were going to do a callout for vendors,” he said. “I had actually interviewed with the local news station, and it was set to run, but in the span between the interview and airing, the Borsch House was already on board.”

Atkinson said it all came to fruition in an interesting story.

“My colleague and I went to Egg Rolls & more in downtown Altoona, and we checked to see if the owner wanted to join as a vendor at the container park,” he said. “She couldn’t, but it just so happened that the folks from the Borsch House went in to eat, and they were asking for recommendations for potential spaces.”

From there, Atkinson said the Borsch House trio came to city hall, and before they knew it, they were the fifth tenant of the container park.

“There was a lot of serendipity at play, too,” he said. “We’re really excited to have the Borsch House add to that mix of different food options.”

Sabazov said before taking up residence in the container park, they had been looking for a space.

“A lot of places don’t want you to rent space – they want you to buy space,” he said. “For us, we had never done business before, so it was a big risk for us. We haven’t borrowed any money – this is all from our own savings. We were looking for something affordable, and the container park came up. We feel the concept of the park fits our concept because the park is something new in Altoona, just like our restaurant.”

Sabazov said the Borsch House hopes to offer delivery and catering in the future.

“We plan on it, but probably not until next year, because we have to figure out more of the business first,” he said. “Right now, it’s just family-run with the three of us and our family, but in the future, we will plan to hire some people and look at opportunities to grow.”

Based on his experiences, Sabazov said starting a business in the United States is much easier than in Ukraine.

“There is a lot of bureaucracy, but in Ukraine, you have much more bureaucracy,” he said. “On a scale from one to 10, where one is the easiest and 10 is the hardest, it’s like a four in the United States compared to a seven in Ukraine.”

Though there were challenges in finding a space and getting the business started, Sabazov said that hasn’t been the most challenging part.

“The most challenging part is the language barrier, because Maryna and Tatiana understand English, but they cannot speak it really well,” he said. “I’m still learning, trying to express myself and improving my English. It’s a big challenge for me because there are many new terms.”

A long time coming

Atkinson said the container park is scheduled to be fully open and operational by Saturday, July 26 – when the city will host an official grand opening.

“We’ll open at 11 a.m. on that day, and things will go until 10 p.m.,” he said. “We’ll have an opening celebration ceremony at 1 p.m. and then a cornhole and volleyball tournament. We’ll also have a juggler, a face painter and a whole slew of activities. We’ll post the slate of events on our social media.”

Atkinson said it’s been “all hands on deck to get the container park open,” which was originally slated to open last year.

“The other four vendors are Ne-Ne’s Tacos, Beast & Bonito, the Iron Horse Pub and retail tenant Coulee Boutique,” he said. “Along with the Borsch House, we’re excited about the offerings.”

Though the container park has been a long time coming, Atkinson said it’s been well received.

“We did a survey with Chippewa Valley Technical College’s marketing department, and with the more than 400 respondents, a very high percentage of people were aware of this project,” he said. “The community is excited about it because it’s unique. We think we’re the only container park [like this] in the State of Wisconsin.”

The excitement, Atkinson said, isn’t just from the local community.

“Every day, we have people drive by, stop and ask questions,” he said. “People who are traveling through the region stop in. We’ve even had people from California who saw the container park and wanted to know what was going on. There is a big buzz around it.”

For more information about the Borsch House and the container park, visit their respective Facebook pages.