Babushka’s Russian restaurant is opening a location in South Tampa in the fall, according to a sign hanging at 901 W Platt St., Boca’s former home.

Although Creative Loafing Tampa Bay has not heard from anyone at the Temple Terrace restaurant, there is no evidence of this. social media pages that the original location, at 12639 N 56th St., is closing. So we’ll be crossing our fingers that it’s the second slot.

Open since 2018, the mall-based spot is one of the few places in the Tampa Bay area to offer Russian cuisine like borscht, beef stroganoff, and pelmeni dumplings. Babushka also serves weekend brunch with treats like Salmon Drakini (salted salmon in vodka and dill served with hash browns, capers).

Boca was another victim of 2020, the popular brunch and happy hour closed in December.

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