Panini Pies: A New York Original — and a Statement About Who We Are

You’re reading this because you’ve probably tried my Panini Pies on the streets of New York. You’ve tasted something new — a food that doesn’t fit neatly into any established tradition. And in a culinary world obsessed with “authenticity,” it might seem like a missed opportunity not to tie these pies to a specific heritage.

And I could have. I grew up in Tatarstan, a province in Russia along the Volga River. Not many people in New York know what Tatar cuisine looks like, and truthfully, some of the techniques and flavors in my pies are inspired by traditional Tatar baking. So sure — I could have branded them as “authentic Tatar hand pies.” It wouldn’t be wrong. But it wouldn’t be quite right either.

Because Panini Pies aren’t really about where I’m from. They’re about where I am. They’re about what it means to live — and eat — in New York.

What I love most about these pies is that they carry bits and pieces of all the cuisines I’ve encountered in this city: cumin from Middle Eastern dishes, savory dough inspired by Eastern European baking, fillings that echo Italian, Indian, Mexican, and American comfort food traditions. Each pie is sealed in a crisp crust — portable, hand-held, and filled with something you don’t quite expect. They are not imported. They’re invented. And that makes them, to me, authentically New York.

In a way, that insistence — that Panini Pies are a New York food, a New York invention — is not just a culinary statement. It’s a political one.

America, and New York in particular, used to be called a “melting pot” — a place where people from all over the world came together to create something new, something shared. The miracle of this idea was that you didn’t have to give up your heritage to belong. You brought it with you, you added it to the mix, and you became part of a larger whole — an American, a New Yorker.

Lately, that idea has fallen out of fashion. We’re told that what makes us different matters more than what brings us together.

I don’t buy that. I think we need shared spaces — in our culture, in our communities, and yes, even in our food. Panini Pies are my humble attempt to create that kind of space — a delicious, portable, comfort-filled space that doesn’t belong to one group, but to all of us.

So no, these pies are not authentically Tatar. They’re not authentically anything except New York. And maybe that’s the most authentic thing of all.