IOWA CITY — The shelves at Euro Food are some of the most colorful in a market anywhere. They also have some of the most unique offerings.
Owner Maxim Avdonin wants it that way. A native of Kazakhstan, Avdonin both came to Iowa City and started his store in 2021, after his brother moved to the area and his children enrolled at the University of Iowa.
If You Go
Business: Euro Food
Address: 1210 S. Gilbert St., Iowa City
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays
Phone: (319) 200-4358
Website: https://eurofood-likehome.com/
Details: Find a wide variety of European products, both homemade and imported. The shop is known for its fresh pastries, baked breads and ready-to-boil pierogies and dumplings.
“Kazakhstan is partially in Asia and partially in Europe, so the cultures blend together. European products (are) pretty popular in there, and from childhood, he (knew the) taste of European goods,” said his daughter, Marina Avdonin, who acted as her father’s translator.
Back in Kazakhstan, Maxim had a wholesale business where he distributed goods throughout the country, and decided to bring that idea with him when he moved to Iowa.
“He took a notice that Iowa City is a pretty international city by its own (accord), and a lot of people have ancestors who came from European countries,” Marina translated, adding that the University of Iowa brings in a diverse group of professors, speakers and students as well.
Owner Maxim Avdonin (right) and his daughter, Marina Avdonin, pose for a portrait Oct. 29 at Euro Foods in Iowa City. Maxim, a native of Kazakhstan, opened the European grocery store after moving to Iowa City in 2021.
Savannah Blake/The Gazette
Home-baked goods
The store at 1210 S. Gilbert St. even has a website for online shopping, and is described as a European grocery store with both a deli counter and a fish counter. The real star of the show, however, are the home-baked goods.
Honey cakes known as Medovik are a top seller, Avdonin said. They are sold by the slice for $4.50, or the whole cake can go home for $36. Honey-infused layers of cake are stacked between a tangy filling making for a bite that melts in your mouth.
It’s right next to its friend, Napoleon Cake; another layered dessert with fluffy pastry sheets stacked between a creamy filling. Slices also go for $4.50 a piece, or $36 for the whole cake.
For those looking for something a little more savory, Euro Foods has plenty of options there, too. In the frozen section, the Avdonin family makes homemade pierogies for customers to take home.
A pound of cheese pierogies go for $8.50, and a pound of pierogies with potato and fried onion are sold for $7.50.
Several coolers hold cold items such as meat, yogurt and sweets at Euro Foods in Iowa City.
Savannah Blake/The Gazette
The Avdonins stock a variety of other pierogi flavors from retailers, and Eastern European dumplings known as pelmeni are available for purchase, too. Euro Food offers many flavors of pelmeni, including beef, chicken, pork and any combinations of those, including the family’s own homemade pelmeni of pork and beef going for $11.50 for a 1-pound bag.
Not far from the frozen foods are a variety of breads, including nearly a dozen rye breads. For those who need something to wash it down with, Euro Foods has them covered, too.
Toward the edge of the store, an entire aisle is devoted to different kinds of tea. Everything from peppermint to cherry to chai are neatly packaged.
And, for those who want to try a little bit of each, select teas are available by the packet for about 30 cents. It allows customers to mix and match their cup as they go.
A wide selection of teas are displayed at Euro Foods.
Savannah Blake/The Gazette
New, familiar flavors
For Avdonin, introducing people to new flavors — and reminding others about the flavors they grew up with — was the plan all along.
“He wanted to create a place that would bring people their home back, the taste that they forgot from their childhood, as well as introduce other people who, for example, grew up here, to tastes of other cultures as well,” Marina translated.
Avdonin believes the best way to introduce new cultures to people is through the food, and his store has plenty of unique things to try. The small building on Gilbert Street is tucked back a bit but is recognizable by the blue sign with yellow stars.
It’s something Maxim is quite proud of — he made it himself.
Maxim Avdonin’s handmade sign is displayed Oct. 29 at Euro Foods in Iowa City. Avdonin is a native of Kazakhstan, which he notes is partially in Asia and partially in Europe.
Savannah Blake/The Gazette
Dining and Cooking