Chant’el Cafe is decorated to grab the eye. It has an Instagram-ready smattering of navy booths, flower-covered walls and cursive neon signs. Gold is everywhere, from the light fixtures to the chairs to the silverware
The 10-month-old cafe is a hit at 1750 Prairie City Road in Folsom Corners shopping center, yet owner Nina Getman isn’t basking in Chant’el Cafe’s success.
These days, Getman’s mind is on the family and country she left behind when she immigrated from Ukraine.
Getman’s parents are still in Ukraine, along with friends and extended family. A cousin found out she was pregnant on Feb. 24, the day Russian forces invaded the Eastern European country. Chant’el Cafe carries on, but it’s hardly business as usual.
“We’re not smiling right now, because it’s really hard when … your sister is texting you that the (air raid) sirens started,” Getman said through tears. “Your hands are shaking, you understand that at that second they could be killed. So you’re thinking about it, you’re praying for them, that God please protect them. In this moment, I’m fully in there.”
Chant’el Cafe is one of few Ukrainian-owned restaurants in the Sacramento area. Its food takes inspiration from across Europe, from Nutella crêpes to croissant sandwiches to quiches to Austrian chocolate cakes, with drinks from Sacramento-based Chocolate Fish Coffee.
Ukraine’s representative dish at Chant’el Cafe is syrniki, petite pancakes stuffed with farmer’s cheese and served three to a $13 order. The plump, soft syrniki come topped with the customer’s choice of strawberry jam with sour cream, condensed milk with fresh fruit or chocolate sauce with caramel and nuts.
Both Ukrainians and Russians claim syrniki as their own, a reminder of how closely the warring nations were once intertwined.
Prior to the invasion, about half of Chant’el Cafe’s customers were Russian Americans, Getman said. Since the attacks began, she’s spoken out frequently in support of Ukraine on Chant’el Cafe’s Instagram page and collected donations for relief efforts. Most of those Russian Americans don’t come around anymore, she said, though one was sipping coffee with a Belarus native on Thursday morning.
New cafe customers want to help
But when Chant’el Cafe’s former regulars stopped coming, other people stepped up. A woman painted sunflowers on blank cards and gave them to Getman for customers to buy, with all money going toward relief efforts.
Other artists contributed bracelets and pins colored blue-and-yellow like the Ukrainian flag, and customers chipped in about $8,000 worth of donations as of Friday. Chant’el Cafe donated the money to programs run through Spring of Life Church, a Ukrainian Baptist Church in Orangevale, as well as a food wholesaler Getman knows in eastern Ukraine who’s been making free distributions to people in need.
“We’re here in a safe place. I love America. My kids were born here. This is my home. But my family’s still there, and it’s hard,” Getman said. “It’s really hard to work here and think about them and still have to provide good service here. And we’re trying our best. But (the) last three weeks, those were the worst days of my life.”
Ukrainian immigrants in Sacramento
Sacramento County is home to roughly 15,000 Ukrainian immigrants, more than all but three counties nationwide, according to U.S. Census data.
Getman spoke no English when she and her husband, now a general contractor, immigrated to the Sacramento area 20 years ago. As the 22-year-old mother of a toddler, she worked a post office from midnight to 5 a.m., then took adult classes to learn English during the daytime before relieving her babysitting sister.
She started the cafe as a sort of missionary effort, with “Chant” referring to the French word for song and “el” the Hebrew word for God. Even before Russia’s invasion, Chant’el Cafe donated to support systems for domestic violence victims and low-income pregnant women in Ukraine.
“I do have a Burberry purse, I do have a Louis Vuitton purse, but it doesn’t make me happy, not for a long time,” Getman said. “Then I decided to do something more important than buying some stuff for myself. Over here, we’re trying to do something in our lives that’ll touch other people.”
Benjy Egel covers local restaurants and bars for The Sacramento Bee as well as general breaking news and investigative projects. A Sacramento native, he previously covered business for the Amarillo Globe-News in Texas.
