"But we didn't have the experience," she said, "so we started with a coffee shop."

Coffee Land is a promising first step. The menu, featuring items including stuffed cabbage and salmon rolls, is as unique as the coffee is good. The beans come from Caffe D'arte, an Italian-style coffee roaster in Seattle, and are shipped to Anchorage every three days. It's strong but not bitter. Prices are standard for Anchorage ($1.75 for a 12-ounce Americano; $3 for a mocha). Plus, the baristas are well-trained. Every drink is served at the right temperature, hot but not scalding.

The menu isn't the only way in which Coffee Land distinguishes itself from other cafes. The whole operation is a little Spenardian, in the best sense of the word.

The art, for instance. Last month, Irina Danielsen's large, multimedia abstracts hung next to religious idols -- some antique, some by Vladimir. (An artist himself, Bolotov also created the portrait of their Great Dane hanging near the espresso machine.)

The food is pleasantly atypical as well. Coffee Land's recently upgraded food and beverage permit now allows breakfast and lunch offerings. The menu is abbreviated so far, consisting primarily of waffles ($5), panini ($5), soup ($4), stuffed cabbage rolls ($5) and salmon pies ($3.50).

The waffles are, in a stroke of gastronomic innovation, served with fried chicken. Chicken and waffles, for the uninitiated, is exactly what it claims to be: waffles, topped with the standard butter and syrup, crowned with chicken strips.

I couldn't embrace the idea at 8:30 a.m., even for the sake of research.

"That's mostly for the men," Zoia sympathized.

I opted instead for a plain, syrup-covered waffle ($2.50), made from scratch and served hot and fluffy from the iron. The consistency was ideal: half air, half dough, minus the grainy pockets that can occur when waffles are made from a mix.

On another visit, I tried the panini, a grilled ham and cheese sandwich on Italian bread, rendered just slightly spicy by a modest addition of pepperoncinis. The sandwich, which came with chips and a soda, was excellent, but the presentation was underwhelming. We ordered two: one arrived with a pickle, one didn't. They were served -- like all food at Coffee Land, takeout and otherwise -- on polystyrene plates, which aren't recyclable in Alaska.

I also ordered cabbage rolls to go, which were wrapped cold. The rolls -- boiled cabbage leaves filled with spiced ground beef, rice and onions -- reheated well, but the sauce, sort of a glorified Thousand Island, separated under the heat. The combination was nevertheless hearty and gratifyingly different.

I'd order it again, but not to go.

Besides, for its strip mall setting, Coffee Land isn't a bad place to sit a spell. The Bolotovs remodeled the interior themselves, installing tiled floors, track lighting and a gas fireplace. The furniture is comfortable, and the large windows provide ample natural light. Computers for Internet use hide behind a card display. The rotating art shows and Bolotov's idols make for stimulating conversation pieces.

Especially the one he did depicting Queen.

Not the queen. The band Queen. The one formerly fronted by Freddie Mercury, who, in this particular gold-leafed and gem-studded masterpiece, is wearing a revealing red bodysuit adorned with eyeballs.

Across from the restrooms, the wall is decorated with framed album covers: Styx, The Cars, Santana, Van Halen, John Lennon.

"We are Russian," Zoia explained, "and when we were young we used to listen to rock music and it was illegal. We used to buy albums on the black market. They cost one month's salary."

In Anchorage, though, where they've lived since 1994, the Bolotovs listen to whatever they like and create whatever they like. Where Vladimir's creativity tends toward the artistic, Zoia's tends toward the culinary. Coffee Land's pastries are baked fresh on-site from her recipes.

My favorite -- perhaps due to the ugly-duckling factor -- is the peppermint swirl ($1), a sugar cookie with a chocolate swirl inside and pieces of peppermint candy sprinkled throughout. Peppermint candy melts during the baking process, which results in a cratered surface that only a mother could love. But it's delicious.

A dense brownie ($2.75) containing nuts, chocolate chips and white icing proved too rich to eat all at once. It was served cold, but a zap in the microwave intensified the flavor and improved the texture substantially.

Overall, Coffee Land is a welcome addition to south Spenard, but it still have kinks to work out. If Zoia's not tending bar, for example, the service can be lackluster. She's the one likely to suggest choices, ask whether you want your order to go, bring your food out to you and remember the pickle with your sandwich.

With a few key touches, though (Ceramic dishes, maybe? Consistently upbeat service?), Coffee Land could become a favorite hangout.

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• Emily Wilder can be reached at ewilder@adn.com.
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Coffee Land

Location: 4505 Spenard Road

Phone: 243-0303