I would advise avoiding the staples of American cuisine to please your man, and instead rely on the dishes you can be confident will lead to a his heart ;-). For example, I remember having the Ukrainian pizza served with mayonnaise and ketchup, and it was rather unpleasant. But with regards to soups, it's difficult to dislike Ukrainian borscht or Russian solyanka (although borscht is the healthier alternative). Regarding the meats, the chicken shashlyk or chicken Kiev dishes are good choices to be implemented before the more exotic variants are considered. For salads, we are so accustomed to using lettuce as our main ingredient in USA, the Eastern European salads might seem exotic (especially when cabbage is main ingredient and mayonnaise is used as only option for dressing).

And don't be surprised if your man can cook, and he wants to please your heart in return! In this case, some extra time may be necessary to locate some unusual and not so unusual ingredients in Russian supermarkets. For example, I've found the Italian styled tomato sauce which tasted like barbecue sauce, and the barbecue sauce which tasted like the spaghetti sauce!