Restaurants

Issue 11: November 4 - December 2, 2004

Pissed-off Pasta For those who haven’t studied Italian, it might come as a surprise to learn that penne all’arrabbiata doesn’t mean Arabian-style penne pasta.

Shchit i Mech At first Shchit i Mech looks like just another kitschy, tongue-in-cheek, retro-Soviet cafe: old uniforms and Soviet banners in the entrance, and a large statue of secret police founder Felix Dzerzhinsky dominating the dining room.

Hookahs and Hummus Tired of overpriced restaurants and snobby waiters? Looking for the cozy atmosphere of a family-run ethnic eatery? Then head south for a taste of the Middle East — for student prices — at one of the many eateries on the campus of the People’s Friendship University.

Issue 10: October 7 - November 4, 2004

Goodman Steak House What we really need, evidently, is another place to get a big, fat, bloody piece of beef, so thank goodness the new Goodman Steak House is open for business in that perennial construction site, now beautifully finished, the Novinsky 31 mall.

Devi Devi cafe may only have two modest dining rooms in the basement of a university building, but the extensive menu and the skill of its cooks outshine its exterior.

Tridevyatoye Tsarstvo If you start at Smolenskaya Ploshchad and walk down Ulitsa Arbat, you’ll pass dozens of bars, cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops, but you won’t find them all under one roof until you get near the end.

Face of the Place There’s a lot in store when there’s a man at the door: meet Moscow’s costumed doormen, bearers of salutations.

Issue 9: September 9 - October 7, 2004

Shagal Although Moscow is home to eateries of every stripe and description, kosher restaurants are rarer than hens’ teeth. So there was cause for surprise this spring when two restaurants, both certified kosher by Moscow’s highest rabbinical authorities, opened simultaneously.

Druzhba When the waitress brought out the dish that was a 50/50 mix of dried hot chilies and chopped chicken wing bits — the bony bits, not the meaty bits — two thoughts struck us: Could this be Moscow’s spiciest dish? And is Europeanizing a foreign cuisine not such a bad thing if it means you get fillet instead of a mouthful of shrapnel? “Perhaps you’re meant to eat the bones,” wondered my dining companion, spitting out the tiny, sharp fragments.

Iveria These days, few would bat an eye at the news of another Georgian restaurant opening. This is, after all, a town that in the last few years has seen Georgian restaurants spring up on virtually every corner, submerging us in an avalanche of khachapuri, pkhali and other Georgian favorites.