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This Anyway Café might be one of only three places off the Brighton Beach boardwalk where you can hear “The Girl From Ipanema” performed live, in Russian. (The other two are this bistro’s sister outlets in the East Village and Manhattan Beach.) Nightly cross-cultural live music isn’t all the café has going for it, though. Anyway blends the best dining clichés of Russia (caviar, vodka, smoked fish, vodka, dill sauce, vodka) and France (butter, cream, cheese, cream, meat, cream, Belle Epoque décor, cream) into an experience that transcends the hackneyed. Delectable appetizers like slightly sweet, eggy crêpes and crème fraîche with generous portions of smoked salmon and Osetra caviar are tasty complements to shots or carafes of house-infused vodkas. With olives, cheese, cornichons, gravlax, caviar, a hard-boiled egg, and a selection of creamy Russian salads, Anyway’s Zakuski plate is a sort of Russian-French spin on a cold antipasti platter. Entrées of grilled, sautéed and braised meats aren’t as carefully presented as they should be, and though the main courses are usually adequate, strangely, most sides disappoint. But the sublime deep-fried shavings of potato skins redeem all the kitchen’s foibles. — Andrew Sessa

Anyway Cafe features live jazz, blues, bossa nova, standards, and the like nightly, from 9 p.m. until midnight.

Zakuski plate, $15; crepes with caviar, $17-$25; house-smoked salmon filet, $17