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A serious chef reigns in the kitchen of the optimistically resurrected Russian Tea Room, dispatching fragrant borscht in a covered dish and luscious beef stroganoff. The power regulars who lost their lunchtime booths in the late Warner LeRoy’s 1999 $30 million rehab may never be happy here, but I love the vibrant red-and-green room with its samovars, its Christmas-all-year excess, and the fake Russian art LeRoy commissioned, saved from auction for a golf museum that was never to be. It’s no surprise that consistently lauded whisk Gary Robins can channel Russian. He wowed us at Aja with Asian fusion before morphing into a new American mode at the Biltmore Room. Still, die-hard fans of the Tea Room’s Wednesday-lunch-only pelmeni—little dumplings in chicken broth, smothered in sour cream, feathered with dill—will find his foie gras pelmeni a poor replacement, never mind how smartly flavored. Most of what we’re tasting—goat-cheese-and-wild-mushroom blinchiki, marjoram-scented quail, cocoa-dusted venison—is full of pizzazz and delicious, though expensive and meager. I feel the ghosts: Nureyev, Dalí, LeRoy himself, full of endearing exuberance, and the Russian and Polish immigrants who came in the twenties for tea with jam and cookies because that’s all they could afford. — Gael Greene

Catering director Wendy Gordon oversees arrangements at this renovated historic midtown venue. Choose one of three private rooms—each holds from 20 to 300 people—exquisitely decked in colored glass or intricate woodwork. Prices upon request.

Goat-cheese-and-mushroom blinchiki, beef stroganoff or pork tenderloin, cherry and cheese blintzes.

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New York Magazine Reviews

• Adam Platt's Full Review (1/15/07)
• Gael Greene's Full Review (12/4/06)

Best of New York Awards

• Best Caviar (2007)