Books in Brief: The Russian Tea Room Cookbook

The Russian Tea Room Cookbook, by Faith Stewart-Gordon and Nika Hazelton

(Marek, 239 pp., $14.95). The Russian Tea Room is among the most venerable of New York institutions. It actually did begin as a tea room, where down-at-theheels émigré counts and princes could hold court all day for the price of a glass of tea; for a while it was part nightclub, and Older Members still recall when it was slightly to the right of Carnegie Hall. Through all its permutations the Russian Tea Room has retained an unmistakable Russian character—in the ebullient decor (there are Christmas decorations all year round, and every square inch of wall space is covered with paintings) and in the food, which is emphatically not the Socialist Realist stuff you get in Russia today. Now, thanks to Nika Hazelton, the RTR’s recipes are preserved against any future revolution. Chicken Kiev, for instance: as most cookbooks describe it and most restaurants serve it, it is simply a little croquettish-looking ball made with boneless breast of chicken. The Russian Tea Room’s Chicken Kiev, however, retains part of the wing-bone, so that the construction looks like an unusually plump drumstick—more work, but much more fun. Given the Russians’ love of trompel’œil, I have no doubt that this is the authentic version, and it really does work if you follow Mrs. Hazelton’s instructions precisely. The other recipes I’ve tried also work perfectly (I had always wondered how the meat was prepared for the piroshki, the little meat pies to eat with soup or as a snack), and there are some charming anecdotes told by Mrs. Stewart-Gordon, who inherited the restaurant from her late husband. One caveat: the illustrations by Richard Giglio, while cleverly drawn (in the style of the RTR’s advertising posters of a dozen years ago) and often quite helpful, sometimes give conflicting instructions to the ones in the text. In these cases one picture is not worth a thousand words.

About the Author

Linda Bridges

Ms. Bridges is the former editor-at-large of National Review.

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The Russian Tea Room Cookbook, by Faith Stewart-Gordon and Nika Hazelton

(Marek, 239 pp., $14.95). The Russian Tea Room is among the most venerable of New York institutions. It actually did begin as a tea room, where down-at-theheels émigré counts and princes could hold court all day for the price of a glass of tea; for a while it was part nightclub, and Older Members still recall when it was slightly to the right of Carnegie Hall. Through all its permutations the Russian Tea Room has retained an unmistakable Russian character—in the ebullient decor (there are Christmas decorations all year round, and every square inch of wall space is covered with paintings) and in the food, which is emphatically not the Socialist Realist stuff you get in Russia today. Now, thanks to Nika Hazelton, the RTR’s recipes are preserved against any future revolution. Chicken Kiev, for instance: as most cookbooks describe it and most restaurants serve it, it is simply a little croquettish-looking ball made with boneless breast of chicken. The Russian Tea Room’s Chicken Kiev, however, retains part of the wing-bone, so that the construction looks like an unusually plump drumstick—more work, but much more fun. Given the Russians’ love of trompel’œil, I have no doubt that this is the authentic version, and it really does work if you follow Mrs. Hazelton’s instructions precisely. The other recipes I’ve tried also work perfectly (I had always wondered how the meat was prepared for the piroshki, the little meat pies to eat with soup or as a snack), and there are some charming anecdotes told by Mrs. Stewart-Gordon, who inherited the restaurant from her late husband. One caveat: the illustrations by Richard Giglio, while cleverly drawn (in the style of the RTR’s advertising posters of a dozen years ago) and often quite helpful, sometimes give conflicting instructions to the ones in the text. In these cases one picture is not worth a thousand words.