Monday, December 12, 2011

We are the 146%!



Ah, Samovar! So good to be back together with you. We feared change, but Alex, the Samovar’s new manager, with the full support of owners Roman and Larisa, seems to be on the right track. The lambburgers (lamburgers? help me, Spellcheck! Spell check?) came with perfectly sautéed mixed veggies, and a savvy customer could ask for a Georgian equivalent of wasabi if ketchup didn’t seem right. Yes, there are indeed new Georgian items on the menu, including an elegant and tasty, if rather petite, version of the classic cheesy pastry, khachapuri. So much to explore here, folks. Join the 146% of us who will be stuffing our bellies, if not our ballot boxes, at the Samovar. 





But the best was when, somewhere in the middle of a plain old Sunday night, it happened again!  An opera singer I am authorized to identify only as Kostya took it into his head to treat us to a few traditional Russian songs—and with the sensitive, funny and marvelous accompaniment of pianist Vladimir Silantiev, plus a cameo by a soprano friend, a bit of opera as well. Magic!


P.S. I do realize that the above video is dark and mostly sideways. That's how the Samovar was last night.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux Reading Tonight

7pm. Samovar. Will Hermes (sounds forceful, yet divinely luxurious) and Ellen Ullman (her reading will be entirely in vowels and semi-vowels!).