the eXile - bar-dak - Lionel Tannenbaum

Issue #10/91, May 25 - June 8, 2000

DON’T DIS THIS DACHA

By Lionel Tannenbaum

The setting: a pre-Revolutionary nobleman’s dacha located just outside today’s city center, fully renovated and transformed into an upscale modern restaurant. If you had to guess the style of food they serve, you’d probably assume that New-Old Russian thing that’s so common nowadays and rarely done with any imagination, right? Well, in the case of GRAF ORLOFF, you’d be dead wrong. Try instead an audacious pan-Asian menu (with decor to match), all prepared by a veteran chef from Los Angeles (this setup has indentured-servant chef written all over it). The prices are far from cheap, but a recent eXile mini-banquet in honor of the late Jonas Bernstein’s final (so he claims) Moscow farewell provided the perfect opportunity to give the place a really good sampling.

As would be expected, sushi is the priciest delicacy pound-for-pound, with single portions going for $8-14, rolls $5-18, and sashimi $20-35. Graf Orloff’s sushi can certainly hold its own locally, but I don’t think it’s quite good enough to justify making an entire meal out of it. With this in mind, one or more of the generous assortments (priced at $26-49) will make for the perfect all-hands-on-deck start to your meal.

Most of the regular appetizers are best shared as well. This is certainly true of the thoroughly respectable pot stickers ($8 w/choice of mushroom, chicken, shrimp, or pork) and the unusual Dungeness crab shu mai ($10) with scrumptious tamarind soy ginger dipping sauce. The Vietnamese spring rolls ($9.50), on other hand, were universally panned by our party of 9. I think i was something to do with their unusual shape and the cardboard-like consistency of the rice-paper wrapping.

For some reason, few of us took the salad offerings seriously—a mistake that was only fully realized as we were all busy sampling Ames’s delicious grilled scallop salad ($12). Next time around though, you can bet that the shrimp Saigon with lemongrass and Thai red chili ($18) and seared tuna with mixed greens, roasted garlic, and Szechwan ponzu sauce ($11) will both be at the top of our list of things to try. Somewhat similarly, I alone selected a soup—specifically, a hot and sour shrimp number with lemongrass and basil ($9). It was everything you could want in such a soup, hearty without being heavy. By this time, however, the rest of the table was too occupied with the gaudy spectacles of their entrees to pay me or my soup any mind—and so I reluctantly went with the flow.

We tried at least five of the dozen or more available entrees, with only the Peking duck ($26) failing to earn a rave review (as might have been expected). It wasn’t so much bad, as it was simply “odd,” as most of us seemed to agree. Then again, the pad Thai ($21 w/choice of vegetable, chicken, or prawn) also looked rather atypical, but was so flavorful that no one thought to complain twice about the thickness of the noodles. But if you’re really hungry for a big hunk of meat, look no farther than the grilled lemon ginger chicken ($20) or Szechwan beef tenderloin ($32). Both were quite exquisite in their own way, and I’d be hard pressed to select either one outright in a race of tastes. Deserving of mention in a class all by itself is the whole sizzling catfish ($25). The waiter will tell you it’s meant for two, but splitting the massive platter among a table of four or more seems a far more sensible undertaking.

Perhaps inevitably, the desserts are mostly on the disappointing side—especially compared with the rich-sounding descriptions. The chocolate espresso rice pudding ($9), for example, is just plain weird, while the more-or-less pleasing Death by Chocolate ($12) quite predictably fails to live up to its name. A good standby (when they’re in season, as they are now) is the mixed berries, which are liable to be the only thing you’ll have room for anyway.

Asian beer by the bottle is $5. The wine list is largely French. And the place is a bit hard to find—so be sure to call ahead for directions your first time out.

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