Issue #28/83, February 10 - 17, 2000  

Frog-ean Just Browsin' Actor Brasserie... Cafe des Artistes DeliFrance La Premiere Soleil Express

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(for one salad, entree, and one cocktail per person)
$ =  up to $15.00	$$ = $15.00 to $30.00	$$$ = $30.00 to $50.00	$$$$ = $50.00 to ?

$$$$

Cheers:Moscow's finest French dining. That means great food in small portions, top quality wines, and service that treads the line between obsequiousness and disdain. If you have the money, do it.
Jeers:If you don't have the money... Supposedly dead-empty these days, as their famous frog-maitre d' and chef left for another restaurant.
M:Kievskaya
Phone: 143-9400/9308 ext.056
Address: Ul. Mosfilmovskaya 1
Hours: 11.00 - 23.00

$$$

Cheers:Delicious sandwiches at reasonable prices; excellent French onion soup and chocolate mousse; has that familiar nouvelle cuisine atmosphere, sort of ironic, low-key and quirky; will impress your expat date; coolest bar area in town, featuring low Algerian cafe tables and old couches.
Jeers: We've been hearing rumors about quality slippage. Mr. Tannenbaum was recently served a goat cheese salad that was literally swimming in its strangely milky dressing. This won't do at all. Ix-nay on the acon-bay in the Caesar salad; bar area top-heavy with young midwardly mobile professionals.
M: Taganskaya
Phone: 258-5900
Address: Ul. Taganskaya 23
Hours: 12.00 - 16.00, 18-10:30

$$$

Cheers: The former Artistico is now reopened under supposedly new management with a French theme. Tempting business lunch deals starting as low as $6. Pleasant outdoor seating.
Jeers: Menu still appears to be mostly Italian. We don't get it. Suck-ass pasta dishes and some of the worst service we've ever encountered--painfully slow, even when the place is dead.
M: Okhotny Ryad
Phone: 292-0673
Address: Kamergersky per.5/6
Hours: 12.00 - 00.00

$

Cheers:Chiken curry "grillazh" a nice addition. The spinach roll are a nutritious part of this balanced breakfast; lemon tarts are m'm-m'm yummy! All ingredients brought in from France. Good BP scouting after work hours and on weekends.
Jeers:Lack of air conditioning a major negative. This place would be greatly improved by first-class deli meat sandwiches. Food shipments depend on the whims of the customs officials. A low-rent Euro factor is even more depressing than snobbish Frog-a-bes.
M: Mayakovskaya; Arbatskaya
Phone: 299-4824
Address: Inside the new arcade at the Tchaikovsky concert hall; Stary Arbat.
Hours: 18.00 - 24.00

$$$

Cheers:The Canadian chef prepares absolutely phenomenal desserts (all freshly made), including a super no-nonsense cheese cake, unusual banana bread pudding, and perhaps Moscow's best chocolate mousse. Velvety veloute of wild mushroom soup will please all but heart patients; the duck breast risotto is also a winner. Cheesy interior reminds us of Paul Simon's pad in Annie Hall.
Jeers:Some of the main-menu items miss the mark wildly or are simply bland. Food quality doesn't always match the price, although the luscious desserts would make almost any entree look bad.
M: Okhotny Ryad
Phone: 292-0676
Address: Nikitsky per. 2
Hours: 11.00 - 23.00

$

Cheers:Just the kind of place you'd like to "drop by for lunch." Cheap salads and sandwiches with lots of grilled vegetables. Well-lit Brasserie-style interior; good coffee; delicious desserts. The new couscous salad is a winner.
Jeers:Despite game reheating attempts, the sandwiches always seem to come out soggy. Always full of accountants and attorneys from nearby offices.
M:Tsvetnoi Bulvar
Phone: 725-6474/5/6
Address:24/27 Sadovaya-Samotechnaya
Hours:9.00 - 22.00

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