The weekly intelligencer., 1897-04-10
RUSSIAN RESTAURANTS.
The Dishes They Serve A Castro
nOmic Luxury.

The Dishes They Serve - a Castro
nOmic Luxury.
One of the most fashionable restau-
rants in Moscow is the Hermitage, and
another is the MoslloyslSi Traktir, or
Grand Hotel de Moscow, near the en-
trance of the Khitagorod. At both of
these 1t Is much the custom to begin
dinner at the table itself with two
or three commanded dishes of the
zatuska. A tablespoonful of the shin
ing, appetizing caviar, with slice of
lemon, and a corner twisted from the
hot kalatsch, accompanied by radish
and an olive, or, perhaps, n picked plum,
with the inevitable little glass;" leads
to the "cold plates" and sauces." for
the Muskovite chef serves his fish in
the middle, not the beginning of the re-
past. Among dishes of game the geli-
notte is noticeable (the Russian rya-
behik); but this bird is more welcome
In the disguise of an orkrochka than
cooked whole. In mayonnaise, also,
the ryabehik is highly popular. This
gelinotte, or double snipe," has been
very truly described as bird partaking
of the characteristics both of the grouse
and the partridge, with n slight UNDER
ftavor-in which it resembles the caper-
cailZie-of turpentine. Such IL peculi-
arity is, no doubt, due to its habit of
feeding upon the tender topmost shoots
of the fir tree. The Russian peasants
have legends about every bird and beast,
and they say that the galinotte had
once the finest breast of all birds, but
it vexed its Creator, who took this away
and gave it to the ryper. There is prep
aration of mutton, styled schashlilI,
which might beworth importing hither;
and beef is curiously metamorphosed
from its British forms into the Zrazi,
the shtoffade, and the azu tatarsk.
Kidneys, potchlii, with truffies, may APP
pear. along with omelettes; and cretes
de cog mingled with sweetbreads in
a ragout; or pojNrsl<i de poularde aux
legumes, plate named after the hero
who delivered Holy Russia from the
tyrannies of Poland. The zarkoe, or
roasts, will include telyatin, i. e., veal,
and turkey, which is called indyk, the
duck, ootla, the cock of woods, teterev,
as well as, when in season, the quail,
perepel, the dvoper, and the teal, cherok.
The dish par excellence, however, of
the Dlli VI lure Is
sterlet, which, whether named en- an
neau q la Russo, or made into an ool<a,
Or blended with slices of sturgeon in
a solyanka, must be recognized as a
notable discovery for all travellers. The
,terlet is gelatinous, semisturgeon-like
fish, but much smaller than the stur-
geon, having long, ugly nose and no
bones, but very nice as q matelotte,
when, however, o single portion will
cost the guest at least 2I rubles. A
solyanka des sterlets is charged three
rubles the portion, while the finest fried
sturgeon is not mare than third of
that price. This speciality of the Noiga
river is, past all question, n great gas
tronomic luxury; the white, dissolv-
ing, nutritious flesh has all the deli
eacy of the trout, all the crispness of
the turbpt. nil the digestibility of the
sole, united In manner 10 make many
a foreign sea and stream jealous, with
very good cause, of the cold and turbid
Volga. The pleasant, hot dinner cakes,
already spoken of as lialatsch, should
be eaten along with sterlet.-L London
Telegraph.