Russian Tea Room

The Russian Tea Room is an Art Deco Russo-Continental restaurant, located at 150 West 57th Street (between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue), between Carnegie Hall Tower and Metropolitan Tower, in the Manhattan borough of New York City.[1]

Russian Tea Room
Entry to the Russian Tea Room in 2008
Restaurant information
Established1927
Food typeRusso-Continental
Street address150 West 57th Street (between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue), between Carnegie Hall Tower and Metropolitan Tower, in Manhattan
CityNew York City
StateNew York
Postal/ZIP Code10019

History

The Russian Tea Room was opened in 1927, by former members of the Russian Imperial Ballet, as a gathering place for Russian expatriates and became famous as a gathering place for those in the entertainment industry. The founder is often considered to be Polish-born Jacob Zysman, but in that year, a corporation directory lists Albertina Rasch as the president, and her name appears along with Russian Art Chocolate and Russian Tea Room, in early photographs of the shopfront at 145 W. 57th St. In 1929, the business moved across the street to its present location, which at that time was an Italianate brownstone, built in 1875 by German immigrant John F. Pupke, a tea and coffee merchant, whose son later moved the large clan to Long Island, seeking a more relaxed lifestyle.

By 1933, the Siberian émigré Alexander Maeef was running the Russian Tea Room and was the main personality associated with the restaurant for the next fifteen years.

In 1955, the restaurant was purchased by Sidney Kaye, who, in 1967, left the restaurant to his widow, Faith Stewart-Gordon.

Facade of the Russian Tea Room.

In 1981, Harry B. Macklowe, the developer of the Metropolitan Tower, planned a large office tower that would have included not only his own site at the Metropolitan Tower, but also the restaurant's and the lot on which Carnegie Hall Tower was erected. There was an agreement with Carnegie Hall about their lot, but Stewart-Gordon, who owned the lot dividing the project, refused to sell. Macklowe also offered to buy the air rights only and to give room for her restaurant inside the new tower building, but Stewart-Gordon declined. No matter what she was offered, Stewart-Gordon refused to sell the lot. During the planning of the Carnegie Hall Tower at 152 W. 57th St., on the other side of the Russian Tea Room, again Stewart-Gordon declined to sell its site or its air rights. The result is the narrow twenty-foot gap, separating the Metropolitan and Carnegie Hall towers.

In December 1996, Warner LeRoy, who owned Tavern on the Green, bought the restaurant from Stewart-Gordon for $6.5 million and closed it down, much to the despair of New York high society.[2] After four years and $36 million in renovations, it reopened, but it was never the same; it closed with little notice on Sunday, July 28, 2002, after declaring bankruptcy. LeRoy's health was failing. Also, the local economy did not recover quickly enough to make payments on the substantial loans for the renovations.[2][3]

After Warner LeRoy died in 2001, his estate sold the property for $16 million to the United States Golf Association in December 2002. The Association had planned to reconfigure the property as a dining room and museum in which to showcase its extensive collection of golf memorabilia, but instead sold the building in 2004 to Sheila Vanderbilt's RTR Funding Group.[4][5] The 20-foot-wide building extends from 57th Street (the restaurant's main entrance) to 56th Street. The plans are to replace some of the current building facing 56th Street with a 29-story condominium, which is to be designed by Costas Kondylis. The original restaurant will be kept undisturbed.

The Russian Tea Room reopened on November 1, 2006. The restaurant's interior has not been touched, and the over-the-top decor is the same as when it closed in 2002.[6][7] However, several restaurant reviews have noted that the food and service leave significant room for improvement.[8][9]

Noted guests

The Russian Tea Room was a favored dining place of, among other notables, Ayn Rand and Wanda Toscanini Horowitz. Other noted guests include:

Interior of the Russian Tea Room in November 2009

Artworks

Notable employees and events
  • British comedian Rowan Atkinson married Sunetra Sastry there in 1990, having met her there that year on 5 February.
  • In 1979, Madonna worked there, as a coat-check clerk.[25]

Films

Literature
  • It is mentioned in Joyce Elbert's novel Crazy Ladies.
  • It is featured in Eve Babitz's Sex and Rage as a place where literary agents take authors out to lunch.
  • It is mentioned in Jay McInerney's novel Bright Lights, Big City.[26]

Television
  • "The Wrath of Con" episode of Gossip Girl was filmed there.
  • The "Dad" episode of Louie was filmed there, and in season 3 Louie meets his Uncle Excelsior there for lunch
  • In 1995, it was shown in The Nanny season 3 episode "Pen Pal".
  • It is used as a setting in the 2016-2017 season of Saturday Night Live's intro, introducing Aidy Bryant in the scene.

See also

References
  1. "The Russian Tea Room, New York". Zagat. Archived from the original on 2013-10-15.
  2. Kopp, Carol (November 2, 2006). "Famed Russian Tea Room Reopens". CBS News. Archived from the original on 2014-04-27. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  3. Collins, Glenn (July 27, 2002). "Russian Tea Room to Close After Tomorrow's Dinner". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2010-05-24. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  4. "Golf museum planned for New York". Golf Today. Archived from the original on 2013-04-10. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  5. "Tea, teeing off not a perfect match". Chicago Tribune. June 22, 2003. Archived from the original on 2014-04-27. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  6. Kilian, Cynthia (October 30, 2006). "'Russian' Back, Famed Tea Room Set to Reopen". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2006-11-14.
  7. Dobnik, Verena (November 2, 2006). "Russian Tea Room Is Back – for 3rd Time". Fox News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on June 8, 2014.
  8. Bruni, Frank (December 20, 2006). "Tastes of Russia, but One Without Borders". The New york Times. Archived from the original on 2007-06-23.
  9. Platt, Adam (January 7, 2007). "The New Russia: The latest incarnation of the Russian Tea Room evokes gilded old New York, but the food and service lack polish". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on 2012-10-18.
  10. Lyons, Leonard (1967-05-31). "Lyons Den". The Post-Standard. Syracuse. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  11. Lyons, Leonard (1966-01-06). "Lyons Den". The Post-Standard. Syracuse. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  12. Kilgallon, Dorothy (1952-10-03). "The Voice of Broadway". The Oneonta Star. Oneonta. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  13. https://nytimes.com, Noel Behn, 70, Novelist, Producer and Screenwriter, 31 July 1998, retrieved 31 December 2008
  14. Christy, Marian (1971-12-29). "Hats Change Image of Victor Borge". The Troy Record. Troy. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  15. "Celebrity Centers". Dunkirk Evening Observer. New York. 1936-11-09. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  16. Lyons, Leonard (1971-11-02). "Lyons Den". The Post-Standard. Syracuse. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  17. Lyons, Leonard (1971-06-21). "Lyons Den". The Post-Standard. Syracuse. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  18. Lyons, Leonard (1966-10-03). "Lyons Den". The Post-Standard. Syracuse. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  19. Stevenson, L. L. (1943-02-05). "Manhattan Days and Nights". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  20. Lyons, Leonard (1967-03-07). "Lyons Den". The Post-Standard. Syracuse. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  21. Lyons, Leonard (1970-04-16). "Lyons Den". The Post-Standard. Syracuse. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  22. Lyons, Leonard (1970-01-28). "Lyons Den". The Post-Standard. Syracuse. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  23. Lyons, Leonard (1972-11-25). "Big Town Roundup". The Post-Standard. Syracuse. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  24. Lyons, Leonard (1969-12-22). "Lyons Den". The Post-Standard. Syracuse. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  25. "Madonna Offered A Party At The New York Landmark Where She Started Out". showbizspy.com. August 15, 2008. Archived from the original on 2014-04-27.
  26. McInerney, Jay (1984). "Bright Lights, Big City". Google Books. Vintage Books. p. 147. Retrieved 9 September 2019. “Let’s have lunch. Bat some ideas around. Say, Russian Tea Room at one-thirty?”

Further reading
  • Stewart-Gordon, Faith (1981). The Russian Tea Room Cookbook. New York: Richard Marek Publishers. ISBN 0-399-90128-0.
  • Stewart-Gordon, Faith (1993). The Russian Tea Room: A Tasting. New York: Clarkson Potter. ISBN 0-517-58826-9.
  • Stewart-Gordon, Faith (1999). The Russian Tea Room: A Love Story. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0-684-85981-5.

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