VirtuosoLife - January/February 2008 - (Page 54) DESIGN TOUR Sunny side trip: Petrodvorets basks in good weather. Art nouveau reigns at L’Europe. SaiNT PETErSburG oN a PLaTE 1913 god Live music and rural fare, including potato pancakes with sour cream, and international classics, such as lobster fricassee, hark back to the last golden year before the great upheaval. 13/2 Voznesensky Square; 7-812/315-5148 Café Ketino In the darkest days of the Soviet Union, Georgian food was the great standby, and that tradition flourishes in this art-filled room. Try the suluguni cheese starter, satsivi (chicken in walnut sauce), and lamb shashlik. 8-ya liniya 23; 7-812/326-0196 Dvoryanskoye Gnezdo (The Noble Nest) Splurge at this restaurant on your last night in the city and imagine that you were a grand duke or duchess in a previous life. Superb French and Russian cuisine, including baked pheasant and fillet of venison, is served with great style in the summer pavilion of the Yusupov Palace. 21 Dekabristov Street; 7-812/312-3205 L’Europe Dress up for the gorgeous art nouveau dining room, faultless service, and sophisticated international cuisine from a constantly changing menu. Grand Hotel Europe, 1-7 Mikhailovskaya Street; 7-812/329-6000 Pavlovsk has been restored to its former glory. thirteenth century. Its church is the place to sample the ritual and sonorous chants of the Orthodox faith. The legends of Russian music, including Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, are buried in the adjoining cemetery, along with princes, revolutionaries, and Trotsky’s driver, whose grave is marked with chains and wheels. 1 Ploshchad Alexandra Nevskovo modernism was snuffed out by Stalin, but some notable buildings were erected in this working-class district in the 1920s, including several metro stations and the Gorky Palace of Culture on Stachek Square. Nikolay Taste a fresh spin on nineteenth-century recipes, including elk, wild boar, and suckling pig. Ask to take a tour of the splendid upstairs rooms in the former House of Architects. 52 Bolshaya Morskaya Street; 7-812/311-1402 Saint-Petersburg Superlative seafood (one specialty: marinated salmon with juniper and saffron) and live entertainment are standard fare here. 5 Nabereznaya Griboedov Canal; 7-812/314-4947 Kirov District Few constructivist architects were able to realize their visions before Tsarskoe Selo This is the grandest of the imperial preserves surrounding Saint Petersburg, and the principal palace has now been fully restored with a re-creation of the legendary Amber Room (the original, a 54 V I RT U O S O L I F E (PETRODVORETS) SCPhOTOS/AlAmy, (PAVlOVSK) STEVE RAymER/ CORBIS
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