The Russian Tea Room NYC

I'm doing illustrations for a Russian-themed Xmas book at the moment. So when Louise and Merlin invited me to Thanksgiving dinner at the newly reopened The Russian Tea Room NYC, I did a spirited Kazatska (a Russian Sailors' Dance).

It was pouring last night but that made not the slightest dent in a delightful evening. The RTR is next door to Carnegie Hall and later you can see New York's big Xmas shiney star hanging at the intersection of 5th avenue and 57th street..

The room is as lovely as ever - full of warm golden light you look your best in, reflected off the gold leaf ceiling. Note the gold firebird relief sculptures in the back, Russian ballet drawings and paintings cover the walls, and the orchids on the front table. So atmospheric...

The food was exquisite, with excellent chef, Gary Robbins at the helm. Louise, Merlin and I shared these 3 lush desserts. Or should I say fought over :)

The gorgeous brass tea samovars are still all over the walls...

They still serve tea in a glass Russian style.. I'm going to paint this soon.

Here's the RTR's doorman decked out in a long red great coat. There's tons of history (architectual and theatrical) attached to The Russian Tea Room.

Taxi please...

The Russian Tea Room NYC

The New York weather report today says 31°F (Feels like: 25°F) so I can still talk about tea...Russian tea..Kusmi Russian Tea in fact.

I first encountered Kusmi Teas at the Salon du Chocolat (they have a chocolate tea) and a day later at Le Festival de The.They had this fantastic "sniffing" display so you could easily find the tea you love. 

Kusmi Tea was founded in 1867 in St-Petersburg, by P.M Kousmichoff, supplier to the tsars. In 1917, at the time of the Revolution, they moved to London and Paris.

They're boutique is at 56, rue de Seine and they've just opened a tea room, so I'll be doing research next week...

Kusmi Russian Teas begin with big-leaf teas from Ceylon, India, Java and China. They uniquely blend these tea leaves with scented aromatics originating from Grasse, France's perfume center.
For example:
Anastasia Tea is a Russian blend of Ceylon and China teas scented with orange, bergamot, lemon and lime
Prince Vladimir is a blend of Ceylon and China teas with scents of orange, lemon, vanilla, grapefruit and spices
The Bouquet de Fleur blend is a blend of China, India and Ceylon teas with 8 different aromas, including lemon, bergamot orange, lime and mandarin orange
Petrushka Tea is a blend of Ceylon, cardamom, cloves, almonds and rose

For research purposes I tasted a Russian tea with blinis, sour cream and sour cherries...

Here's the demise of my research = YUM!

You put the sour cherries into the tea as well as in the blinis...

My research was to gather info on Russian Tea Service for another menu cover for The Russian Tea Room.

Podstakannik is Russian for tea glass holder and means "under the glass" or "for the glass"

Chai is the word for tea

Chainaya lozhka is teaspoon

Sahar is sugar
Zavarka is strong tea

They have a huge collection of rare Russian Samovars at RTR...

Vetka is the handle of a samovar's faucet. Literally "branch" (as of a tree)

So now you're ready to go for tea at The Russian Tea Room!

BTW I noticed Paris weather today is 39°F (Feels like: 32°F)
Do you think they heard I was coming and are trying to make the transition easy for me? :(

Les Fleurs.

Chocolate Bunny, watercolor,

We've had a tiny sniff of SPRING last week for 2 WHOLE days in New York City...sigh Shop doors were wide open. People were walking around WITHOUT their jackets.

While everyone else was stripping for Spring, I was indoors painting daffodils and chocolate bunnies.

Oh and Faberge eggs for THE RUSSIAN TEA ROOM!

They have a beautiful collection by the way.

Remember when I wrote about eating Thanksgiving dinner at RTR last November. Well, they "discovered" my story. So while I obsessed on Fauchon last week at Paris Breakfasts, I was secretly rushing to finish menu art for them: Easter, Valentine's Day and Tea Salon menus.

The cold weather has come back and made us put our hats, coats, mufflers and gloves back on, but I'm sticking with my bunnies and daffodils! I found these bunnies at Les Fleurs, 3 Passage de la bonne Graine 75011. I'm going back to Paris end of March

Thank you PBers for buying my watercolors :)
I want to see all the Easter/chocolate shenannigans and I'm going to visit Les Fleurs too.

Evidently chocolate fish are very BIG for French Pacques / Easter and I want to know why..? It's all strictly for research mind you.

Faberge Easter eggs, Russian Tea Room, Rouge at Grand Palais

I'm not ready to drop the eggs yet. And Easter is still 11 days away.

This is the "Imperial Hen" (1885) made by PETER CARL FABERGE for Czar Alexander to give to the Czarina as a surprise Easter gift. Inside the hen was a replica crown and small ruby egg, both lost.

Paris is full of enormous chocolate hens at the moment. No rubies within but full of miniature chocolate fish and foil eggs. France may be the only country I know that has goodies inside their Easter chocolate molds. Tell me if I'm wrong. 

Shake any French chocolate egg of any size (this giant is from FOUCHER on 13 rue du Bac) and it will rattle.

The jeweled "Imperial Coronation Easter egg" is rather small comparatively made in 1897. The crossed pattern referenced the robe worn by the czarina at her coronation.These delicate FABERGE eggs could take up to a year to create.

Its covered with diamond and rubies. Inside an exact replica of the coach the czarina rode in. It was sold to publisher Malcolm Forbes in 1979 for around 2 million dollars. The Forbes collection of 9 Faberge eggs, rare toys, and motorcycles etc. was displayed in a town house on 5th Avenue and West 13th street. I lived a few blocks away and often stopped in for a look at the rotating exhibitions.

Later I did menu art for the Russian Tea Room. They had their own collection of Faberge-styled eggs like this tree in the ballroom. So I seem to be joined at the hip to Faberge. Especially after eating all the  Lindt chocolate bunnies. And one of their small Lindor eggs (I just gobbled down the last egg) has a Faberge-style pattern on the blue foil. FYI its dark chocolate ganache inside.

Forbes amassed a huge collection of Faberge pieces, not just 12 imperial eggs. His goal; to own more Faberge than the Soviet government. After his death his family put the collection up for auction at Christies in 2004. Russian billionaire oligarch, Victor Vekselberg swooped in and bought everything pre-auction for the presumed sum of $100,000,000. They are now on view in the St. Petersburg Armour museum, quite far from 13th street in Greenwich Village.

On right now an exposition ROUGE,GRAND PALAIS a collection of Soviet artworks made during the revolution. Desperate for money to support the new regime, the Bolsheviks sold off priceless artworks belonging to the imperial art collections. Armand Hammer was used as a middleman and brought over artifacts to sell in New York department stores. 

What a long convoluted story! All from eating chocolate Easter bunnies.Thank you for reading and sharing Paris breakfasts. Subscription letters 💌 maps and watercolors are in my Etsy shop. 

From 🇫🇷Paris 💋with love ❤️Xxx🐻

Valentines Day menu for Russian Tea Room

I spent most of January Desperately seeking ❤️ Valentines ideas for THE RUSSIAN TEA ROOM menu cover.

The usual tearing of hair...

I studied RTR's Valentine menu. Yum.

Do I paint RTR scallops?

I looked at old PB Valentines posts. 

I went out looking for ideas and inspiration trying not to eat🍫😳

Look at this adorable et pas cher china at Monoprix❤️

RTR suggested something with roses🌹 Hmm...

Finally 6-7 heart/roses❤️🌹sketches. Ta Da The response: No, we don't like those and no, we don't have any suggestions but we know you will come up with something wonderful😳

Maybe the RTR facade like you did before(yoo hoo this was 10+ years ago). Wha'? More hair tearing.

Where Did I find  this photo of❤️ balloons in Milan and who did it?

Ta Da. We LOVE ❤️it. YAY But the boss isn't sure about the taxi🚖.

I did a poll on Instagram. The Taxi won🚖 YES! Isn't the creative process wonderful? If you go to the RUSSIAN TEA ROOM for St Valentines say "Parisbreakfast sent me" Maybe you'll get an extra glass of Champagne 🥂🍾🙏🏻Thanks for reading Parisbreakfast. Please share with a friend. Get a taste of Paris letters and watercolors in your mailbox 📮HAPPY VALENTINES DAY PBersxxx❤️Carolg🐻Bear