Mother Russia
Your New Russian Dinner Party

If you've been thinking about going out for obscure Russian vodka and caviar in a shabby-opulent apartment in St. Petersburg (and we know you have), we've got something for you.
 
We'd like to direct your attention to a storefront on 20th Street where your long-lost Russian grandmother's apartment seems to have sprouted overnight. Make yourself at home at Mari Vanna, open now for private parties in Gramercy.
 
If you don't have a key (more on that later), ring the doorbell and you'll soon find yourself in a bar room flanked by bookshelves stocked with old nesting dolls, dusty Russian books and a few pictures of Mari Vanna's family members.
 
And much like you would at your grandmother's, you'll be making your way through 20 vodka infusions (including the biting horseradish and the cedar peanut varieties) and snacking on all manner of caviar and blintzes while making deals with Russian oil tycoons.
 
You'll notice that everything appears to have been lived in for generations: there's peeling wallpaper revealing older wallpaper, four chandeliers lording over a 14-person butcher-block table and a recliner at the corner table—the only one in the house—so you can laze about while you eat your borscht.
 
About that key: regulars will get them so they can drop by without having to worry about that pesky doorbell.
 
Sort of like a key to the city, just with more vodka.

As a little bonus, friends of UrbanDaddy are friends of Mari Vanna. Just tell us why you want a key to the kingdom and we may be able to help a few of you out.