The Russian Tea Room was opened in 1927 by former members of the
Russian Imperial Ballet as a cafe and chocolate store. At the time of its opening, the restaurant mostly served tea and catered to Russian artists, particularly ballet dancers. It 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 West 57th Street. 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. A group of investors took over the Russian Tea Room in the 1940s. In 1955, the restaurant was purchased by
Sidney Kaye, who grew up in the restaurant business and was a former teacher, who acquired his partners' stakes. The Russian Tea Room's clientele originally consisted largely of musical personalities. After the
New York Philharmonic moved from
Carnegie Hall to
Lincoln Center, Kaye declined an invitation to relocate his restaurant to Lincoln Center. As such, the restaurant began to serve theatrical and film personalities, publishers, journalists, fashion designers, and artists. The Russian Tea Room was long advertised as "just six minutes and 23 seconds from Lincoln Center and slightly to the left of Carnegie Hall" because of its proximity to both venues.
Stewart-Gordon ownership When Kaye died in 1967 at the age of 53, he left the restaurant to his widow, Faith Stewart-Gordon. If the three sites were combined, this could allow a 51-story tower with . Macklowe had offered Stewart-Gordon $12.5 million for the building's air rights in 1982. However, Stewart-Gordon refused several offers to acquire her building, so Macklowe withdrew his bid for the Carnegie Hall Tower site in 1983. she ended up not selling the building or its air rights to Carnegie Hall Tower's developers. As a result, Metropolitan Tower and Carnegie Hall Tower are only separated by the Russian Tea Room, which is wide. The Russian Tea Room began hosting
cabaret performances in the mid 1990s, hosting performers such as
Karen Akers,
Laurie Beechman,
Andrea Marcovicci,
Steve Ross, and
Margaret Whiting during its first season. for $6.5 million. His company LeRoy Adventures and
Vornado Realty Trust, operated by
Steven Roth, each obtained a 50 percent stake in the Russian Tea Room. LeRoy shortly announced plans to renovate the restaurant. At the time, the Russian Tea Room typically served of beets, of caviar, of lamb, of sour cream, and of vodka per year. The restaurant closed for renovation on December 31, 1995. He hired the firm of
Harman Jablin to design a seven-story structure designed in a Russian eclectic style, with features such as a large acrylic Russian bear and a replica of the
Kremlin. The new structure would have contained a formal second-floor dining room, as well as banquet rooms on the third and fourth floors. Rumors circulated that LeRoy's declining health, impending divorce, and lack of funding had caused the restaurant's renovation to be delayed. Bouley quit in 1998 following a disagreement with LeRoy, and
Fabrice Canelle was hired as the restaurant's new executive chef. The interior of the restaurant was demolished and rebuilt in late 1998. It cost $15 million to demolish the interior and more than $20 million to redecorate the restaurant. ultimately, the restaurant only earned $17 million that year. LeRoy claimed that Canelle's work had declined after
The New York Times wrote a negative review of the restaurant. and his 22-year-old daughter Jennifer, the restaurant's director of operations, took over the Tea Room. Business, which was already slow after the Tea Room reopened, never recovered from the
September 11 attacks. During the fourth quarter of 2001, Vornado
wrote off its $7.374 million stake in the Tea Room. Jennifer LeRoy said the restaurant had failed because "people didn't think of the Russian Tea Room as a place for parties". Other observers said Warner had tried too hard to emulate the operation of Tavern on the Green, which had both more customers and lower operating expenses. The USGA acquired the building in November 2002, bidding $16 million; the sale included all of the restaurant's furnishings, artwork, tableware, and decorations. The association planned to add interactive exhibits and golf memorabilia after removing the existing furnishings. The USGA canceled its plan for a golf museum in June 2003, citing the high costs of renovating the Tea Room, and the association continued to operate its museum in New Jersey. The USGA resold the building in 2004 to
Gerald Lieblich's
RTR Funding Group for about $19 million. The sale included the
air rights above the restaurant building, as well as its name. Lieblich announced in 2006 that he had hired an executive chef and manager and that he planned to reopen the restaurant. and the seats were replaced. Robins changed the restaurant's menu, serving dishes with less butter and fewer calories, and adapting many of the restaurant's dishes. By 2009, the restaurant's vice president had added a children's tea menu, an express menu for business travelers, and a list of half-bottle wines. After the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Tea Room's business declined when many people had
boycotted businesses related to Russia, even though restaurant officials had condemned the invasion. == Design ==