Optimist

«Optimist» on Komissarzhevskaya Street, 8, is part of a food cluster created by Leonid Godnik, owner of the dumpling bar «Olen», along with Nikita Shishlov and Yura Nekrasov, co-owners of the bar BKWSK. The kitchen here is open, with a bar counter — guests sit face to face with the chef and watch the cooking. The dining room has two narrow floor-to-ceiling windows leading out to a terrace, and on the wall there's a neon sign with a phrase that can only be read in a mirror's reflection. The menu is overseen by chef Kirill Volodin, who previously built the kitchen at BKWSK and worked on the menu for «Kamernyy teatr». His dishes feature unexpected combinations: fried shrimp with mango, duck with currants and wheat, beef tenderloin with a kvass sauce, millet, and green peas. For dessert, there's pumpkin panna cotta with chamomile cream and coffee meringue. The wine list for «Optimist» was put together by a guest sommelier from St. Petersburg. Wine is served by the glass and sold by the bottle, and among the selections there are options that would interest even those well-versed in wine. The average check at the restaurant is 1,000 to 3,000 rubles, and the cuisine is European.