Brighton Beach

A Brooklyn boardwalk may not seem like an obvious place to pick up cheap caviar, but you’ll find plenty of fish eggs (and vodka to wash it down) in this enclave of Russian émigrés, known as Little Odessa. As you leave the F train at Neptune Avenue, nod to famous neighbor Coney Island, but turn resolutely left as you walk down the strand to the Boardwalk on the beach. First of a series of broad, open eateries is Tatiana (3152 Brighton 6th Street, at the Boardwalk, 1-718 891 5151), a gorgeous spot to sit and watch the world pass by while slurping up some borscht.

Walk down Brighton 6th Street to Brighton Beach Avenue, the main artery of this far-western Russian outpost. Underneath the clattering elevated train, you can almost forget you’re not in the mother country. Far less glitzy than Tatiana, but with good, cheap fare, is Varenichnaya (3086 Brighton 2nd Street, 1-718 332 9797)—note: in Cyrillic, a ‘V’ looks like a ‘B,’ so don’t let the awning throw you off. Equally unsnazzy yet excellent is Eastern Feast (1003 Brighton Beach Ave, 1-718 934 9005), an Uzbek house of kebabs. Next door is the Russian idea of a Western saloon, Baltika, named for the Russian beer.

Now for the shopping. Every three steps you’ll find a Caviar Kiosk (like the one at 506 Brighton Beach Avenue, 1-718 648 1174), selling small cans of black caviar at $14.95 and only charging $45 for a tin the size of a wheel of brie. Sure, if you’re eating at Georgian Primorski (282 Brighton Beach Avenue, 1-718 891 3111), crepes with red caviar only run $9.50—but the exuberant floor show can require several bottles of vodka to enjoy. Rasputin (2670 Coney Island Avenue, 1-718 332 8111) is another good bet. You can also buy interesting pickled foodstuffs to take home at the enormous M & I International Foods (249 Brighton Beach Avenue, 1-718 615 1011), and taste the goods in advance at the upstairs café. Other food stores on the strip range from the posh Vintage Food Corp (287 Brighton Beach Avenue, 1-718 769 6674), where you can pick up wonderful teas and baklava, to the more pedestrian Triple A Grocery across the street, where a little old man sits out front selling honey.

For non-perishable souvenirs, look into Russian-language specialist St Petersburg Books (230 Brighton Beach Avenue, 1-718 891 6778), or Kalinka (402 Brighton Beach Avenue, at 4th Street, 1-718 743 4546), which vends items from the kitschy to the sublime, including handpainted wooden boxes. End the day where you started: by night, Tatiana morphs into a club, featuring artistes like Magdalina, ‘the Russian Pamela Anderson’. If that doesn’t convince you the Cold War is over, nothing will.

F to Neptune Ave; B, Q to Brighton Beach.